Where’s the beard? Todd Haug on Surly Brewing Co.’s first public tour.

Here’s the official and final word from Surly Brewing Co. TL:DR, Head of Brewing Operations at Surly Brewing Co., Todd Haug has resigned his position with the brewery to pursue new challenges. First and foremost, we wish him well – Surly Brewing got its start not long after I launched MNBeer.com and Todd and Omar have been huge supporters of the site for as long as I can remember.

It’s a sad day. Todd & Linda, Surly Brewing folks… we’re thinking about all y’all today. Cheers!

 

After more than 10 years setting the pace of the craft beer revolution in Minnesota, Surly Brewing Co., Head of Brewing Operations Todd Haug has resigned his position at the Twin Cities brewery.

“I’d like to thank our family, friends and fans – Surly Nation – for always believing in our vision. It never gets old to hear people tell you how much they enjoy your beer.  Omar and I set out with the modest goal to build a brewery so we could create a different kind of craft beer – the kind we wanted to drink – and I think we achieved that.”

Todd earned a reputation for refusing to brew-to-style. He defined the undefinable and brewed beer his way, which was rarely the easy way, earning the brewery gold medals in the process.

Omar Ansari, Founder and President of Surly Brewing says, “Todd has been an incredibly influential part of Surly since the beginning and was instrumental in building the brewery from the ground-up, often with his own two hands; brewing, welding, making connections and forming collaborations to establish the irreverent brand it is today. His talent is undeniable, and he will always be a huge part of who we are. He will be missed.”

Todd is stepping down from his role to pursue other opportunities and challenges in the industry that he has worked in for 25 years. The future is bright, and adventure awaits.

“I leave my brewhouses in the extremely capable hands of our co-lead brewers and the innovative brewing team we’ve mentored together. I eagerly look forward to seeing what the next generation of Surly brewers will create,” says Haug. “This is an opportunity for them to take the torch and continue the legacy we’ve been building for 10 years now.”

It’s been a hell of a ride with Todd in the front seat, keeping the music loud and the speed fast. He’s the wizard, the bitter brewer and the creative genius.

Surly Nation thanks you.

Back in 2007, Surly Brewing was just a small brewing operation out of a Minneapolis suburb making bold beers for loyal beer nerds. One of those beers was called “Darkness” which is a Russian Imperial Stout that was dreamed up by Director of Brewery Operations Todd Haug. Now this is one of the most sought after beers in the country—where people line up 24 hours prior, just for the opportunity to purchase some on the day dedicated to the annual release…Darkness Day. “The first year I made 12 barrels” says Haug. “That first month at Café 28 [a restaurant formerly owned and operated by Todd and his wife Linda] no one knew about it” he said.

But for the last 8 years they’ve not been able to make enough of it which is why this year they made a concerted effort to do so. Surly is now distributed in the Dakotas, Wisconsin, Chicago, Iowa, and Nebraska and they don’t want let those markets down. So this year they’re running a campaign called Paint the Town Black. They will be releasing 3 dark beers into all of their markets starting this week with Furious Black, a nod to the character from Harry Potter. The recipe for this version of Furious is essentially the same aside from the addition of roasted malts—which add notes of dark chocolate and seemingly tone down the bitterness of the hops in comparison. This is the only one of the 3 that will be draft only.

Damien is a beer that has been made for 5 years but has only really been available at the annual Darkness Day event. This year it will be packaged in bomber bottles that will sell for around $8 in all of Surly’s markets. The release date will be October 3^rd for the beer dubbed as “The Child of Darkness” according to Jerrod Johnson, lead brewer over at the Brooklyn Center brewery. “Damien is made from the last runnings of Darkness” he explains. “It’s always been a big game to see how high we can get the ABV [percentage of alcohol by volume] on that beer.” This year though, it’s different. They wanted to make it a more sessionable beer steering the ABV below 6.5%. Damian is somewhat similar to Darkness but you don’t get the stone fruit notes and the chocolate notes seems to be more prevalent in “The Child of Darkness.”

Darkness will round out the lineup being released into the wild October 17^th, a couple of days after Darkness Day. There should be quite a bit of this available this year unlike in years past, which has always been a gripe of those among the Surly Nation. People have often accused the brewery of brewing a limited supply to keep up with demand, but that’s not the case according to Johnson. “The only thing that has kept us from brewing this amount was capacity. That’s it. We’re excited to be able to provide more of it this year” he says. Todd verified that statement and also added that over the years they’ve really been able to “dial in” the recipe. “It is what it is” Haug says. It took us years to get that recipe down, and brewing more of it has allowed us to do some blending.” Surly Darkness Day will take place on Saturday, October 15^th at the usual location, the Brooklyn Center Brewery.

One last note about the 2016 version of Darkness being released in a couple weeks is that it is not barrel-aged. The High West Rye Whiskey barrel-aged version will hit shelves in early 2017 meaning it will get its own release at that time. In the meantime, enjoy these limited fantastic offerings. They won’t last long.

If you go:

Surly Darkness Day

When:

Saturday, October 15^th 2016

Where:

4811 Dusharme Drive

Brooklyn Center, MN 55429