We’ll see you all at the brewery at 4:30am, right? Yikes! Come join us in line on Saturday for Darkness at Surly! At least some of the MNBeer crew will be on hand to join in on the festivities, drink your spare beers and of course get our grubby little hands on some Darkness.
Dare I ask when you all are planning to arrive? If they start checking IDs at 9am and start selling Darkness at 2pm, what shall we do to entertain ourselves?
Tip of the day from MNBeer… dress warm! Cotton kills! SmartWool is my favorite choice for keeping your feet warm and dry in cold weather. It’s not cheap, but it’s warm, super-soft and doesn’t stink!
Good morning Surly Nation. You’ve been having fun all weekend and its time to get back to work… great job, it’s not even 9:00 and you’re thinking about beer.
D-Day (Darkness Day) commeth! This Saturday, December 15th. Since people have promised insanity, we present the following ground rules.
Surly will open the gates to the brewery at 9:00 A.M. At that point we will start checking IDs. Individuals can not “hold” places in line for others, and we will not save bottles for people. 480 bottles will be available, thus after 240 people have queued up, will we let people know that we are sold out. As soon as we know, we will change the message our phone message and this web-site.
There will be access to a restroom before 9am. We will start selling Darkness 750’s at 2:00PM. 2 bottles max per person, $15 each (plus tax). To help speed things along, we are taking CASH ONLY. The total will be $33 for 2 bottles, including tax.
If you have more than $33 burning a hole in your pocket, good news! We will have warm food available for purchase at the brewery. Uncle Frankies will be selling Hot Dogs during the day. We will also be selling growlers and merch from our regular hours of noon-2:00. Individuals waiting for Darkness will be able to purchase merchandise and growlers of Bender and Furious during that time – you won’t lose your place in line. If we are sold out of Darkness, you can still come on in and purchase growlers of Bender and Furious to get a Surly fix.
The Darkness sale will happen at a different location in the brewery than normal, so we can keep things moving quickly.
And for those who just can’t join us, there will be 6 individual bottles of Darkness sold on Ebay to raise money for EnergyCents, a Minnesota non-profit group that works to keep the lights and power on for folks that are having trouble with their utility bills. There will be a link on this page when the sale starts, December 16th.
Being that it is a Surly event, there are some surprises, and it should be fun for everybody.
One more thing… numerous people have asked when they should show up to guarantee that they get Darkness. We’ll soon be able to tell you when to get there in 2008, but 2007’s start time is anyone’s guess….
Smoke has been released and delivered to the following bars:Mill City Café, Washington Square Grill, Mad Cappers, Stub & Herbs, Pracna, Busters, Blue Nile, Café twenty-eight, Acadia, Grumpy’s NE, Muddy Pig, Happy Gnome and Mackenzies.
We will be having a cask event at Groveland Tap next week and the two release party will happen in January at the new Acadia Café. What is two you ask, it’s our second anniversary dark ale brewed with over 40 pounds of cranberries per barrel!
Omar,
See you drinking.
www.surlybrewing.com
Hateboy-
The MN beer scene needs more fanboys.Try supporting your favorite local brewery.
Todd speaks the truth. Sounds like Steve and skypilot should get together….
Is some of this frustration?
I feel it. I hate and love it that we have such a good beer scene here. We have a lot lot more options now then we had two years ago. But we also have to wait in line for hours to get Surly Darkness, Cellars sells cases of Flat Earth in days and the Winterfest sells out in hours. And it sucks when you don’t get a chance to try any of them. But its hard to have one without the other.
Also it seems like getting, having and trying these rare beers are little trophies and bragging rights and that the beer sometimes gets lost in the shuffle.
And all of these things can get stuck in your craw a little bit. But I try and take the good with the bad and hopefully I can get some next time (or I find some different friends that will wait in line and let me try some).
skypilot-
I dunno…maybe… were you raised by wolves too?
surlybrewer-
I do support MN beer. Did you miss what I said about darkness?
I just like a lot of other MN beers more than your beer, finding them more balanced with a higher quaffability factor.
“Fanboy (sometimes spelt fanboi) is a pejorative term used to describe an individual (usually male; the feminine version fangirl may be used for females) who is utterly devoted to a single fannish subject, or to a single point of view within that subject, often to the point where it is considered an obsession. Fanboys remain loyal to their particular obsession, disregarding any factors (often including logic) that differ from their point of view.”
Yeah, baby. We need more disregard for logic with regard to Minnesota beer.
Minnesota beers I go out of my way to support:
Summit oatmeal stout
Summit cask porter
Summit cask brett stout
Summit Maibock
Suimmit Ofest
Town Hall Maharaja
Barley Johns Old 8 Porter
Anything hoppy from Fitgers
Flat Earth Cygnus
Key word in the definition: pejorative
You are suffering from a major case of internet a**hole syndrome. I doubt you would be so rude a person as to insult people to their face. Good Day sir.
troll-
An Internet troll, or simply troll in Internet slang, is someone who intentionally posts controversial or contrary messages in an on-line community such as an on-line discussion forum or group with the singular intention of baiting users into an argumentative response.
Hateboy-
I don’t care what you like.
Support what you like,it might lead to fanboyish behavior so be careful!
bthek & surlybrewer-
I’m sorry you feel challenged by a differing opinion. I wasn’t trolling. I’m serious.
Also, bthek, keyword in the definition “often used” NOT always used.
Keyword for me: obsession and ignoring logic.
surlybrewer-
Sounds like you just want the praise, but not any genuine feedback.
I didn’t say your beer sucks. I said it was good but not great, and not very balanced.
Sorry for not falling into line.
I can’t believe this is still going on.
That is all. Carry on.
I said good day, sir.
Trying to put a name with a face here. Steve, have we met?
hateboy-
Nope you missed the point.I challenge you and anyone else to support and “hype” the MN breweries you think deserve it.Your disrespect for Surly fans does nothing for your “Top Ten” breweries.
I’m not even gonna get into this one.
Ryan: “The nice thing about Saturday is that if you’re bringing beer, you won’t need a cooler… ”
I don’t think Surly wants people bringing their own beer to drink on the brewery property and drinking in the street could get you fines from the city. I may be wrong though.
Ben is right here guys.
surlybrewer-
Yeah, I do support beer I like. I even buy Surly from time to time. I liked the Cynic this year, a big improvement over the first version, which I found very harsh and unpleasant.
It’s not hate to express an opinion and yank your chain a bit.
Hype? Why do I have to hype something? Not everything every brewery makes is worth hyping. Some Fitgers beer is great, some I’d rather use to water my lawn. The last saison I had up there was crap.
Jeff-
Uh…why…you wanna put a hit on me?
Probably. I meant soda, of course.
Just want to know if you are the Steve I know that is a beer nerd.
wow well we passed fifty. other than that, i find it absolutely hilarious that grown men (i use that loosely) are having a pissing contest over the internet. ahahah. i for one have better things to do like uh er…..oh yeah work on my car and drink a sixer of two hearted. see ya all saturday. Just a side not for those of you who HAVE NOT checked the weather recently. Low will be near 0 at sun up saturday am with a scorching high of 12! wooooo hoooooo just what i was hoping for. Once i crack a 750 it’ll be that much sweeter!
wow well we passed fifty. other than that, i find it absolutely hilarious that grown men (i use that loosely) are having a pissing contest over the internet. ahahah. i for one have better things to do like uh er…..oh yeah work on my car and drink a sixer of two hearted. see ya all saturday. Just a side not for those of you who HAVE NOT checked the weather recently. Low will be near 0 at sun up saturday am with a scorching high of 12! wooooo hoooooo just what i was hoping for. Once i crack a 750 it’ll be that much sweeter!
I’ve never had a Town Hall Maharaja…is it good?
So, not to belabor the point of this thread, but when are folks thinking of showing up again?
A free beer to anyone who can quote Reginald Denny… (seems to fit this post).
mag –
What the fuck man – why do you think that Reginald Denny getting beaten is frivolous?
Trav – sorry, I’ll clarify.
I will show up 8-ish with the full intention of waiting and then purchasing Darkness, with the knowledge that doing so may result in the negative result of being number 300-or-so in line. I could (seemingly) assure myself a bottle and make the 4AM time posited by some, but that option (10 hours in sub 15°F temps) is just not appealing at all to me. I’d rather show up later and take my chances than wait that long and cut my losses if I guessed wrong with the aforementioned alternative activities. Bereft of other possibilities and responsibilities or presented with more forgiving weather (95°F would be nice), I may have been more inclined to make a go of it, but, no dice. So, I guess it’s Plan A at 8AM while reserving the right to call an audible if this choice meets futility.
Also, I feel an urgent need to rescind and repeal any semblance of agreement with Steve. I have only good things to say about Surly and balk only at the potentional waiting time; I’ve neither no ax to grind nor need to incite, as is Steve’s wont, but rather an aversion to lines. And I didn’t mean to tacitly equate those who do choose longer wait periods with the Black Friday idiots or idiocy in general; it’s not my bag, but I can respect this goal, the goal of good beer. But it is somewhat analagous.
I think you want us to quote Rodney King, right?
and can’t we, though?
Mag-
So I sincerely and honeslly wanted to understand the Surly obsession and I gave Surly fans a little crap for your devotion and it seems to be that you’re implying that perhaps I should be beaten by a mob?
If not, please enlighten me further and provide said quote.
Sheesh people it’s just beer.
Al-
The Town Hall maharaja IPA is a very good beer.
Al, I thought Reginald Denny said, “Can’t we just all get along?” Maybe it was Rodney King. Doesn’t matter. I owe you a beer (close enough). Thought I might try to calm things down.
Hateboy or Steve, I didn’t say you should be beaten by a mob and I certainly didn’t imply it. I asked if someone could quote Denny. Simple as that.
Fantome, I’m not sure where you’re coming from. Never said a man getting beaten was frivolous (your words, not mine), so please don’t go putting words in my mouth. If you’re looking to get worked up in a lather over something, find something else…like a misquote maybe. You coulda gotten a free beer out of the deal.
I may be the idiot on this one, however, i believe the town hall IPA steve was referring to is the masala mama. Hence Al’s confusion. Avery brewing of colorado actually brews this beer (Avery The Maharaja Imperial India Pale Ale) which is delicious i might add. although if town hall ever brewed a beer called maharaja, I apologize in advance!
see ya in line fellas!
Oh, I love this. Wish I had seen this earlier to join in with Steve far above.
I was amused by the ABR line for all of Surly’s ‘special release’ stuff. Actually, I was happy for it. It meant that I had better access to all of the other tremendous beers that the Midwest had to offer while two hundred people decided that being in a line together was more fun than trying another brewery’s kickass ale. Hopefully, they’ll do it again so I get better access to the special releases of South Shore, Tyranena, Barley John’s, Summit, and Flat Earth. I’d particularly appreciate it if they had one of their special offerings opposite the Bret Oatmeal Stout release.
See, I’ve got a Surly workshirt, a Surly glass, love me my Bender and my Darkness…and I still wouldn’t touch this sort of thing with a ten-foot pole. Good on Omar and co for being able to create so much buzz and local brand loyalty. And I love being in a town that has access to so much good beer.
But instead, I’ll enjoy the seasonals as they come to my local taps and let people with more time and money than I do hype their favorite beer.
And finally, I believe one point that Steve may have been trying to make here is that it’s the breathless quality that many of the people who make this blog speak about Surly that rankles folks. Surly is great. Surly is good. But the dopes that think ‘Surly’ is the only decent local beer are as stupid as the buy who goes to the Muddy Pig and buys Grain Belt because that’s their beer.
(oh, and the ‘SHUT UP’ responses? They’re so cute!)
Seriously…”You shut up!” “No you shut up!” Makes me want to pinch your cheeks.
I’m as big a surly fan as anyone, and I sure dont think Surly is the end all, beat all of MN beer. They happen to make beers that I like, but so does FE, Summit and Schell’s, they just dont get talked about quite as much.
Poor Steve,
A guy puts his comments down and get trashed. I’ve known Todd for as long as Ive been in the Twin Cities. He was great at Rock Bottom and is even better with the shackles off at Surley. However for the most part, I’d have to agree with Steve-O. I very much love to see local stuffy bought by local people but things in MN seem to have a tidal wave effect being that its such a closed market. We simply can not get a lot of things here. So when a brewer like Surly opens we finally have something that stands out. People go nuts. When I look at Surly’s overall lineup of beers I have to say that some arent that great. I simply DO NOT like Bender nor SurlyFest. I think Todd’s best beer that he’s made at Surly so far was his English bitter. Simply a wonderful pint. However, b/c its not tearing your eyes out bitter or high in alcohol it doesn’t get mentioned = doesn’t sell. As a businessman, I would say, ‘Ok, well we’ll make sure not to make that again’. Its sad b/c the yahoo’s that have to have ‘special/limited’ everything don’t speak about a great beer like this. B/c they don’t talk about it, it doesn’t sell as well. It doesn’t sell, it doesn’t get made. Very very simple.
So with all the ‘fanboy’ crazy thats going on in the TC’s about Surly, its b/c of the nutters that wonderful beers like the bitter won’t be made as much. When you keep begging and pleading for special editions and everything is ‘special’, then nothing becomes special. I just wish that people would give as much feedback for the ‘non-special’ beers as for the limited editions. If not, then there is no way we will be able to share in what the brewer/y is actually capable of doing.
As for people crapping on Steve, why can’t a guy have his opinion? Its just. He makes very good points. He likes tons of other MN beers.
And before the nutters jump in and say anything about me not liking Surly, I just added Surly Furious to the classic examples of the BJCP guidelines for the Imperial IPA category. Not b/c its Surly but b/c its a very good example thats is not a clone of the west coast IIPA’s.
Kristen England
BJCP Continuing Education Director
education_director@bjcp.org
I had a bottle of Avery’s Maharaja once. 45 minutes later, it knocked me right the eff out. It was 8pm on a Friday night.
True story.
“I think Todd’s best beer that he’s made at Surly so far was his English bitter. Simply a wonderful pint. However, b/c its not tearing your eyes out bitter or high in alcohol it doesn’t get mentioned = doesn’t sell.”
I didn’t get to try that one.
I’d have to agree that session beers are hugely under-appreciated and ignored.
Usually, when I have a beer, I like to have 2 or 3. Maybe 4. Sometimes 5 or perhaps even 6.
After one Furious, I’m done and want something different.
“But the dopes that think ‘Surly’ is the only decent local beer are as stupid as the buy who goes to the Muddy Pig and buys Grain Belt because that’s their beer.”
Bingo!!!!!!!
“Hateboy or Steve, I didn’t say you should be beaten by a mob and I certainly didn’t imply it. I asked if someone could quote Denny. Simple as that.”
Whew!
I was googling for a Reginald Denny quote and all I came up with was a guy who was dragged out of his truck and beaten nearly to death just for driving into the wrong neighborhood.
Ooops….Town Hall’s IPA is Masala Mama, not Maharaja.
My bad
Who said the Bitter didnt sell and how do you know they wont make it again this spring? It was gone in bars fairly quickly, as they only brewed a few barrells of it. Sounds like you are assuming an awful lot of things.
Kris-
I don’t know where you get your intel, but it is bad!
We will make twice(or more if the 6 new tanks are here in time) as much Bitter Brewer as last year.We’ve done that with every seasonal/specialty beer this year.We are making as much beer as we can – everything is limited-
and….
As much time and energy that Trollboy wasted on this thread he could have posted something positve about Town Hall maharajah
See ya soon Kris-
surlybrewer-
I thought I was Hateboy?
I was curious about the zealous Surly fans.
Some people had great responses which I appreciated.
Others just branded me.
Did you send more than one beer to GABF? Get any hate…uh…feedback you didn’t like?
Steve did more then state his views. He degraded people and their opinions by calling them all fanboys and writing their views off as blind loyalty. Fanboy is a negative term in the minds of most. I’ve been using Apple computers since ’84. I work for a Mac software company. I can’t stand when people call me a fanboy because I use Apple products. Do we call Vikings fans fanboys? Why shouldn’t we? People have loved them for years yet they can’t seem to produce a Super Bowl championship. They’re all blind sheep that continue to support an organization no matter how crappy they are (well maybe Minnesota isn’t a great example of that as our sports fans are as fair weather as they come). Steve persecuted people because of their views. You know who else did that? Hitler. That’s right, Steve is in fact Hitler.
Kris: I think you’re wrong about the Surly Bitter Brewer. People loved that beer. It was polished off in a week or so. At the release party we killed the entire keg in an hour or two. It sold great. I just don’t think Surly currently has the capacity to produce it full time along with their current offerings and be able to make special release brews like SurlyFest, CynicAle, etc.
i forgot your name? …ok….Twuntboy
YOU branded people that were(GOD FORBID) excited about something.It’s my opinion that you are a troll.Get over it.It ‘s NOT about the beer,it was,but YOU made it about the “fanboys”.Your “hate” was directed at them not me or Surly,I understand that.
WTF does the GABF have to do with anything,it’s just their opinion right?The hype made it through the blind panel?I’ve been sending my beers to GABF for 12 years.One medal.What is your point?
Opinions are like Steve,everyones got one.
Ben: Yes, Hitler persecuted people for their views… along with every human that has ever existed (and those that still exist today).
Steve had his opinions and … god forbid… they went against the norm.
I love the band Rush. Go ahead, call me a Rush fanboy…. tell me your opinions of Rush and watch me not care. Watch me realize that you are different than me and you have a different opinion. Watch me not get all pissed off because you do not have the same opinions, likes and dislikes as me and my millions of other Rush fanboy friends.
If you get all worked up over a stupid name, or term, or someones differing opinion… the rest of your life will be lots of fun.
Don’t put those bats down… the horse is bleedin’, but aint dead yet!
“I’ve been sending my beers to GABF for 12 years.One medal.What is your point?”
Are they haters because you got one? That’s what you called me for calling your beer good and not great. What kind of feedback did you get on Darkness?
“Hitler.”
We’ve gotten to Hitler? You lose. The horse dead.
This bears repeating:
“I love the band Rush. Go ahead, call me a Rush fanboy…. tell me your opinions of Rush and watch me not care. Watch me realize that you are different than me and you have a different opinion. Watch me not get all pissed off because you do not have the same opinions, likes and dislikes as me and my millions of other Rush fanboy friends.”
“If you get all worked up over a stupid name, or term, or someones differing opinion… the rest of your life will be lots of fun.”
Also, 2112 rawks, dude!
Let me change the subject for a minute.
Does anyone know if the people in line will somehow be given a number? That is, I see they are going to “check ids” – are they going to write the person’s name down on a list?
The point of my question is will people be allowed to move about freely, congregate where they want, maybe set up a grill, etc etc after they somehow are awarded the chance to buy a couple bottles?
thanks
Along the same lines, (and in the interest of swerving well away from Ben’s Hitler comment), it would be worth knowing whether people will be able to bring beer for the line as per someone’s suggestion far upthread.