Hello Surly Nation,

A few quick notes about what’s up.
#1 – January 16th @ The Happy Gnome – debut of Surly Mild, our sessionable
Mild Ale.
#2 – January 23rd @ Acadia Café – debut of two, our 2nd anniversary ale.
Remember Acadia Café has moved to Riverside and Cedar in Minneapolis
#3 – January 30th @ Common Roots Café – coffee bender
#4 – We have a photo competition running; winner receives a Surly Prize Pack
that includes a bottle of Darkness and a Surly Jacket! Send us your Surly
pictures. We will announce the winner at the debut of Surly Mild.
#5 – We donated 6 bottles of Darkness to EnergyCents, a local charity that
helps keep the power on; over $1400 was raised by auctioning off the bottles
on Ebay!
#6 – No tours until Spring. We are cutting out 3000 square feet of the
brewery so we can add more tanks.
#7 – Beer prices are going up. Sorry everybody, but barley and hops have
both increased over 50% since we started 2 years ago.
#8 – The Surly Second Anniversary dinner is approaching soon, check the
web-site for details because it will sell out fast. The date is February
11th, I’m not saying where, tickets are not yet for sale.
#9 – Rumors are floating around about a new canned seasonal… more on that
soon. (No, it is not Darkness)
#10 – We will have some two bottled up in 750s for sale at the brewery. No
date on that yet.

See you drinking,
Omar

I’ll take the lack of access in exchange for more beer. From the Surly MySpace page:

NO TOURS UNTIL SPRING 2008! We are cutting out the floors, taking walls down and adding 6 more brewing tanks. Because of all the construction, we will not be having any tours until the Spring of 08. That means no group tours or private tours. Sorry folks.

Love brewing lagers? This might just be for you then. Oh, you should be good at it too.

The Herkimer Pub and Brewery, a well-established, financially stable Brewpub in the thriving Uptown neighborhood of Minneapolis, is looking for a Head Brewer. The current Brewer is leaving in February for another opportunity; however, we would like to hire immediately to minimize baton-passing issues. We produce approximately 900 bbls per annum on a 10 hl Beraplan brewhouse (3 vessel system). We specialize in German-style products and have won GABF gold medals for our Kellerbier and Alt; the ideal candidate will have the abilities and desire to expand on this tradition. This is a hands-on processing situation – the brewery is on two levels, so one must be able to climb stairs carrying 55 lb sacks of grain. Mechanical abilities would be a plus, as would experience in lager brewing and brewing and/or science education. Pay and benefits are competetive.
This is a stable job in a fun urban environment, hours are flexible within reason and we plan to add tankage and bring on an assistant in the near future. Please apply by sending resume, references and cover letter to blake@theherkimer.com.

Here’s note from Dustin Brau from Brau Brothers Brewing Co., a Minnesota brewery…

We have started to ship the Frame Straightener! By the end of the week, well over half of our entire production of this ale will be on store shelves or on tap. If you need help finding a retailer, let me know. We will begin production of the next Single Batch Series beer next week, I have an idea of what it will be but I am still open to ideas. I’m going to bust open a couple growlers of the dubbel and trippel I found that we brewed back in ’04. Depending on what we think about it, we may bring it back to Winterfest this Feb. Also, we finally got the Brau Gear section of the website up and running. Just in time for Christmas – 2008! Now we are not only the number 1 brewery in Lucan, but also t he number 1 textile exporter.

Cheers from the little brewery on the prairie,
Dustin

Dustin… save me a shirt!