Beer Review: Surly Bender and Surly Coffee Bender

I've made no secret of my love for Surly Brewing's excellent beers. It's less than surprising, then, that I plunked down another week of my lunch money to have two more of theirs shipped to NYC - Surly Bender (5.1% ABV) and Surly Coffee Bender (5.1% ABV).

The interesting part of this tasting, then, was that it was to be an uphill battle against one of my stylistic prejudice. Most of the Brown Ales that I'd tried so far had been disappointingly bland, wielding mild flavors in inoffensive but unsatisfying ways. I figured if there was any brewery that could change my mind on this style, it would be Omar Ansari and Todd Haugh's.

As a bit of context, Surly's story started with Omar's home-brewing hobby. With each successive tasty victory, he built his confidence and skills. After a decade of hop and malt fueled DIY, he got a fancy-pants beer education, and decided in 2004 that he would throw his hat into the ring officially with a full-scale commercial brewery. Following this decision, Omar met Todd at the 2004 Craft Brewer's Conference in San Diego (which is the industry's CES / Detroit Auto Show / Davos equivalent). There, he pitched the then-head-brewer from Rock Bottom in Minneapolis on the idea of joining up to form their own brewery. A year and many logistical hurdles later (shipping, engineering, and even legislative), Omar and Todd had converted Omar's family's old industrial abrasives manufacturing facility into what would become one of the most well-regarded breweries on earth.

Surly! Credit to beermaniacs.com

A great backstory is one thing; great beer can be quite another. I cracked open a can each of Bender and Coffee Bender, and poured them out for the tasting:

Bender came out a rich cola color, with a 3/4 finger layer of root-beer foam atop. The initial aroma was sweet malt with plenty of toasted grain coming through. Bender opened with a light-roasted coffee taste, citrusy and herbaceous. Baking cocoa followed, segueing into a smooth anchoring malt. The close featured a slight lactic metallic border over strong maltiness. Definitely a stronger entry into the Brown Ale canon - undoubtedly well-crafted, but still not my particular cup of tea: 3.75/5.

Coffee Bender, on the other hand, authoritatively trumpeted that it was my cup of tea, or rather, coffee-beer, from the first whiff. The can promised that the Surly team had developed a special brewing technique that incorporated actual cold-brew coffee into the beer, and the opening aromatic note 100% delivered on that claim. Waves of intense, dark French Roast cold-press coffee aroma cascaded outward from the glass to mouthwatering effect. This brew was the same cola color as its coffee-poor substrate, but featured a finer, thinner, coffee-colored foam atop. I couldn't get over the depth of black iced coffee smell that emanated from the glass, so strong that it triggered some deep Pavlovian association with sitting in office chair in the summer and crunching numbers in a spreadsheet. Thankfully, this connection didn't have to manifest, so instead, I got to drink beer. Smooth sips yielded what could be called the gustatory equivalent of My Bloody Valentine's shoegaze wall-of-sound - every angle and cant of black iced coffee enjoyment that I could remember reverberated stunningly on my dazed palate. After this initial coffee volley, there was an oatmeal smooth transition into a light Brown Ale body flush with toasted vanilla and hint of dark chocolate. The only negative I found here was that same lactic metallic edge that Bender had featured, but successive sips seemed to dim this impression somewhat while reinforcing Coffee Bender's many virtues. One of the most gratifying things about this beer is that while it delivers on many of the tastes that make Stouts and Imperial Stouts tasty (coffee, chocolate, vanilla), it eschews the heaviness of body and mouthfeel that seem endemic to those styles. It therefore makes a compelling case as a go-to gateway for coffee drinkers to start to appreciate craft beer, as well as for status on the all-star team of extremely drinkable, refreshing craft beers. Overall, a very strong 4.25/5, making this my second favorite entry from Surly behind their world-class Imperial IPA, Abrasive.

Further sampling of each (I had four cans of Bender and eight of Coffee Bender) gave me the opportunity to confirm these tasting notes, and to share these two excellent beers with as many friends as possible. It was very gratifying having a number of buds who normally avoid beer enthusiastically admitting that Coffee Bender was "actually pretty great". I tip my hat to Omar and Todd for their (at this point expected) excellency at their craft - for making beer both democratically accessible and simultaneously fiercely interesting.

You can look forward to more reviews on their great brews as I get ahold of them, and perhaps longer profile of their stirring history of proactive legislative advocacy in favor of a Minnesota that's more friendly to craft beer and its makers. Until then, drink Surly!