During a recent trip to Minnesota, I was introduced to a new beer that is brewed in the Twin Cities - Surly Beer. I was sort of taken not only by the name of the brewery, but the names they call their beers - CynicAle, Furious Beer, and Bender. And their beers aren't bad.
Like many other craft brewers, Surly Brewing Company started out when a home-brewer, Omar Ansari, began to brew his first beers in 1994. His beers were exceptional for a home-brewed concoction. When Ansari's first child was born, instead of birth announcements, he sent his friends some of his home-brewed Extra Pale Ale. Everyone thought it was a great idea and many urged Ansari to make his own beer available to the public.
Ansari first began to brew Surly Beer in his garage, but the space needed for the brewing process, as well as the storage of grain prompted him getting a larger space. Ansari educated himself in the art of beer brewing and he eventually hooked up with a friend from junior high, Todd Haug, who was a brewmaster for the Rock Bottom Brewery in Minneapolis. Haug and Ansari both had a sort of "surly" attitude when it came to finding good beers, so the Surly Brewing Company name was born. Above is a picture of Todd (on the left) and Omar at the Beer Advocate brewfest in Boston.
The Surly Brewery is located in Brooklyn Park, MN (see map) and Ansari had to get the city council there to change local laws to allow a brewery in the town. That didn't take long and by the end of 2005, the brewery was ready to begin production. Within months, Ansari had signed up nearly 40 bars in the greater Twin Cities area. Within a couple years, Surly had spread across the state of Minnesota and into the Chicago area. For a list of bars and restaurants that serve Surly beers, click here.
Surly beers are only available on tap, in growlers or in 16 oz. cans. There are a number of reasons why Surly is only available in cans and not bottles. Number one is that Todd Haug likes a full 16 oz. pour into his pint glass. Plus he says cans are better for beer than bottles. And Surly Brewing says the canning line they have at the brewery is PFC (which stands for Pretty F***ing Cool).
Their two year round beers are the Bender and Furious beers. The CynicAle is only brewed in the Summertime. They have two other seasonal beers - Bitter Brewer (Spring) and SurlyFest (Fall). Their beers are not filtered or pasteurized, so you're supposed to keep 'em cold. I didn't when I got a couple four packs at Surdyk's when we were in Minneapolis recently. But I haven't gotten sick from drinking the beer, so I'm thinking they're still OK.
The CynicAle is a copper red beer that has a very malty taste to it. It has a somewhat spicy bite to the taste and has a somewhat fruity aroma. Now, I'm not big on fruit beers, but this one tastes pretty good.
The Furious is what I first tried when I found Surly Beer at a restaurant in NW Minnesota. The malts they use in the Surly Furious are the same malts great Scotch distillers such as The Macallan uses in their premium whiskeys. They then use four different varieties of American grown hops in the process. It has a smooth, malty flavor with a very hoppy aftertaste. It's a very good beer.
I love finding little craft brewers like Surly Brewing. And the beer is good to drink. I like how they do some seasonal stuff, but keep the number of year-round beers to a minimum. I'm going to have to get some more of their beers when I get back to Minneapolis this fall.
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