Surly 2020 Beer Calendar

We in Chicagoland are starting to see Surly Fourteen Barleywine on shelves. Only one review on site and a search of this forum finds no discussion. What do you guys think?

 

Just had a can of it tonight. I enjoyed it, but I'm not sure it was $14 good.

 

Looking forward to trying it & not having to hunt hard, since so many of my fellow BAs have boycotted the brewery!

 

Most of the Surly whales(?) have been sitting on the shelf for anywhere from a few days to a few months for a year or more now anyway.

Surly 14 is readily available, for example, even for online ordering at some stores. Let me know if it is worth $13 a pint (which is what one store has it priced at). I like barleywine, but ...

(PS, I'm not boycotting Surly, even though I suspect Omar is pretty much a dick who really doesn't give a damn. I'm enjoying a pint of Axe Man as I type.)

 

I grabbed 3 boxed cans of Fourteen today at like $11/12 per. Opened one tonight. I really like this - like a lot. A solid BA American Barleywine. I feel like it’s reasonably priced and I pick up a ton of barrel. And I can solo it. Solid brew.

 

I grabbed a box as well. The two places closest to my house are already out. I am going to try to dig up another box or two when I get home on Sunday.

 

The brews remain pretty solid, and being a douche-canoe isn't automatically disqualifying for me either.

 

Don't care what anyone says but after so many years I still haven't found something that tops Surly Furious and Coffee Bender. Losing OG bender was brutal.

 

Losing Surlyfest from distribution was the one that hit me the most over the years. And since Surly Furious is around just about everywhere, you have to really make sure you get somewhat fresh Furious, because old Furious is no Furious I want.

 

I just saw that Surly has a page on their site that lists all the beers they've ever made. Man is it heartbreaking to see how much we've lost. I got into craft beer around 2015 and probably 70% of the beer I bought at that time was Surly. Usually some mix of Furious, Coffee Bender, OG Bender, Cynic Ale, Overrated, Merica, and some other limited releases they had. Never liked Hell or Axe Man. Now I'm down to just Furious and Coffee Bender and the occasional limited release/seasonal brew. I don't blame Surly, times and tastes are changing and they have to adapt.

On a related note, I just picked up a variety pack and it's excellent! Furious, GrindCore and two other decent beers. Disappointing, however, that all the beers were canned in August.

 

Anybody know when they plan on dropping Abrasive this year? Couple weeks?