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Five
Surly Brewing Company


Beer Geek Stats
| Print Shelf Talker
- From:
- Surly Brewing Company
- Minnesota, United States
- Style:
- Wild Ale
- ABV:
- 7.5%
- Score:
- 91
- Avg:
- 4.08 | pDev: 14.46%
- Reviews:
- 139
- Ratings:
- Status:
- Retired
- Rated:
- Mar 22, 2021
- Added:
- Aug 23, 2011
- Wants:
- 179
- Gots:
- 225
SCORE
91
Outstanding
91
Outstanding


Notes:
In the Surly brewhouse, brewing our Anniversary beers mean one thing: forget what ya know and try something different. In honor of FIVE glorious years we bring you a 100% Brettanomyces fermented dark ale aged in red wine barrels. Flavors of sour cherry, tobacco, oak and classic "brett" barnyard funk balanced by dark Munich malt chewiness. Enjoy immediately or age at cellar temperature for a couple years.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Reviewed by Sigmund from Norway
3.55/5 rDev -13%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
3.55/5 rDev -13%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
Shared bottle, RBNAG 2011. Dark brown colour. Sourish aroma and flavour, farmhouse notes, lemony and gueuze-like despite the darker colour. A fairly decent beer.
Mar 22, 2021Reviewed by StonedTrippin from Colorado
4.23/5 rDev +3.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
4.23/5 rDev +3.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
this is drinking really nicely right now, the vinegar aspect of the sourness seems lower than some of their other beers like pentagram, and the red wine fruitiness here is incredible, a very complex beer that seems now like it had to be a little bit ahead of its time when it was first released. deep burgundy color, aroma and flavor both of slight farmy brett, bacterial sourness, oak and red wine tannins, sweet dried cherries, some german tasting malt oddly enough, earthy brewed black tea, raisin, and even cranberry, lots going on here. the sourness is middle of the spectrum, the funk is lighter than that, lots of room for the red wine notes to shine through, and lots of room for the grain, which often gets overlooked or is an afterthought in barrel aged wild beer, but here, its a distinguishing feature, dark and toasty but without the roasted bitter element, bready and european tasting, a neat platform for sure. this has done great with age too, no oxidation at all, and a super well integrated maturity about it and the sourness has not at all run away or taken over this. really well made beer, one of my favorite sours i have had from surly. they should make this one again, seems more complex and interesting than pentagram, might just be the age...
Mar 22, 2017Reviewed by Stevedore from Oregon
4.34/5 rDev +6.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
4.34/5 rDev +6.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
750ml light green wax bottle. Served in a Surly snifter.
Pours a dark brown body, one finger offwhite head, fair bit of retention, not much in way of lacing. It looks like a dark wine, really. Smells of lemon, touch of leather, deep rich roasted chocolate, touch of oak and red vinous character. A moderate acetic acidity. It reminds me a lot of Side Project Black & Wild in that regard. Very promising aroma that combines chocolate and acidity. Flavour impresses more, especially for a five year old bottle of Five. Milk chocolate, roast, touch of espresso acidity, oak, moderate acetic acidity, cocoa, touch of leather and lemon, with red vinous flavours lingering on the palate. Really nice complexity to it. Mouthfeel is medium bodied, lighter on the carbonation. Vinous flavours cling to the palate on the finish. Overall, a very damn nice brett wild with a nice vinous character to it. As mentioned previously, this reminded me a lot of Black & Wild in its complexity and combination of a dark beer with Brett and acidity. This has aged very well.
Sep 04, 2016Pours a dark brown body, one finger offwhite head, fair bit of retention, not much in way of lacing. It looks like a dark wine, really. Smells of lemon, touch of leather, deep rich roasted chocolate, touch of oak and red vinous character. A moderate acetic acidity. It reminds me a lot of Side Project Black & Wild in that regard. Very promising aroma that combines chocolate and acidity. Flavour impresses more, especially for a five year old bottle of Five. Milk chocolate, roast, touch of espresso acidity, oak, moderate acetic acidity, cocoa, touch of leather and lemon, with red vinous flavours lingering on the palate. Really nice complexity to it. Mouthfeel is medium bodied, lighter on the carbonation. Vinous flavours cling to the palate on the finish. Overall, a very damn nice brett wild with a nice vinous character to it. As mentioned previously, this reminded me a lot of Black & Wild in its complexity and combination of a dark beer with Brett and acidity. This has aged very well.
Reviewed by rodbeermunch from Nevada
2.22/5 rDev -45.6%
look: 1.75 | smell: 2.25 | taste: 2.25 | feel: 2.25 | overall: 2.25
2.22/5 rDev -45.6%
look: 1.75 | smell: 2.25 | taste: 2.25 | feel: 2.25 | overall: 2.25
Brown, ruddy, turbid pour, yields zero head. Swamp water. Rotten eggs and dark fruit aroma.
A 2 on the 1-10 sour scale, lot of vinegar/acetic acid notes, brown malt, wet wood and other assorted dark fruits. Like, did they fuck a quad up and call it a wild ale? A little bit of leather, funk, ashtray.
Total fail of a beer.
Feb 03, 2016A 2 on the 1-10 sour scale, lot of vinegar/acetic acid notes, brown malt, wet wood and other assorted dark fruits. Like, did they fuck a quad up and call it a wild ale? A little bit of leather, funk, ashtray.
Total fail of a beer.
Rated by Shuga from Illinois
4.65/5 rDev +14%
look: 5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
4.65/5 rDev +14%
look: 5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
One of the best sours I have had.
Dec 25, 2015Reviewed by YalovaIA from Iowa
4.5/5 rDev +10.3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
4.5/5 rDev +10.3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
This was fantastic treat shared by Omar at Reds Alehouse on Surly/Toppling Goliath night. Poured from a (very hard to open) bottle, it was beautiful dark brown/red and tasted fantastic. The sour and wood were perfectly intertwined. I real loved this beer.
Dec 07, 2015Rated by rodmanfor3 from Vermont
3.65/5 rDev -10.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75
3.65/5 rDev -10.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75
Opened in May of 2015. Good beer for the style but there was a damp soil finish to the taste.
May 17, 2015Reviewed by VelvetExtract from Massachusetts
4.05/5 rDev -0.7%
4.05/5 rDev -0.7%
Poured a dark brown hue. Mild, dark head fizzles away. The aroma comes off as aged, soggy oak, funked dark malt and sourness. Smells of aggressively puckering Brett. The flavor, despite a few years in the bottle is very sour yet well integrated. The oak has seemed to die away a bit but it still brings elements to the flavor. Dark, rotty fruit, Barolo wine. Sour. Body is interestingly full. Carbonation is softer; perhaps losing its edge. Overall, I had this next to two vintages of Pentagram and liked this a lot more. A tasty, aged treat.
Had by bottle.
Aug 19, 2014Had by bottle.
Five from Surly Brewing Company
Beer rating:
91 out of
100 with
510 ratings
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