Hopry Short # 8 | Surly |Bender| 5.1% ABV
American Brown Ale | Brooklyn Center, MN | Rating: 89/100
Surly Brewing Company, out of Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, gets a lot of respect in the craft beer world for producing some very good tasting brews. They also get a lot of respect for being one of the first (and best) breweries to can a majority of their lineup. Their Bender is an American Brown Ale that garners a pretty good amount of respect from me personally because it’s one of the best I’ve had in the style. I say that fully admitting, too, that Brown Ales are one of my least favorite styles. Bender pours a very dark and rich brown with an amazing two-tone colored head. The smell is very malty right up front, but also puts off a beautiful floral component. Its bitterness isn’t overwhelming, but is just where you’d want it to be so that everything evens out nicely. Certainly worth finding a couple of these for your fridge because I imagine this one would even age nicely over the course of a year.
Others: DFH Indian Brown Ale, Mikkeller Jackie Brown, Big Sky Moose Drool
Check out all sessions of The Hopry here.
This beer can be found in these states.
On the iPod: Fink “Sort of Revolution”
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Posted by theReaper16 on August 8, 2010 at 12:42 PM
I like the angle on this short. Each time you raise the glass to smell or taste the beer I get a quick fit of jealousy at seeing that bottle of The Perfect Storm.
Posted by bubba83 on August 8, 2010 at 2:15 PM
I really liked this short. As reaper said, the beer porn in the back didn’t hurt
Coffee Bender is great! I’d suggest a side by side tasting to taste the difference the coffee makes if you can.
Posted by thehopry on August 8, 2010 at 5:54 PM
To be honest, I really didn’t care for the coffee bender when I had it last week. It was bad per se, but it tasted like iced coffee to me. I don’t mind if coffee is added to enhance a beer, but it tasted like coffee first and then beer. Not my thing…
Posted by Big Mike on August 8, 2010 at 2:23 PM
I like the angles and the backdrops you use in your shorts. I agree with the previous 2 posts about the beer porn in the background being nice.
Posted by thehopry on August 9, 2010 at 10:20 AM
I, too, like that the shorts give you guys something different things to look at. That was part of the point of starting them (among other reasons) I also like that it makes the videos feel more impromptu because I assume people get tired of looking at the same backdrops all the time. The shorts give me a little more flexibility than the normal sessions.