Surly Nein

Interesting. I find it odd that they chose to have a varient of a beer that no one has had yet. Would you not just present it as is, considering the expectation of research and development?

 

Yeah, I was thought it odd as well. Perhaps the actual Nein isn't finished to their liking yet (a la Eight's late release), and they pulled a bit from the ferms to present at the beer fest and just decided to carb it up (or not, in this case) in a cask. The fact that "it didn't carb up like they thought it would" says to me that presenting it at APN (a massive, awesome, well-attended beer festival where a lot of breweries bring out some very interesting one-offs or their big guns) was sort of a last-minute decision. Who knows...it's the enigma that is Surly.

 

Surly has a track record of offering cask versions of upcoming beers at festivals. Nothing new here

 

I hadn't thought about it, but you are right... I remember pentagram (pre-Five) was at a few festies, Seviin was at Firkin Fest at the gnome, Eight was at ABR... I don't remember seeing Syx early, but could have just missed it.

 

As I recall...These were just casks and or firkins, not variants. Meaning that didn't add anything to them, like the Nein+star anise.

 

They did a bourbonized version of Darkness at ABR some time ago.

 

From first hand experience bourbon barrel-aged Darkness (cask) appeared at the 2011 ABR & 2011 Darkness Days. Maybe for Ten, Surly will surprise us at their price point of $20-25/750mL with a generally fantastic, reliable & less wacky anniversary beer. Something along the lines of bourbon barrel aged Darkness could be a start, as would revisiting Four.

 

Nein is on the Great Taste of the Midwest app.
"Imperial Smoked Hefeweizen. Our ninth anniversary beer, brewed with oak-smoked wheat malt, fermented with German Hefeweizen yeast, and aged on charred oak. Flavors of smoked toffee and bananas."
10% ABV

 

I asked Corey Shovein from Surly about pricing on Nein at a Surly event over the weekend, he said it would be in line with Smoke, so not as high as the other recent anniversary beers or Pentagram.

Nein will be on tap at Great Taste this weekend, so there should be some more initial thoughts/reviews. Sure having it outside the context of a big event like GTMW/ABR would be different, though.

 

Part of me wants to get a bottle but nothing you said right there interests me in anyway

 

They must have had left-over star anise from Devil's Work...

 

Surly Nein release today at Black Forest Inn from 4 -10 pm. Its ready!

 

Nein will also be at the Butcher and Boar event on 10/4.

 

I guess this will show up in stores this week. I'll have to buy one just for the bottle. Are we looking at ~$20 like last years?

 

I asked about price and Surly rep told me would be priced in line with Smoke.

 

It's good that Surly is dropping the prices $5 or so on Smoke and now Nein to ~$15. Perhaps Surly has noticed their bombers (except Darkness) are sitting on shelves a lot longer in the past year or two. But then again their prices on 1349.....

 

Bottles are in shops already, I guess. Vinifera just posted that they have it now. 1 bottle limit, but I don't know the price.

 

Princeton's also has it in.