‪Surly to close Brewer's Table, chef out.

If only I could easily find Furious or Todd the Axeman that isn't already at least a month old when it hits shelves, I would buy it. Actually, a month old would be better than what I have seen recently. When I looked the other week, everything was from April.

It is also annoying that with Abrasive being seasonal, the first drop has been close to a month old.

 

Thanks for the suggestion I'll call Omar tomorrow and set it up.

 

100% agree there is no reason that Surly can't ensure fresh IPA's are on shelves locally! I feel as the consumer base that helped make them they at the very least owe us that.

 

I love that Todd is available. I hate what it costs.

 

Since this thread is now a discussion about Todd freshness, does anyone know if their distributor has been sitting on kegs like they do cans? It has been a couple months since I bought a 4-pack of Todd because of price-to-freshness ratio, but I just had my wedding venue order a keg and now I'm concerned a 3+ month old one is going to show up.

 

I pick up one or two kegs of Todd a month from ZIPPS that are usually 30-45 days out. It is still very good and I have never had a bad keg - it's a crowd pleaser.

 

I've actually been drinking more Furious this summer than I have in years. It's normally fresh (within a month) and for <$8 at SLP Costco. On the other hand, I've bought 2 month old Todd from there a couple times and it seems way off. I'm almost leaning towards a bad batch, but whatever it is, it's not the delicious Todd it's supposed to be.

 

I'd say my concerns with Surly are far less about the beer qualifying as trade bait, and more about the actual product quality and speed to market their distro sees. Their new brews have been average at best which is really a bummer since I'd think they actually have the means to develop an awesome barrel aged our sour program these days. Just my two cents though...

 

My average rating for Surly beers in the post-Haug era is higher than my average rating for the beers of any other Minnesota brewery, although slightly lower than in the Haug era. I appreciate that the new brewers are churning out a greater variety of beers than Haug was willing to do, and most of them have been good to very good, although there have been a few more misses than historically was the case. The recent IPAs have been outstanding (Hopshifter 8 through 10 and Thanks Obama), and the Pils series has featured some of the best pilsners I've ever tasted, in large part because Surly isn't hung up on the counterproductive notion that pilsners, unlike IPAs, must be limited to traditional hops.

That said, I certainly wouldn't mind seeing more barrel-aged sours; supposedly the new brewers are bigger sour fans than Haug was. Also, I'd like to see Surly start canning some of the more impressive taproom-only releases to remind consumers who don't go to the Beer Hall or Brewer's Table that Surly can still brew with the best of them. Some of the backlash against Surly derives from the fact that Surly has watered down its canned products line with excessively accessible beer for the masses such as #Merica!, Xtra-Citra, and Rising North. Canned Hopshifter, with a new set of hops with each release, should generate some buzz, unless the New England IPA megafad has crowded out that possibility.

 

That summarizes my current perspective. I haven't tried #Merica!, but Xtra-Citra is not very good at all (IMO).

Rising North is better. I bought my first of it last week, and I have been enjoying it. But even so, I suspect it does not stand apart from other pale ales available on the shelf from midwest brewers (pending my own personal comparison tasting, perhaps later this week... I'm thinking Rising North, pseudoSue-FL, Castle Danger 17-7, and Fair State Pahlay'Ahlay).

It (Rising North) is clearly not up to any of the Decorah-brewed pale ales, but in fairness, it was not meant to be I don't think. It is more of a tail-gating beer (but a good one).

 

I couldn't agree more. Xtra Citra is ok, but if you let it warm up, it almost becomes a drain pour. Drink it fast!

 

Anyone have Xtra Citra lately? Did they change their recipe because it was much hazier and much tastier than I remember it both on tap and in cans. I actually asked if they accidentally poured me a Hopstar at the bar I had a couple pours at.

 

I've had it on tap at a golf course and also like it way more than when it first came out. I didn't like it nearly as much as hopstar, but it was definitely improved.

 

Per today's Star Tribune, a "pizza joint" will replace the Brewer's Table by 'the end of the year".

 

http://www.startribune.com/surly-br...le-restaurant-with-new-pizza-joint/446105473/

 

Couldn't have gone in a more opposite direction. Oh well, plenty of amazing restaurants in TC.

 

Don't count on that being completely opposite. Did you read the Strib article? It looks like they are going in a "gourmet" direction with the pizza. This won't be Domino's-by-Surly!

 

Yeah, I read it. At least it's Neapolitan, but pizza isn't remotely close to what I consider fine dining, no matter how gourmet the ingredients.

I'm weird and don't care much for pizza in general though (Neapolitan is very good though).

 

I'll just leave this here.

 

Gross, Neapolitan= burnt flatbread with sparse toppings.