I Believe in Surly
In the world of Beer, there always seems to be new mountains to climb and we just recently scaled
one. You may have heard of a brewery that goes by the name of Surly. It's located in Minneapolis and
was built to the tune of 30 million green backs. Just recently we decided to partake of the Surly
experience called "The Brewers Table". This is a fine dining restaurant located upstairs in the brewery,
which overlooks the lower floor dining hall and brewhouse.
The date we picked to go, just happened to be Surly's
10th anniversary weekend and was the release of their 10th
anniversary beer, called.... TEN, of course. This beer is an
Old Ale, aged on toasted sassafras and has notes of vanilla,
sherry and toffee with a full bodied swallow. I personally love
it. Teri, myself and a friend (Jon)) were the group and we
were all quite excited and jacked up. As I was cleaning up
and dressing myself, I felt like I was getting ready for my
wedding day.
Anyway, we arrived well before our reservations and
found out there were free (where's Bob Jackson?) brewery
tours, so we quickly proceeded to grab a beer and got on
the tour. I really did not need another brewery tour to add to
my lengthy list but, what the heck, this is Surly and we are
all cleaned and dressed. Ha !! During the tour we seen a 25
gallon plastic barrel which had like a firehose stuck in it. This
was a blowoff tube and this baby was pounding! The
carbonation from the batch was blowing the suds about 10
feet in every direction, just awesome to behold.
So after the tour we browsed the gift shop, got
another beer and sat outside on the Surly deck overlooking
the Surly courtyard and dreamed about the upcoming meal.
It is a beautiful thing when all your hopes and dreams equal
the reality. And it did. Ok, on to the menu. The menu for that
evening (it changes on a regular basis) consisted of a 4
course meal, and you have 3 choices from each course and
you pick one, which is paired with a 4 ounce pour of Surly
beer to compliment the food. This is just like a wine and food
pairing, only with beer. We each chose a different item and
then we shared with each other.
Just a few of the things we dined on were, Sopa de
Lima, Tamale, Lamb and Oyster Tartare, Octopus, Squid, Mackeral, Pork, Mussels and Beef Short Ribs,
Peach soup, Strawberry & Rhubarb Cake, Black Chocolate Cake and more. You really get an
understanding of how these craft beers pair with certain foods. This is an outstanding experience and in
my view well worth the money, we would do it again for sure.
So, what is the price, you may ask? Well, it is about 70 bucks per person and after the tip and a
couple of extra beers, it's pretty much a 200 dollar bill for two of you. Now a couple of things to
remember here, this is not a buffet nor will you get served a 6 pound hamburger with greasy fries. These
servings are what is called "small plates" and I would advise you and your partner/s order something
different so you can share.
If you are still hungry after this, (we all were plenty full) you can always go downstairs to the main
dining hall and order the complete menu if you so desire and put on the feed bag. If you complain about
this experience/food/beer, just get up and leave, it's not for you. After we got done, there was a band
playing on the main floor and we sipped a few more beers and basked in the afterglow, just like my
wedding night. Was this better than my wedding night? I probably should not answer that, I'll just say it
was a glorious evening.
Jay #16605
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