Chicagoist's "Beer of the Week:" Surly Furious

By Chuck Sudo in Food on Sep 23, 2009 7:40PM

It was Labor Day Weekend and we just finished watching "Inglourious Basterds" downtown. Nowhere to go and nothing to do we wandered around and found ourselves at Jake Melnick's (41 E. Superior, 312-266-0400, jakemelnicks.com). Within minutes we were wolfing down their burger of the month and begging not to be served the Budweiser they give away for free with the burger. The bartender went out of the way to comp us a Surly Bender. She poured us a Surly Furious, instead.

Surly Furious is not the hop bomb the Minnesota brewery describes, but the beer does announce its presence with aromas of grapefruit and pine, courtesy of Centennial hops. Brewed from Scottish malt, Furious pours a creamy head of foam, with some notable pine astringency on the palate, complemented by hints of caramel and black tea. As mistakes pours go, this one was glorious.