Beer Review - Surly Furious

A friend of ours had been down to the twin cities a few weeks ago and brought back some Surly Furious for us to try. Surly, a brewing company out of Brooklyn Center, MN cans their beer and tries to break down the stereotype that good beer only comes in bottles. Admittedly, we were a little put off by the can at first, but its about the beer inside right?

So here goes...


Style: American I.P.A.
ABV: 6.2%
IBUs: 99
Color: Amber-red
Hops: An American blend
Malts: Scottish Malts

Appearance: Cloudy appearance. Pours with a large thick head the diminishes after a few minutes. Head about a finger thick reducing down to a 1/4 finger that stays on top. Great lacing.

Smell: Nice, big aroma featuring loads of citrusy hop tones. However, the hop aroma does not overshadow the wonderful caramel malts.

Taste: While there are tons of hops that go into this brew, a near-perfect balance is produced with a beautiful caramel malt backbone. This is one beer that tastes just as it smells, a very good thing in this case. The hop tones represented in the Furious are both citrus and pine origin with some piney bitterness that lingers.

The Skinny: Wow. Now, ales are our specialty and even though we appreciate all of the ale varieties, the I.P.A. is not usually our favorite. This beer, however, provides a whole new perspective on the that whole branch of styles. Past I.P.A.s we've tried (ones that we've really liked) have not been able to strike the balance that this 99IBU monster has. Its highly drinkable and refreshing enough to have during the summer.

IN A Word: Encore

Naming the Brews - Noble Nobody's Amber Ale

For years and years men and women of the brewing world have paid homage to their animal companions through naming beers and even whole brewing operations after them. While we don't necessarily want to follow the brewers before us, we do understand how special naming a beer after something or someone you love is. To us, its not just another name on a bottle or concept to catch the consumer's eye, its a legacy that is enabled to continue every time you pick up one of the bottles and read the story on the back. While not everybody who drinks our beer knows our dog, Nemo, and his jovial nature, but we're hoping this beer and the label (in the creation process) will help share his story.

Two years ago, we broke our lease in a one bedroom apartment and moved across town in the midst of a blizzard. The reason for breaking the lease was for our lovingly loyally companion, Nemo. Nemo, a sheltie-retriever mix, was a shelter dog that had spent several months in and out of the pen. Born a stray, Nemo was taken in by the dog catcher for his first trip to the animal shelter. A few weeks later, he found himself in a house full of children and people who undoubtedly appreciated him. This all changed when the family had to move and could no longer keep Nemo because they were moving to a location where dogs were not allowed, so back to the shelter he went. In the first 10 months of his life, Nemo had been a stray and dropped off at the kennels twice. When we found him, he was dirty and a little nervous but he had such a big heart and came straight to us. We moved out of that little apartment and into a house picking him up that same day. We vowed that day that he would never see the inside of an animal shelter again and that all of our dogs would be rescued.



Two years later as I write this, Nemo lays close to me on the couch never wanting to be further than 20 feet away. Our companionship with Nemo is one of dependence but not just one sided, we need him as much as he needs us.

Nemo had his name before we adopted him and the reasons for the name are unknown. However, Nemo is the most fitting appellation as it is Latin for Nobody or No-one, what he must've felt like the first 10 months of his life. We hope that every time you pick up a bottle of Noble Nobody's Amber Ale you will share memories of your animal companions and feel part of the joy we receive from our Nemo Nobody.

We haven't started selling our beer yet but when we do we would like to donate 10% of the earnings to our local humane society and rescue networks so that other animals can get the same opportunity Nemo had.

Slainte!

Finally...

We know its been a long time since our last post and yes we owe some sort of explanation, but the truth is... we've been busy/lazy. Since the trip to Ohio in early May, we've been having a difficult time getting back into the swing of things work related and brewing related. Additionally, the super garden discussed in the previous post has been planted and with the planting and regular maintenance involved, the brewing has sadly been put on the back burner. We are happy to say that this is not the case anymore! On Saturday (or Sunday) a batch of beer will be brewed, although it is still yet to be determined what variety it will be.

In our own news involving beer, we have the following updates. The Ohio trip was a great time with most of the time spent with family. The Great Lakes Brewery tasting and dinner was awesome as we got to try four of GLB's best brews: Eliot Ness Amber Lager, Dortmunder Gold Lager, Grassroots Ale, and Edmund Fitzgerald Porter. The Edmund Fitzgerald Porter is the most decorated porter style in America. Also, while in Ohio, a trip to World Market was taken to try some of the beers from other nations. Because most of them were consumed in the same night and this was almost a month ago, all of them are not remembered.

The trip to the Great Lakes Brewery was a blast but we quickly found out that they had canceled tours for the day. We consoled ourselves over several pints and some delicious locally grown mushroom pizza with gorgonzola. Not only does this company make great beer but their food is ridiculously amazing.

On our own brewing front... we still have the I.P.A to look forward to on the bottling process. We tried to bottle the Choco, Orango, Cayenno Craziness Stout but it died during the bottling process due to technical difficulties. It did taste pretty good, before it found itself on the floor of our kitchen.

We will be back on the brewing bandwagon in the next few weeks and continue to stockpile full bottles instead of the several hundred empties our friends have helped us accumulate.

Here is somewhat of a list of the beer we've tried over the last month or so:

Duvel
Dogfish Head 90 minute IPA
Wexford Irish Cream Ale
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barley Wine
Guinness 250 Anniversary Stout
Samuel Adams White Ale
Rogue Cayenne Ale
Rogue Mocha Porter
New Belgium Skinny Dip
New Belgium Mighty Arrow
New Belgium Sunshine Wheat
Oxford Organic Wheat Ale
Buffalo Bill's Blueberry Oatmeal Stout
New Glarus Fat Squirrel
Capital Brewery Island Wheat Ale
Great Lakes Brewery Edmund Fitzgerald Porter
Great Lakes Brewery Eliot Ness Amber Lager
Great Lakes Brewery Dortmunder Gold Lager
Great Lakes Brewery Grassroots Ale
Great Lakes Brewery Burning River Pale Ale
Great Lakes Brewery Commodore Perry I.P.A.

Slainte!

National Homebrew Day!

Happy National Homebrew Day everybody.

It's kind of sad to say but we did not know this until dinking around on the internet a while and we happened across this interesting fact. Tonight, I will be attending a beer tasting held by the Lorain County Chamber of Commerce in Ohio and will be part of just 50 people who will get to experience this. The event is hosted by the Diso's Bistro and will be put on by the Great Lakes Brewing Company. On Saturday, we will then tour the Great Lakes Brewery and eat at their Brewpub before heading off to catch our beloved Cleveland Indians. On a side note, we will also be going to the Westside Market in Cleveland, one of my favorite places to experience the diversity of the city and to really see Northern Ohioans.

Slainte!

Taxford

Super Garden!

This coming summer will be quite a change from years in the past as we are no located in Grand Forks, ND instead of Rapid City, SD. They're neighboring states, we know, but the climates, landscape and urbanized surroundings vary greatly. The best part of the relocation process is getting to experience new things and meet new people. Luckily, we've settled in comfortably in the Grand Forks area and have made great friends.

It is with some of these friends that we are both proud and excited to grow a garden with. We have rented a 20' x 40' plot of land from All Seasons Garden Center and will be planting tons of veggies and fruits. We know that this has nothing to do with beer and we wouldn't normally post something like this on the brewing blog, but we (the gardening group) have started up another blog that will be updated somewhat regularly during the grow season as a way for us to keep track of notes and for you to be able to follow our gardening endeavor. The blog, created by Matt Hartman, is located here: http://met-sg.blogspot.com/. We hope you fully enjoy both blogs and let us know if there is anything we can do to keep you interested.

Slainte,

Taxford