A Whale A Week: Surly Nein

Earlier this year for A Whale A Week I did a series on the Surly Anniversary beers starting with Surly Three.  I know, I know, I'm a Surly Fanboy...but hey they're my local brewery putting our sought-after beers that I can actually find!

A quick recap of what came before:  The Surly Anniversary beers have been quite a mixed bag over the years, but I appreciate the brewers stretching their brewing chops to try new things.  One was a Quad/Doppelbock concoction that I never got to try.  I assume it was good.  Two was a cranberry milk stout that I first tried at a charity benefit--very tasty and tart.  That one made it to a small bottling run, but I've never actually seen one in person.  Three was a braggot made with a huge amount of honey and I reviewed it HERE.  Four was the first of these that I loved from the get-go and is reviewed HERE.  Five was their first sour beer and is reviewed HERE.  Syx was a 15% multi-wood aged monster, and is HERE.  Seviin was a Belgian strong ale finished off with brett and was reviewed HERE.  Eight was a strong oat wine aged in High West Rye Whiskey barrels and is reviewed HERE.  And now...

Surly Nein

I did get to try a preview sample of Nein at All Pints North this year but decided to wait on this post until I had a bottle in my hands.  Nein is a 10% ABV monster Hefeweizen brewed with oak smoked malt, fermented with German Hefe yeast, and aged in charred oak barrels.  Apparently the idea for the beer came after a brewer's trip to Bamberg Germany (take me next time!), the home of smoked beers.  The 750 ML bottle is dipped in yellow wax and has the most intricate bottle art of a Surly beer yet.  The art is done by Erica Williams--a wonderful local Minneapolis artist who also did the Darkness 2014 bottle.  Check out her website HERE for some other awesome organic and ominous art!  Nein beer just came out this month so reviews are still trickling in. Currently it has a score of 87 on Beer Advocate and 97 on RateBeer, but both have under 20 reviews so far.

For this tasting I had over fellow homebrewer and neighbor Steven Mathistad on the spur of the moment.  He's always willing to come over on short notice for beer!  Also, my wife Sarajo and our cat Freya helped out.

Freya scopes out the competition

Aroma:
Eric: Strong smoked malt--oak or hickory aroma.  Subtle bacon on the back of the tongue.  Some herbal and almost fruity esters as swirled and as it warms up.  Hint of Band-aid phenol.  Some alcohol present for sure.  Sweetness.  Some tannin/oak character as well. Hefe yeast character not as strong as expected.
Steven: Slight smoky aroma.  Some roastiness.  Not as much here as I expected to find.

Appearance:
Eric: Deep ruby to amber-brown color.  Clear at edge of glass but difficult to see all the way through this.  Almost no head on mine when poured and dissipated quickly to nothing.
Steven: Dark brown color.  Virtually no head.

Flavor:
Eric: The oak is strong in this one!  Slight malty sweetness at first, but quickly fades to dry middle.  As it warms up I get a hammy flavor mixed with banana...somewhat strange.  Strong smoke and firm bitterness and tannin presence.  Alcohol warming for sure.  Body is medium.  The end is very dry--clean and crisp rather than astringent.  Not sure if bitterness is from hops or from oak and smoke, but I do get a bit of citrus as it warms more.
Steven: Bitter smoky malt flavor.  Not quite a fruity flavor...but close.

Overall:
Eric: Not bad.  Not as complex as I expected from such an unusual combination of ingredients.  I think the intensity of the smoke phenols really overwhelms the German hefe yeast character.  Still a good beer that I'd recommend trying.  I like Surly Smoke much better.  3.75
Steven: Not very complex (lacking in different flavors).  Dry with an even dryer finish.  Not getting much "Hefe" character.  3.75
Sarajo: This made me think of honey baked ham.  3.75

Overall Score: 3.75


Photo info:  Not very complex this week.  Taken on my iPhone, Freya was very interested in her new big cat bartop rival!

A Whale A Week: Surly Three

Recently for A Whale A Week I've been going through the Surly Darkness vintages in order to make a dent in my stash, as well as to try them all in close proximity to decide which one is currently the "best".  Earlier this year I did a series on the Surly Anniversary beers starting with Surly Four.  I know, I know, I'm a Surly Fanboy...but hey they're my local brewery putting our sought-after beers that I can actually find!  As of this weekend at All Pints North in Duluth I was lucky enough to get a glass of Surly Three to test out and figured I'd jump back in time in order to work on completing my rare Surly beer series.

A quick recap of what came before:  The Surly Anniversary beers have been quite a mixed bag over the years, but I appreciate the brewers stretching their brewing chops to try new things.  One was a Quad/Doppelbock concoction that I never got to try.  I assume it was good.  Two was a cranberry milk stout that I first tried at a charity benefit--very tasty and tart.  That one made it to a small bottling run, but I've never actually seen one in person.  Three is below!  Four was the first of these that I loved from the get-go and is reviewed HERE.  Five was their first sour and is reviewed HERE.  Syx was a 15% multi-wood aged monster, and is HERE.  Seviin was a Belgian strong ale finished off with brett and was reviewed HERE.  Eight was a strong oat wine aged in High West Rye Whiskey barrels and is reviewed HERE.  I did get to try a preview sample of Nein at All Pints North this year, but will wait to do my official review until I have a full bottle to try!

Surly Three

Surly Three was a braggot--an unusual hybrid style that combines the malted grain of a beer with the honey of a mead.  The style is a very loose one, but the overarching definition requires a balance of the honey and grain characters.  This would rule out many of those summer honey wheat beers that use only a tiny percentage of honey in the recipe.  Commercial braggots are rare these days, though the style has been around since probably the 1300's.  This particular beer has an estimated ABV of around 10% and has very little hopping to it.  The beer was brewed with 50% honey and 50% dark German Munich malt and fermented with a Belgian yeast strain.  They also aged it on toasted white ash--something I've never heard of doing before.

I first tried Three when it was released in early 2009 (Winterfest I believe) and was shocked by how cloyingly sweet and boozy it was.  Frankly I was unimpressed.  The beer was never bottled and quickly faded into obscurity.  Every once in a while it will pop up at special Surly tappings and goes quickly due to it's rarity.  The beer currently has a rating of 88 on BeerAdvocate and 96 at RateBeer but there aren't many ratings from the past year or so.

This past weekend in Duluth there was a special tapping of some rare beers in the basement bar (Rathskeller) of Tycoon's Ale House.  Some cool guys from Indeed that I ran into at Endion Station earlier clued me into this semi-secret event--thanks so much!  Tappings included special beers from Indeed, Steel Toe, Fitgers, Bent Paddle, and of course Surly.  We met up with several friends there and shared around an embarrassment of riches from the local beer scene.  One of these was Surly Three.  My favorite was the Bent Paddle Mocha Double Black.  I'd love to get back to the Rathskeller at some other time since the dark basement bar with exposed brick arches has a huge amount of character.  They also supposedly have at least one of the best mixologists in the state on staff!

I'm not going to lie here: this was not the most controlled or accurate tasting I've done for this series of reviews.  It was dark, loud, and amazing beers were circulating around while I tried to jot down my thoughts.  But I still couldn't pass up the opportunity to fill in this gap in my Surly anniversary beer reviews!

Aroma: 

Sweet honey right up front.  Molasses and caramel notes after that first hit of SWEET.  No hop aroma at all.  Light roasted or toasted notes as it warms.  Plenty of dark fruit like raisin or prune.  This makes me nervous to taste how sweet this might be...

Appearance:

It was dark in there.  Very dark.  So bear with me.  This was a dark beer, but not opaque, with a deep brown to dark amber color (near as I could tell).  Carbonation was quite low and whatever head was present on initial pour was gone promptly.

Flavor:

The flavors in this were complex and layered, changing with each taste.  The predominant character was a nearly overwhelming sweetness, but the type of sweet flavor seemed to change during the tasting. At one point I would get strong marshmallow, at others caramel and vanilla.  Molasses or dark buckwheat honey sweetness was a strong flavor profile in this beer.  Fig, raisin, and prune all twist briefly across the tongue.  There was moderate oxidation in the beer, resulting in a young sherry or barrel aged note that was not present when this was fresh.  Mouthfeel was coating and somewhat thick.  Bitterness was minimal, but enough to keep this from being cloyingly sweet.  No hop flavors.  Carbonation was low, accentuating the sweetness and thick mouthfeel.

Overall: 

This beer is a completely different beast from its humble initial presentation.  Age has increased the complexity and impact greatly.  Where some of the anniversary beers have not aged as well (Seviin) some seem to really come into their own with time (Syx) and this one certainly fits that latter category.  Color me impressed!  I think a bit more bittering hop or more carbonation would make this beer more balanced, but Three is still a very cool beer to get a crack at.

Overall Score:  I give this one a 4.25 out of 5.

So the upshot here is: if you can get a taste of this, jump in line to do so.  Finishing off a half pint of it got a little tough as that sweetness started to get out of hand, so stick to sharing or small pours.  Now I just need to find a Surly Two!

A Whale A Week: Surly Eight

Hey folks, time once again for A Whale A Week!  Last week we tasted Surly Seviin, and this week we finish up our series (until next year's Nine release) of Surly Anniversary Beers!

A quick recap:  The Surly Anniversary beers have been quite a mixed bag over the years, but I appreciate the brewers stretching their brewing chops to try new things.  One was a Quad/Doppelbock concoction that I never got to try.  I assume it was good.  Two was a cranberry milk stout that I first tried at a charity benefit--very tasty and tart.  That one made it to a small bottling run, but I've never actually seen one in person.  Three was a braggot, made with half honey and half grain.  I did not like that one fresh, but a year later it was much more balanced and mellow.  I'd love to try this again now!  Four was the first of these that I loved from the get-go and is reviewed HERE.  Five was their first sour and is reviewed HERE.  Syx was a 15% multi-wood aged monster, and is HERE.  Seviin was a Belgian strong ale finished off with brett and was reviewed HERE.

Let the Wild Rumpus begin!

Surly Eight

Surly Eight just came out November of 2014 and one can still run across a bottle here or there in the hinterlands of the Twin Cities.  As such it is perhaps not as rare or "whale-like" as some other beers, but I felt that I should really go ahead and finish up my run of the Surly Anniversary beers with it.  Not to rest on its laurels, Surly decided to try making a new category of beer: an Oat Wine.  This is a strong ale made a generous proportion of oats, that was then aged for many months in High West Rye Whiskey barrels.  Currently the beer has ratings of 93 on BeerAdvocate and 98 on RateBeer.  The beer comes in a bomber bottle dipped in white wax and decorated with a disturbing bit of artwork by local artist Josh "Jawsh" Lemke.  He's famous for his aerosol mural artwork and has done a couple of other things for Surly including one of their Darkness labels.  

This beer was released very late in the year (their actual anniversary is February) because Surly found they needed more time in the whiskey barrels to even this beer out.  I first tried this at Autumn Brew Review in a preliminary form before the final bottling.  At that time I felt the beer probably needed a bit more time, but was quite an unusual experience.  I've been waiting to crack a bottle and officially review it!

For this week's review Steven Mathistad, myself, and my wife Sj all gathered up in the basement bar to taste this new addition to the Surly cannon.  I served the beer in Surly stemware glasses and we got to work!  We all agreed pretty much on the review, so I just combined our thoughts together below.

Steven waiting patiently for his serving of Eight...

Aroma:

Initial aroma has a hint of unexpected sourness.  Some vanilla and toffee or sweet caramel.  Has an alcoholic zip to it.  Peppery.  As it warms I get increased tart and sourness as well as a subtle vegetal note.

Appearance:

Deep gold to almost amber in color.  Slightly hazy.  Large off-white head with medium sized bubbles.  Head fades slowly.

Flavor:

Initial sweet toffee that was hinted at in the nose.  Mouthfeel is medium, not as thick as I expected.  Lingering boozy finish rife with vanilla and marshmallow.  The end is actually off-dry despite the boozy notes.  As it warms I get more of the sourness that I can smell in the aroma.  Steven pointed out that he also got more whiskey as it warmed up.

Overall: 

The big issue here is that the beer is souring.  I remember getting a tiny hint of that tartness the first time I tried it, but I assumed that might be from the wood or the rye whiskey.  The beer is not very complex, likely because oats have almost no flavor of their own, so they don't add much to the body and flavor of the beer.  Most of the flavor present comes from the whiskey barrel, so this is pretty one-note.  I feel that this beer will probably get more sour with time.  If you have some in your stash I would probably drink them now or throw them in the fridge to slow that process.  I have four of these bad-boys and will age a couple just to see what happens over time.

Ratings: Since both Steven and I had such a hard time deciding on a score, I decided to allow quarter increments on this one.

Eric: 3.75
Steven: 3.75
Sj: 3.5  "Meh"

So that concludes our review of Surly Four through Eight!  My personal favorite?  Probably Surly Five, just because it has matured into something so much better than what it once was.  Least favorite was the Seviin--we had a bad bottle initially, but even the retry wasn't amazing.  I would say that the Surly Anniversary beers have been a bit of a mixed bag, but I do appreciate Todd Haug take some risks.

Next up on A Whale A Week:  Goose Island Madame Rose 2012 Vintage

A Whale A Week: Surly Seviin

It's time again for A Whale A Week!  Last week we continued our series on Surly Anniversary beers with the misunderstood  and much maligned Surly Syx.  This week we move forward in time to last year's Surly Seviin.

The Surly Anniversary beers have been quite a mixed bag over the years, but I appreciate the brewers stretching their brewing chops to try new things.  One was a Quad/Doppelbock concoction that I never got to try.  I assume it was good.  Two was a cranberry milk stout that I first tried at a charity benefit--very tasty and tart.  That one made it to a small bottling run, but I've never actually seen one in person.  Three was a braggot, made with half honey and half grain.  I did not like that one fresh, but a year later it was much more balanced and mellow.  I'd love to try this again now!  Four was the first of these that I loved from the get-go and is reviewed HERE.  Five was their first sour and is reviewed HERE.  Syx was a 15% multi-wood aged monster, and is HERE.

Surly Seviin

Confessions of a geek: I painted this little guy back in junior high school.  

Seviin was Surly's seventh anniversary beer and was released only once in 2013.  Brewed with rye, oats, and wheat, this was the first Surly beer to ever use wheat in the grist.  It was also dry hopped for added hop aroma and finished with Brettanomyces yeast.  The beer comes in a yellow wax dipped bomber bottle with quasi-religious art by local artist Brent Schoonover.  The beer clocks in at 12.5% ABV.

I first tried a preview of this beer at a Happy Gnome beer dinner before it was released.  Having just been to Belgium not too long before that, I was very impressed with the beer at the time.  Strong in alcohol like a Quad but lighter in color, it had a flavor and mouthfeel that reminded me a lot of Westvleteren 12 (and yes that one is on my future AWAW list).  I tried it later in the bottle and noted a mild brettanomyces funkiness that was not really present in the initial taste at the Gnome.  At that point it seemed more like a strong version of fresh Orval (another place I visited while abroad).  It has now been well over a year since I've tried this beer and I've been looking for a good excuse to crack one and see where things stand.  Currently BeerAdvocate has Seviin rated at 89 and RateBeer at 88 making this the closest the two sites' ratings have been to each other since I've started doing this series.

We served this among a group of friends including Mike & Kristin Lebben and Keith Brady.  My pour was into an Alaskan Smoked Porter snifter glass since I was away from home and didn't have my Surly glass.  It hurts me!  We all tasted and took notes, and here are some highlights.

Aroma: Showing that aroma can be somewhat subjective, but elements certainly come through...

Eric: Floral, sweet honey notes.  Some orange citrus.  Spicy and slightly musty Brett character.  Very little Belgian yeast ester.
Keith: Picking up noticeable tart Brett, slight banana, cherry, dried fruit.  Malt and slight popcorn.
Mike: A little sour.  Boozy banana, citrus.
Kristen: Caramel, banana, citrus.  Slight unpleasantness to the overall aroma.

Appearance: Where we mostly agreed.

Deep copper to orange or amber color.  Very little off-white head, and what is there fades quickly. Light lacing on the edge of the glass.

Flavor:  In which we all sensed different but similar things.

Eric: Sweet orange blossom honey and maltiness up front.  Strong citrus orange peel with a residual bitterness like metal or apricot pits.  Some slight phenol clove, but very little banana to my taste-buds.  Light musty Brett tartness.  Mouthfeel is medium making the beer seem more thin than expected.  Carbonation is low which makes this more syrupy.
Keith: Metallic on first sip.  Bitter then slightly tart.  Bitter orange peel.  Citrusy as it warms.
Mike: Metallic!  Medicinal orange antibiotic from my childhood.
Kristin: Malty caramel.  Good mouthfeel.  Citrus at the front, but brown sugar and tinny/coppery at the end.

Overall: In which we all agreed on our overall enjoyment of this beer.

Eric: Not nearly as "Belgiany" as I expected, especially as compared to previous tastings.  I felt that the esters were very low (though my tasting compatriots got more banana than I did.)  Not as complex as I remember this either.  The tart Brett gives this a little kick, but not as much as I expected having tasted aged Orval.  The beer also lacked carbonation which hurt my overall enjoyment of this.  The metallic boozy finish hurts this a bit as well. 3.0
Keith: Pissed I bought five of these!  Completely different from trying it fresh.  Definitely will age longer. 3
Mike: Either it has gone bad or it needs to wait. 3
Kristin: I want to like it...but it isn't what I wanted it to be. 3

So there you have it!  According to my Untappd, I gave this beer a 4.5 when I last tasted it, so my full point drop is a notable decrease.  Having aged a lot of strong Belgian ales, I was expecting this one to be more complex and interesting.  I did not expect Surly Syx to beat out Seviin!  I'm actually tempted to open another one just to see if we got a tainted bottle or something.  Thanks to my tasting panel for helping me drink this big bottle of Surly!  If you have a Seviin and want to taste along post a link to your page/blog entry on the free link-up tool below.  Or you can just leave a comment to tell us what you think!


Addendum:
Mike, Sj, and I were hanging out whilst adding our Imperial stout collaboration into my rye whiskey barrel this weekend and I cracked a second bottle of Seviin.  This bottle had much more carbonation which improved the mouthfeel and aerosolization of the aromatics greatly.  I got more bright aroma and flavors from this version.  Everything we noted in the above descriptions was present, but the overall quality was improved and fresher tasting.  I noted a distinct similarity of some of the metallic apricot flavor between this and Syx as well.  We all agreed that we would give the second bottle an upgrade to 3.5.  So there Keith, maybe having 5 isn't so bad after all!

If you want to play along and post your review of this beer--use the free link tool below!

An InLinkz Link-up

Next week we finish our Surly Anniversary series with the recently released Eight.  Tune in and play along if you still have one of these lurking in your cellar!

A Whale A Week: Surly Syx

Just a quick reminder on the Surly Anniversary beers before we move on:

The Surly Anniversary beers have been quite a mixed bag over the years, but I appreciate the brewers stretching their brewing chops to try new things.  One was a Quad/Doppelbock concoction that I never got to try.  I assume it was good.  Two was a cranberry milk stout that I first tried at a charity benefit--very tasty and tart.  That one made it to a small bottling run, but I've never actually seen one in person.  Three was a braggot, made with half honey and half grain.  I did not like that one fresh, but a year later it was much more balanced and mellow.  I just found out that Surly plans to have this on tap at the Rare Beer Festival this year!  Four was the first of these that I loved from the get-go.  That one was a thick and creamy Imperial porter/stout with espresso and we reviewed it HERE a few weeks back.  Five was a 100% Brett fermented sour ale aged in red wine barrels and we tasted that last week HERE.  If any of my friends and readers have a Two they want to share for this series please contact me!

Surly Syx

This is the first of many posed Surly bottle photos I've taken.  We just happened to have Lego Harry Potter sitting on the kitchen counter and he crowded into my shot.  I've done one of these for every Darkness and Anniversary beer since.  I'm weird.  And a geek.

Surly Syx was an interesting animal.  This was Surly's strongest beer to date clocking in at 15% ABV.  It used the new (at that time) Honey Comb Barrel Alternative method from Minnesota's Black Swan Cooperage to add wood aged character.  The idea behind this method is to increase the surface area of the wood to hasten the uptake of wood-aged character without having to have the beer sit in a barrel for 6 months.  I have a couple of these wood pieces at home for homebrewing, but haven't used them yet.  They come in multiple wood types including cherry, ash, several oak species, and more.  To tie in with the name, brewer Todd Haug used 6 different versions of these woods while making Syx.

This may have been Surly's first "miss" on the popularity scale.  I tried a bottle of Syx right away when I got it--I saw potential, but it was rocket fuel plain and simple.  Hot alcohol, strong and impressively tannic from the plethora of wood.  I had bought up plenty of these, hoping they would be as good as Five.  I couldn't even trade any of them to anyone out of state--Syx was the pariah of the Surly catalog.  Currently Syx has a rating of 77 on RateBeer and 86 on Beer Advocate.  So why am I considering this a Whale?  Mainly due to its rarity at this point, and because I've been looking for an excuse to open this boozy nightmare again and see how it tastes!  And I wanted to do a Surly Anniversary beer vertical.  Hey, I set the rules for A-W-A-W so I'm counting it.

Syx with Black Swan Honey Comb oak and The Hopsecutioner bottle opener.

We did this tasting at my bar with fellow Jack Of All Brews members Steven Mathistad and Mike Lebben, after trying out Surly Five.  My wife, Sj came home in time to try this with us as well.  I opened this with my fantastic Hopsecutioner bottle opener (made for me by my blacksmith friend Martin Pansch).  I served mine into the appropriate Surly snifter, while Mike and Steven got ghetto generic ones.  I've put my impressions first, but some of that is actually after discussing as a group...it was collaborative!

Aroma:
Eric: Strong orange jam/marmalade aroma.  Quite a bit of citrus hop bite on the nose.  There is some earthy or woody wood tannin noted as swirled a bit.  Definite alcohol zip!  Kumquat and honey as warmed up.
Steven: Fruity.  Some almost Belgian yeast character.
Mike: Orange, other citrus, and honey.

Appearance:
Has the look of orange juice!  Hazy and a bright warm orange in color.  There is a thick white head that persists through the whole glass.

Flavor: 
Eric: A malty sugary sweetness up front that fades to a firm finish of candied citrus rind.  Strong wood tannins and hop bitterness make the end on this beer borderline astringent, and very dry.  Very noticeable alcohol warming, but not the high-test rocket fuel that this was when fresh.  Strong hop flavor (citrus and tart apricot) as well as the bitterness.  Honey flavors as it warms.  Dry white wine flavors as well (can't remember who mentioned this!)
Steven: Doesn't taste like it is 15%.  Possibly under attenuated/too sweet.
Mike: Very woody.  Clears on the finish.

Overall Impression:
Quite strong in several ways!  The balance has improved greatly over time, but still very boozy, bitter and tannic.  Those flavors have melded together much better than I expected.  The major aroma and flavor of candied citrus and apricot is just wild.  Much more drinkable, but still a sipper to share among friends.  We all liked this beer and as a group gave it a 4 out of 5 score.  Despite its reputation as Cletus the Slack-Jawed-Yokel of the Surly catalog, I think this beer got a raw deal when it first came out and is coming along nicely.  I'll be curious to see what happens to it when the hop continues to fade and if more sweetness takes over...

A fun experience for sure, and thanks to my wife and friends for helping out!  I've posted a link-up below so if you have a blog or web page and want to play along with your own review of this beer, just click below and follow the directions!

An InLinkz Link-up



Coming up next week, we continue our Surly Anniversary beer extravaganza with the Belgian-esque Surly Seviin!

A Whale A Week: Surly Five

It is time again for my continuing series titled A Whale A Week!  Last week I shared our tasting of Surly Four.  This week we take another trip to the sour side with Surly Brewing.  Those who are following this series will soon realize that my collection of rare beers are mostly sours, Russian Imperial stouts, or barleywines.  These styles tend to be the most cellar friendly, as well as being more difficult to brew resulting in smaller production runs.

Surly Five

This week we discuss the Quasi-Whale that is Surly Five.  I know I'm going to get some comments (and I welcome them) that the Surly anniversary beers are not rare enough to count as Whales.  If you are in that camp, think about this: each year Surly releases their anniversary beers to much fanfare and excitement from us Minnesotans.  Local liquor stores usually get one to two cases each of these wax-dipped bomber bottles.  They sell out in about a day, with a few exceptions.  One can find the beer on tap occasionally over the next month if you frequent the right places. And then it is gone.  Some of us will race around the Twin Cities buying our one or two allowed bottles per place until we have enough to add to our dragon's hoard.  Others scoff at the marketing and high cost of these beers, labeling us "Surly Fan-Boys".  Think about the limited availability here for those who stalk these beers.  Now think about someone in California or NYC lusting after these rare beers.  I think we tend to undervalue what is available to us...for instance craving Russian River's Pliny the Elder when we can get the equally tasty Surly Abrasive (available now) fairly easily here in Minnesota.

The Surly Anniversary beers have been quite a mixed bag over the years, but I appreciate the Todd Haug stretching his brewing chops to try new things.  One was a Quad/Doppelbock concoction that I never got to try.  I assume it was good.  Two was a cranberry milk stout that I first tried at a charity benefit--very tasty and tart.  That one made it to a small bottling run, but I've never actually seen one in person.  Three was a braggot, made with half honey and half grain.  I didn't like that one fresh, but a year later it was much more balanced and mellow.  I'd love to try this again now!  Four was the first of these that I loved from the get-go.  That one was a thick and creamy Imperial porter/stout with espresso and you can check out last week's review of it HERE.  If any of my friends and readers have a Two they want to share for this series please contact me!

9 out of 10 Chaos wolf soldiers love Surly Five!

Which brings us to Five.  Five was the first Surly sour ale to be bottled.  The beer is a fairly strong 7.5% ABV, dark-colored ale fermented with 100% brettanomyces yeast.  The beer was aged in red wine barrels to add wine and oak character.  Prior to the official release in 2011, I was able to try some of the unblended single barrel offerings of the beer at a Happy Gnome beer dinner and at Winterfest and really liked them.  When I first tried Five from the bottle I was actually a bit underwhelmed, as I was expecting a bit more sourness and funk from the beer.  It was more mellow than the unblended batches I had tried previously.  I had one bottle of Five last year and was impressed by how much the beer had changed since that initial tasting.  The beer currently has a Beer Advocate Rating of 91 out of 100, and a 99 on RateBeer.  Since the release of Five, Surly has now expanded and fine tuned the production methods to make the yearly release of Pentagram.  But this is how it all started!

The bottle cap is dipped in green wax with a very Metal (insert obligatory Dio hand gesture or air guitar here) goat head, pentagram and mash-paddle motif in green and white ink.  The art was from a collaboration between brewer and metal guitarist Todd Haug and local Aesthetic Apparatus.  I poured this into my Surly Darkness snifter glass to get as appropriate as could get.  Too many trips to Belgium with matching glassware has ruined me!

This week I was happy to have fellow Jack Of All Brews members Mike Lebben and Steven Mathistad over to help me out with the tasting.  Since organizing beer tastings is like herding cats (and with three of those I know all about that) we tasted ahead and did our Surly Syx entry for next week as well.  So sue me!  My wife Sj had to work late that day, but we saved her some of each so she could put in her two cents.  And let's be honest, most of these bottles were ones she ventured off in search of when they first released. We spent some time discussing the beer together and here are the highlights!

Aroma:
Eric: Very tart with hint of vinegar sourness.  Earthy notes.  I a get a little roast to this, but not acrid.  There is distinct dark cherry or possible red grape skin.  As it warms I actually pick up a little pineapple.
Mike: Musty.  Also rose-like floral aroma.
Steven: Mustiness, and almost a metallic note.

Appearance: 
Deep mahogany to garnet color.  Excellent clarity with a bit of red sparkle at edge of glass.  Fine tan head that fades quickly from view.

Flavor:
Eric: Strong acetic tartness up front but complex musty barnyard brettanomyces effect noted as well.  Roast malt seems to add some astringency to this beer, especially as it warms up.  Some tannin from the wood accentuates the astringency, but also adds complexity of flavor.  Some ripe plum and mild red wine flavors as I keep going back for more.  Very sour overall.  Body a bit thin.  Carbonation is medium.  Not surprisingly, no hop flavors.
Mike: Like a sour patch kid!  Makes the salivary glands go to town.  Vinegar flavors.
Steven: Sweet at first, but disappears quickly to a sourness.

Overall Impression: 
Eric: This is much more sour than I remember it being originally, but hasn't changed much since last year's try.  I'm thinking this is pretty much at its peak.  Despite being 100% brett fermented, there is distinct acetic acid (vinegar) character to this.  It strikes me more as a dark Flanders Red, somewhat like The Bruery's Tart of Darkness.  As it warms it seems more thin in body.  I like this beer a lot, as it is distinctly different from anything I've tried.  I have two bottles left and plan on cracking one every year until they are gone.  I initially gave it a 5, but after discussing with my cohorts, and letting it warm up, I dropped to a 4.5
Mike: Very sour.  4 (Prior to this year Mike didn't really like sours, but we've been working on him!)
Steven: Strong 4
Sj: "It's Sour!"  4.5


As luck would have it I ran across Surly Pentagram on tap at 3 Squares in Maple Grove while having lunch with my mom a few days after this tasting.  In comparison, the Pentagram had much more red wine character, as well as being less acetic and sour.  The color in Pentagram was much lighter and it lacked the bitter roast character.  They certainly share a lot of similar flavors, but the Pentagram was "easier" to drink and more mellow.  I'm curious to see if aging Pentagram will result in more of the sour character I found in the Five.

Freya gets in on the tasting action by doing her imitation of a face-hugger from Alien...

As usual I'm going to go ahead and post a free link-up below so if any other enterprising beer hoarders/reviewers want to "taste" along you can link to your own website or blog and we can get some different views.  Or feel free to just comment on the blog!

An InLinkz Link-up

Next week AWAW returns with…You guessed it Surly Syx!  Get ready to taste along and put in your two cents!


(Photo credit for the unaltered killer whale goes to Seaworld website.)

A Whale A Week: Surly Four

Well folks, time again for A Whale A Week!

The Surly Anniversary beers have been quite a mixed bag over the years, but I appreciate the brewers stretching their brewing chops to try new things.  One was a Quad/Doppelbock concoction that I never got to try.  I assume it was good.  Two was a cranberry milk stout that I first tried at a charity benefit--very tasty and tart.  That one made it to a small bottling run, but I've never actually seen one in person.  If anyone has one they want to share, I can make it worth your while!  Three was a braggot, made with half honey and half grain.  I did not like that one fresh, but a year later it was much more balanced and mellow.  I'd love to try this again now!

Elsa helps to eis our bottle of Surly Four...

Surly Four

Surly Four was the first of the anniversary beers that I loved from the get-go.  It was released in 2010, making this one a classic here in 2015!  I remember it as a thick and creamy Imperial porter/stout with espresso.   I know that they added dark roast coffee to the end of the boil process, resulting in a more burnt/roasted character than is seen in their "dry coffee" technique used for Surly Coffee Bender.  I believe that while talking to Omar about this beer, he mentioned actually eising it slightly, which increased the mouthfeel and concentrated a lot of the flavors.  For those who put stock in ratings, the beer currently has a rating of 96 on BeerAdvocate and 100 on RateBeer.  The beer clocks in at about 10% ABV.

This particular precious bottle was raided from the cellar of fellow Jack Of All Brews member Bryce Ehrman.  Dipped in blue wax, the bottle hosts wonderful artwork from fantastic and friendly local artist Adam Turman, known for his work with Surly as well as murals at Butcher & The Boar and 612 Brewery.  Bryce and my wife Sj joined me in the basement bar for the tasting this past Wednesday night after work.  I served these into Surly Darkness snifters for that added bit of appropriateness.  I've broken our comments up where we differed a bit.  Sj was verbose in her descriptions as usual.

Aroma:
Eric: Sweet maltiness with a milk chocolate character.  No hop aroma.  Some dark roast espresso as swirled.  Reminds me of the wonderful chocolate gelato from Paciugo in the Mall of America.  Slight vegetal zip as it warms.  This just smells rich and decadent overall.
Bryce:  Almost smells like it is barrel aged--vanilla and tannin.  Rich cacao and roast.

Appearance:
Eric:  Opaque and nearly black.  Large dark tan head with medium sized bubbles that persist for ages.  Some legs on the edge of the snifter.
Bryce: Deep brown mahogany with medium tan head.

Flavor:
Eric:  Sweet maltiness and almost caramel notes at first hits you with near cloying sweetness.  At the middle of the taste I get a strong smokiness that trails into a semi-burnt espresso bitterness.  That finish is strong and almost like coffee grounds, leaving you with a astringent and dry finish.  Thick and coating mouthfeel.  Balance to the sweet side, but the finish actually saves this from being cloying.  Some alcohol warming, but not burning by any means.  No hop flavors discerned.  I get some cacao/bitter chocolate as it warms.
Bryce:  Excessively sweet tasting like sugar and toffee.  More to the caramel side of sweet than to the chocolate.  Medium to heavy body and slick mouthfeel.  Slight alcohol warmth on back end.  No oxidation at all.

Overall:
Eric:  Most coffee beers I've aged have quickly lost their coffee mojo, but this one is amazingly strong despite being over four years old!  I think the astringency in this is a combination of too much dark roast malt and the coffee being added to the boil.  The smokiness is a surprise, and this almost reminds me of a milder aged Alaskan Smoked porter.  The beer improves as it warms for sure.  Overall this reminds me of chewing on a dark chocolate dipped espresso bean.  I give it…appropriately a 4!
Bryce: This beer has one of the most unique differences between the aroma and the flavor that I have come across.  This seems almost like a barrel aged Russian Imperial stout.  I also give it a 4.
Sj: "I like it!" 4

This week I'm starting to use a free link tool on each week's entry to encourage any other budding beer reviewers or bloggers to play along with me.  Just hit the button below and add a link to your page/blog and it will post in the area below.  I'll leave the link open all week so if you decide to dig one of these beers out of your cellar and try it out you can still post here.  I welcome folks to try that or even just comment here on the blog to tell me what you think of the beer!

An InLinkz Link-up

Next week we will continue our Surly run on A Whale A Week with Surly Five!  I plan to work my way through all the Surly Anniversary beers before moving on to some other bottles I have stored away in the cellar.  Stay tuned!

Oh, and here is a quick easter egg outtake from our tasting...