Friday food

In one of those "well, shoot, there goes my shot at Mother of the Year AGAIN" moments, this past week Teen 2, diligently working on a science project involving building a model representing the anthrax bacteria, rummaged around the kitchen looking for things to build said model and suddenly exclaimed, "Oh, hey! Mom, that beer that's your favorite? The Cynic Ale? That would make a perfect model!" And off he trotted to the recycling bin where there just happened to be an empty can, which he then used.

So not only did my son turn in a science project built out of a beer can, he knew it was my favorite beer.

Yup, that Mother of the Year thing, not happening anytime soon.

But at least I have good taste.

Surly Brewing is a local company (Brooklyn Center) that makes some mighty fine beer, with wonderful names like Cynic Ale (still can't decide if I like the taste or the name best), Furious, and Bender. Oh--and Coffee Bender. Yes--coffee-flavored beer.

Surly offers a tour nearly every Friday which is free, except for a food-shelf donation, and it's great fun. Possibly because of the fun--and because one can get a fair amount of free beer--the tours book up quickly. I had to stalk their website several times a day for a week to land a slot, but I was glad I did.

Not that it's a big, fancy operation.

But that's part of its charm. This is one guy's passion, started with home-brewing and moving to a larger scale.

Owner Omar Ansari, telling his story, which is full of good-natured tales of the tribulations involved in getting Surly off the ground.

Lots of brewing goodness going on behind him.

And lots of cans, waiting to be filled with Surly goodness.

I'd say about half the people on the tour the night we went had been there before and opted to skip the tour part and stay in the bar.

Where generous samples of various beers were available. I learned from this that I don't actually like a coffee-flavored beer; don't know if this makes me a beer-drinking heretic, but while I love coffee and I love beer, I love them separately.

That's OK. There's plenty of Cynic Ale in the world for me. You can click on the beer photo on Surly's home page to find out where to find Surly at a bar or liquor store near you.

Drink up*. It's local. It's good. And it's fun.

*Responsibly, of course.

Comments

[Jessikate]

MMmmm, Surly. I love their beer. They brought a Brackett/Braggot to Autumn Brew Review last year that was just amazing. Sadly I can't remember what it was called.

I'm a big fan of Furious and Cynic, not so into the Coffee Bender either.

[Ben]

Surly Three (their 3rd anniversary beer) was a black braggot made with 50% Munich malt and 50% honey. Aged in pinot barrels they called it Jesus Juice and it was available at ABR and Winterfest.

[rudee]

Sounds tasty. We have three restaurant/breweries right in town. I patronize them all, but especially the one that let me buy growlers of beer (and root beer) to take home. Don't worry though, I don't drink and drive. I walk.

[cursingmama]

Just sent an email to some local beer - I mean blog - friends to see if they want to join me in a tour. Wanna go again?

[Crystal]

Sweet - I'm going to have to do a tour sometime!