How I got into Craft Beer (Part 1)

**Since I will be busy with moving over the next few days, I will not the have time to do beer reviews. Instead of leaving you all hanging, I put together some materials in advance to hold you all over until I get settled in. Hopefully you'll like reading these as much as I enjoyed putting it all together**

Many of us fondly remember when we had our first beer, but some of us also remember our first time discovering the world of craft beer. For some, it was trying out something new at a friends house. For others, it came to us when we were out at the bar and were curious to try out the new draft offering.

I often get asked how I got into craft beer and the answer is...well, I always find myself having to explain how exactly I got into it. Usually I'll say it was a process of trial, error, and the perseverance of human will....but that usually leaves people with a look of confusion on their face. So instead of having to tirelessly explain my tale, I figured to myself "Why not put it in writing form?"

My journey began when I first turned 21 years old. I had just left the DMV, having updated my license and was looking to celebrate my new-founded perk of finally obtaining alcohol legally. Conveniently located right down the street from the DMV was a liquor store, so I made my way over there and spent about 20 minutes deciding what beer to get. Since I didn't know what quality beer was, I settled for a six-pack of regular Coors. It's what all the cool kids drink, right?

Upon arriving back at my dorm that evening, I chipped away at a couple of beers while playing Halo 3 online with a couple friends of mine. During my time getting run over by a warthog driven by the blue team I pondered over the rather subpar taste of Coors and figured it would take some getting used to. Over the next couple of years, I would occasionally dabble with other macro beers like Budweiser, Rolling Rock & Milwaukee's Best before settling for Canadian imports like Labatt Blue & Kokanee. The world of craft beer was, at the time, not yet known to me.

Me circa 2009 AKA simpler times

Fast forward a couple years to 2009, I was at Pizza Luce is South Minneapolis with a few friends of mine when it was suggested to me that I try out a certain craft beer. Not knowing what a craft beer was, it was explained to me that it was beer but independently made and it came in many different styles. At this point, buzzwords like Tripel, Dubbel, IPA, Saison & English Pale Ale were thrown at me like I was on the wrong end of a one-sided food fight.

I caved in and ordered a pint of Surly Furious much to the delight of my friends. Upon the initial sip, I almost immediately spit it out, much to the shock of my friends. My underdeveloped palate convinced me that instead of getting beer, I got a glass full of Pine-Sol. I immediately flagged down the server with the Salvador Dali mustache, asked him to bring me a tallboy of Grain Belt, and openly told him that drinking the beer I had was comparable to that of having my taste buds violated by industrial-grade cleaning chemicals.

The look on his face was that of disappointment, anger and disbelief, all rolled into one. It didn't help that, as he was walking away, I heard him say "I can't believe ANYONE would talk that way about Surly." To him, I was the worst human being to walk the face of the earth in his eyes; All because of my horrible taste in beer.

I could not figure out for the life of me why he had taken such offense to my comments. Well, the beer in question that I ordered at the urging of my friend was none other than Surly Furious, considered by many craft beer fans to be amongst the best IPAs in America.....and I had just compared it Pine-Sol. Looking back, I'm very surprised that I made it out of there alive that night.

And that, my friends, is my first exposure to the world craft beer!

Surly Furious Review

Name: Surly Furious
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
ABV: 6.6%

For all the reviews I've done over the years, I've never done a review of Surly Furious, despite the numerous times I've had it over the years. The reason for this is because whenever I'm out and about, Furious is one of the beers that I usually have at social events and I'm never able to sit down to review it properly.

Surly Furious is also the first IPA that I ever had and it was at Pizza Lucé in South Minneapolis. At the time I was having dinner with a friend of mine when she swore to me that Furious was the best beer that she ever had. Up until that point, my beers of choice were mainly Grain Belt and Natural Light so I took her advice and ordered a pint of Furious. Upon drinking it, I spat out the contents and told her it tasted like Pine-Sol; After which the mustached hipster who was taking our order called me crazy for hating Furious and fetched me a Grain Belt tallboy instead.

Fast forward 2 years and I try out Furious again. By that point, my palate was a bit more refined and used to different beers styles. When I tried it again, I fell in love with it; Funny how things change!


Considered by most to be the flagship beer of Surly Brewing, this hugely popular and highly sought after IPA has quite an interesting origin story. A couple years ago, I was on a tour of the brewery when our tour guide mentioned that while the brewery was in it's early stages, Furious was not originally marketed to retailers as their primary beer. In fact, Surly had underestimated how popular Furious would be because back in 2005/2006, the craft beer scene in Minnesota was in it's infancy stages. Fast forward 7 years, Furious is now one of the most highly sought after IPAs in the country and it's only available in Minnesota. It was available in Chicago and parts of Wisconsin in 2009, but they did had to pull back distribution to Minnesota because the demand here was too great.

Yes, Minnesota finally had an IPA it could proudly call it's own....

To honor Surly's groundbreaking ceremony for their new destination brewery, now is the perfect time to review their iconic beer.

Surly Furious pours a dark orange/ruby red color with a foamy head. The visible carbonation activity is light and the lacing retention is quite good!

The nose and flavor are very malt forward with some caramel & toffee notes followed by a strong piney & citrus hop profile. The finish consists of a bitter citrus/resiny hoppiness.

For an IPA, the body is quite heavy but the carbonation is reasonably light, leading to a fairly easy drinking IPA....that is if you don't factor in the sheer hoppiness.

It may seem a bit sweeter and maltier than other IPAs out there but if you know and love the IPA style, then this beer is for you. Even with it's very strong malty backbone it's still got a nice amount of hops to keep everything mostly in balance.

Surly Furious - 9.25/10