Abrasive Ale - Surly Brewing Company

nhindian

Pennsylvania

4.63/5  rDev +2.4%
look: 4 | smell: 5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 5

16oz can poured into a Surly Darkness tulip. Can provided by UMNbeerhunter, thanks Joe!

This beer was canned on 12/27/10, so actually only a few weeks old.

A - Pours a rather muddy blend between amber and goldenrod, hazy and cloudy, carefully obscuring the contents within. Above the beer rests a bubbly, 2.5-fingered head that reduces to a runny cap in minutes, leaving behind some dense lacing. Unable to garner much sight of carbonation through the beer.

S - The smell of this beer is simply fantastic. The closest thing I've gotten to to Pliny in a long while, it smells of fresh rain, ripe pine, and juicy citrus all rolled up. It's bitter without offending, but is also incredibly refreshing. If I could travel to a spot where this smell could experienced every day in nature, I'd pack my bags in a heartbeat. It's that good.

T - And after my first sip, I'm actually a little disappointed, yet not quite surprised it doesn't live up perfectly to the nose. It certainly has roots in a West Coast styled IPA, being unbalanced in favor of showcasing the hops, and it does a great job of that. It's extremely bitter, but is in check a bit by the grapefruit and orange and the slightest bit of malt backbone. I'm constantly being reminded of Pliny here, but Pliny just seems to squeeze out more flavor besides bitter and citrus and thus I feel a bit let down here. It's not bad by any means, and as I drink the bitterness does cut substantially, but I just wish it was a bit more after the awesome nose.

M - Mouthfeel is medium bodied with moderately low carbonation. It's resiny and sticky and leaves a thick coating on the palate. Finish is long and bitter.

D - Drinkability is high. The alcohol is masked nicely and the nose and flavor just have me constantly coming back for me. It's smooth as well, which really helps. I need to find myself a 4-pack of this!

Serving type: can

01-18-2011 01:31:09 | More by nhindian

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