[Local] Surly SurlyFest

Continuing with my trend of reviewing fall seasonal releases, I'll cover one of the local favorites: SurlyFest from Surly Brewing Company in Brooklyn Center, MN.  When it comes to craft beer in Minnesota, most people I know think of Surly.  Furious has become something of a figurehead for craft beer, and it's something I'll be reviewing soon.  Surly has a way of taking a style and putting their own spin on it, defying typical beer style definitions. In typical style, SurlyFest is actually far from most Oktoberfest lagers, traditional to Munich and the festival they share the name with.  There are many American interpretations with varying degrees of accuracy, but Surly says to hell with it and just brews a tasty, interesting lager.  SurlyFest includes rye in the grain bill, and they only use a single hop variety and even dry hop the beer!

I normally use a tasting glass for reviews, but this begged for a mug!

Style: "Oktoberfest"

ABV: 6.0%

IBUs: 34

Availability: September (released, it might be around through the fall)

[Quick Notes] This gorgeous, slightly hazy amber-orange beer wafts sweet biscuity, bready notes, pastry sweetness, rye spiciness, and plenty of hoppy mandarin, lemon, mango, pineapple, and grapefruit.  The flavor follows well, with the sweet bread notes balancing with zesty, more robust rye.  The hop character is less pronounced than in the aroma, but the tropical and citrus notes come out well, along with a little zesty grassiness.  This beer, true to the lager character, finishes cleanly and crisply, with only moderate dryness in the finish.  This beer goes down really easily, with each sip closely following the last.

[Appearance] I'm not normally one to care much for how beers look, but this one is just downright beautiful. The hazy orange/amber beer lets a radiant hue shine through it, like the diffuse rays of a fall sunset through an amber field of rye. The head is nice and fluffy, an off white to light tan color, and it sticks around pretty well and leaves a bit of lacing. I seriously held this beer up to the light for a good minute, just admiring the color (my friends would argue I do this every DAMN time).

[Aroma] Oh yeah, this definitely isn't your typical Oktoberfest. The aroma has a lot of complexity without being overwhelming, but it is certainly prominent. It leads with wonderful sweetbread and biscuity notes, sort of sweet pastry bread without too much sugar to it. The rye is definitely noticeable, lending a slightly rustic spiciness to the aroma, helping to balance out the sweeter bready aromas. The malt aromas transition into this killer hop kick, with notes of sweet mandarin orange, lemon, mango, pineapple and grapefruit, all a blend of juicy and zesty. It's not a massive, juicy hoppiness, but a drier, crisper character that really makes me think "lager".

[Flavor] This brew cashes the check its aroma writes, as the flavor is just as awesome as the aroma. There's the approachable, biscuity, sweetbread maltiness that lays down a nice base of flavor. It's not a heavy or overly sweet flavor, simply providing something a little more substantial than the typical pale malt. The rye adds some nice complexity in the form of a little sharper, rustic spiciness. Not heat, not really "cinnamon/nutmeg" spiciness, just a rye bread sort of thing. It's a bit tough to describe. Overall, however, the maltiness is relatively soft and round in its character, giving your palate something to chew on a little bit. The hop flavor is a little toned down from the aroma, just a little less of the tropical fruit and a little more grass. There's still plenty of mandarin orange, lemon, grapefruit, and just a little mango and pineapple. The flavors are more dry than juicy and slowly fade into a grassier hoppy note. That's a lot of complexity for one hop variety (which I believe is Sterling). The finish is nice and crisp, but not overly long or dry. The flavor just sort of drops off cleanly, leaving a hint of hoppy aftertaste, but it just makes it really easy to drink.

[Mouthfeel] The body of this beer is moderate and the carbonation is just shy of moderate, making this one go down really easily. Combined with the quick and crisp finish to the flavor, a pint of SurlyFest went away shockingly quickly.

[Overall] This beer really bursts the Oktoberfest style bubble, combining biscuity malts and rye flavor with wonderfully fresh hoppiness in a remarkably drinkable package. Surly manages to take a few characteristics that seem a bit odd at first and meld them into a remarkably balanced and drinkable beer. "Balance" is a word tossed around quite often, but this beer manages to take equally delicious malt and hop profiles and combine them with a very drinkable mouthfeel, all without sacrificing the amplitude of flavor. 

Surly hits this one out of the park with a crazy spin on the Oktoberfest style. This is the best fall seasonal I've had so far this year, and I would certainly recommend picking up a 4-pack if you spy it around you. Surly can be a bit pricy, but if you feel like upgrading to something that costs $2.50 a pint (which is a stellar bar price, when you think about it), this one will certainly hit the spot this fall.

Cheers!