Surly Two

Formerly brewed at Surly Brewing Company
Style: Fruit Beer
Brooklyn Center, Minnesota USA

Serve in Flute

Bottle shared at John’s gathering. Poured a mahogany with a light tan head. Aroma is sweet dark fruits mixed with some roasty coffee. Flavor is surprisingly acidic following the aroma (though not so much considering the addition of cranberries) with some flavors of light chocolate acidic fruit dominating. Overall some nice flavors but I was not really crazy for the acidity clashing from the sweeter roastier flavors that would otherwise have comprised the the bulk of the flavor profile if it had not been for the cranberries.

Sampled this at ABR this fall. A very nice fruit beer, not the best I’ve had. but very nice indeed!

750 ml bottle shared by Dansting, Dan has been holding on to it for a little while to share with me, I highly appreciate it. Its about 3.5 years old. Its rare to come across a beer with cranberry that isn’t a cheap as wheat. Pours black with no head. Aroma has a weird fruitiness, apparently cranberries but I wouldn’t have guessed. Its a very strong, fumy, and bitter smelling stout. Flavor is bitter on the black patent malts I would say. Flavor just comes off as a strong stout and there is an non-distinct berriness, I would not call it cranberry. I wonder how they crushed the cranberries, may have made a big difference.

750 ml bottle shared by Dansting. Pour is a darker brown with a thin light tan head. Aroma is roasted smoked malt with a nice clean fruit cranberry shining through. After the darker malts and tart cranberry clear a bit, the wood starts to shine through a bit with oakiness. The taste is the nose, with a nice balance between the dark roasted malt and the tart cranberry fruit. As it warms, the cranberry really comes to the front, which is pretty amazing given the age on this beer. Palate is medium to full bodied, active carbonation and the finish dries out with barrel woodiness. Interesting beer, glad I got a chance to try this one - thanks a bunch Dan!

Bomber shared by Dansting. Pours a dark brown with a thin tan head. The nose is a tart fruitiness over roasty dark malt. Medium-bodied and quite tart with a drying finish. Tart, tart cranberry sits atop a solid roasty stout. This is interesting stuff, but even after this much time, the cranberry dominates. Thanks for sharing this rarity with us Dan.

On tap at GTMW - Cola pour with a ring of tan head. Nose is mostly smoked malt. Real light, with a dark pumpernickel bread base. Taste is the same, but with a touch of cranberry and some lightly soured malt. Dark and dry finish. Seems a bit limp, but that’s to be expected. I did like that there was a bit of tartness left. Well carbonated and smooth. Would have liked to try this a couple years ago.

On tap at the GTMW 2011. How bad ass is that? A beer I’ve longed to try since my first days at rate beer. Pours a dark brown with a brown head. Aroma of cranberries, sweet malt, oxidation. Some maple syrup, mild oatmeal cookies. Very obvious oak barrel notes. Pretty awesome flavor with mild tartness from the cranberries with the cookie sweetness of the malt. Oxidation is also present, albeit mild. Full bodied, an absolute pleasure to drink. So glad I got to try this one.

Pours an opaque dark brown with an off-white head. Sour and extraordinarily bitter. Tart with aromas of berries and lots of oak. Full bodied. Medium carbonation. Tart, bitter finish with more oak (too much).

Sampled from the tap at the 2010 GTMW. Poured black with a dark brown head that lasted throughout the beer. Aroma was nice with a combination of roasted dark malts and quite tart cranberries. Flavor began with dark grains and roasted malt the melded beautifully with the growing tart cranberry flavor.