It’s Thanksgiving eve, and we just finished making burgers with a pretzel bun. They were incredibly good, and – having polished off the other three of these beers – knew it would be perfect to help wash down the burger. I picked up a four pack of this brew a couple months ago when I was up in Minnesota for a doctor appointment. I’d heard quite a bit about Surly Brewing, so I was eager to try their beers. I reviewed the Surly Bender shortly after my trip, and had their Bitter Brewer at the Oregon Brewers Festival a couple years ago.

Location: Poured into a Sam Adams perfect pint glass from the pint can at my home in Bloomington, IL.

Numbers: 6.2% ABV, 99 IBUs, ~210 Calories

Appearance & Aroma: It’s a dark rusty red-brown color and slightly hazy. The head is thick and creamy, and had retention and lacing that were better than almost any other beer I’ve had. The aroma is a mix of resin, pine, and citrus hops.

Taste & Feel: The body is medium and the mouthfeel is smooth and creamy from the head on it. There’s a sweet caramel maltiness up front with some citrus in the background. A resin-like hop flavor comes in during the middle transitioning out of the caramel maltiness. The citrus and resin hop flavors are joined by a good dose of bitterness in the finish, with the caramel maltiness still noticeably present in the background. The resin and citrus hop flavors and bitterness lasted for a minute or two in the aftertaste.

Food Pairing: There’s a good mix of caramel maltiness, resiny and citrusy hop flavors that come out of this beer. For me, it makes a great pairing with a burger, and the caramel maltiness really complemented the pretzel bun we had with our burgers this evening.

Overall Impression: This beer has a lot of flavor, both from the hops and the caramel malts. I’d never guess it was only 6.2% ABV with the amount of flavor in this beer. Several things combine to make this a really good AIPA. First, the creamy head had retention and lacing better than any beer I can remember. Second, the caramel maltiness stood out and remained present throughout. Finally, the hop flavors and bitterness were blended nicely with great resin and citrusy highlights. Overall, I really enjoyed this beer, and highly recommend it if you can get your hands on some.

My Rating:

Reader Ratings[five-star-rating]