It’s been a nice couple of days sitting around the house not doing a whole lot. Tonight, I went out and got some Chinese, and after dinner decided to crack open this can I picked up in Minnesota a few months ago. As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve heard a lot of great things about Surly, so I picked up a few four packs of their beers when I was up there.

The can says, “It’s been said: “It’s easier to brew an extremely hoppy beer than an extremely balanced beer.” And you know us, we are always looking for the easy way out, so we jumped on the West Coast IPA Bandwagon and brewed this dry and hoppy ale. “Surly’s a little bit of a one-trick pony, they just brew gimmick beers,” and maybe we are OVERRATED, but at the end of the day, it’s just a beer. If you like it, great, so do we. If you only liked us when we were small, then leave this one on the shelf. Let one of the fanboys grab it.”

Location: Poured into a Sam Adams Perfect pint glass at my home in Bloomington, IL.

Numbers: 7.3% ABV, 69 IBUs, 15.5º Plato OG, 4.5 ºSRM, ~200 Calories

Ingredients: Malts: 2-Row, Belgian Crystal; Hops: Columbus, Centennial, Cascade, El Dorado; Yeast: English Ale

Appearance & Aroma: It’s golden-yellow in color and slightly hazy, with a good amount of carbonation in it. It’s got a fluffy off-white head – about a quarter inch thick – with great retention and lacing, along with a nice citrusy hop aroma.

Taste & Feel: The body is medium, and the mouthfeel is smooth, with just a little bit of hop crispness. There’s a honey-bready maltiness up front, with a citrusy hop flavor dominant. The honey-citrus flavors grow throughout, with a citrusy and piney bitterness gently coming on in the finish. The hop bitterness and flavors last for a minutes or so in the aftertaste.

Food Pairing: This beer has a lot of hop flavor and bitterness, which makes it a great pairing for a flavorful burger or mixed cheese pizza.

Overall Impression: This beer has a good amount of hop flavor and bitterness, and is a very good “west coast style” IPA. I enjoyed the mix of flavors and bitterness, along with the honey flavors the malt seemed to add. Even with the big hoppiness, it had a malt backbone that could easily stand up to it. It’s a pretty drinkable beer for most hopheads. Overall, it’s a good beer with a good hop flavor and bitterness.

My Rating:

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