Tour Stop 134 - Surly Brewing Company - 8/6/2022

Surly Brewing - Minneapolis Brewery, 1520 Malcolm Ave SE Minneapolis, MN, 55414 #(763) 999-4040
website: SurlyBrewing.com
Hours: Tuesday-Thursday 3pm-9pm | Friday 3pm-11pm (kitchen closes at 10pm) | Saturday 11am-11pm (kitchen closes at 10pm) | Sunday 11am-9pm | Closed Mondays


Experience before you go . . .

On we go and what better next place than Surly Brewing Company! One of the giants in the craft beer brewing landscap, Surly has been one of my favorites for a long time. I've been a Surly Furious fan since I first tried it so many years ago. And I am able to bring you this tour stop because of a bridal shower. Ben and Patricia are having a baby! Bridal shower! Only ladies can attend! Brad's going brewery touring!

I walked up to Surly on this slightly rainy Saturday and first noticed how immense it is. Look at this picture on the left. Those tall columns (eighteen of them) are filled with beer. The property spans acres and the parking lot is huge! There's a spot underneath those beer columns that I'll tell you about later. I had a lot of expectations before going in, primarily because of how good their beer is! They've grown a lot since that first Furious I had up in Mankato so long ago. It had to be at least ten years ago. But a lot can happen in ten years and just look at Surly. I was at the Minneapolis brewery, which has a brewing capacity of 1000 barrels! Their original spot is in Brooklyn Center MN, opened Jan 1, 2006 and the Minneapolis brewery opened in 2015. They are currently in 16 states, as far west as Arizona and all the way to parts of New England.

It's a kid friendly spot so at the door, you get a wrist band if you want to have beer and you have to prove you're old enough. Apparently, that process was suspended as I walked in because they never asked for my ID. The outdoor selfie had been less than stellar as the rain was dampening the shot. But after I was in with the beer band securely in place (I was glad for the band so I wouldn't have to continually show my ID), I walked down a long hall full of art work. It all seemed very clean and new with everything in place and not even a scuff mark on the walls from being bumped by a vacuum cleaner. As I got to the end of the hall, it opened up into a great big beer parlor! Long tables everywhere and a great big Surly sign behind the vast bar.

I found my way down to the left side of the bar, where all the action seemed to be happening. The beer menu and most of the people were down there so that's where I headed. When I got to the end, I found a cozy spot with an empty chair and wiggled my way in. The entire beer hall was not very full, being that it was a Saturday morning about 11:00, but a lot of people were coming in so it quicky became a real Hoppin' Brewery Tour stop, number 134 in fact! The ceiling was not 100 feet high but it looked like it. There was an upper level which I learned was all about pizza. The wall of windows to my left revealed a big outdoor seating and beer drinking area. Not occupied today because of the rain but it looked like a great spot with a lot of trees and plants and fountains. They had just had a sold out concert with over 7,000 people there and Billy Strings playing the guitar. Back at the entry the wrist band man told me to look for the boss man Brendan, so there I was at the end of the bar, looking for him. All the beer serving helpers who worked there were wearing black shirts so when I saw a guy out of uniform with a great hat and a t-shirt that cannot be described, I figured this was my man. Sure enough, it was Brendan. Kim sitting next to me said "Yep, that's him".

I had been fortunate enough to sit down next to Kim and Bob on my right and Bill on my left. Kim and Bob were regulars here, they said they come here because they like the people and love the beer. Kim said to call them Kabob. Kim/Bob/Kabob, yeah, you get it. They were a sweet couple and introduced me to Brendan when he arrived. They had the privilege of having lunch there and although I heard great reviews about the pizza, they were having some fabulous looking burgers. My stomach growled when we talked. I gave them the HBT card and I'm sure they've archived it in an appropriate spot by now. They said they'd check out the review and I mentioned thet we're good but not necessarily fast so they could see the write-up within a month. We try to be quick about it but sometimes life gets in the way. Oh yeah, work too. But Clyde's retired so every day is a Saturday for him. Except Sunday.

I gave Bill to my left a card too. He jumped right on it, looking up the web site and checking out the Texas places we've been. Bill is from Texas and he noticed a few of the stops there that Clyde has made. He said that he had been to some of them quite frequently. Welcome to the tour Bill!

So anyways Brendan turned out to be quite the brewery tour saint. First of all, he comp'ed my beer! Yay! Thanks Brendan! Then he told me he'd take me for a tour. Well I always like to get pictures of all the stainless and this tour did not disappoint. Vats to the left, tanks to the right, cool lights, stainless steel and logos, it was great. I got to see the inner workings which were pretty fantastic. He pointed out the German logo of the company who specially made their equipment. We walked past the awesome displays and lots of clean shiny surfaces.

Brendan took me to the back where the packaging was done. There was a huge amount of cans and barrels, with a large canning line, silent at the moment. Their web site has a nice video of the cans going through the line, spinning by as they're filled. Pretty awesome. Everything about the place said "capacity" as the amount of beer they produce and distribute is mind-boggling. Brendan said this is not the pretty part of the process but I loved it. I would love to see it all running at capacity as those little cans of Furious joy are filled and sent to my local store. Then Brendan said we were heading to the "Basement". It has a cool ominous sound to it but as it turns out we didn't go down any stairs, we just went through the door to another area with all that beer over our heads.

Now if you look back at the picture at the top of the page taken from the outside, you see again those tall towers of beer. Well in the basement, we go under all of that. Brendan said we were underneath thousands of gallons of beer. There were eighteen towers above and eighteen spigots below. Talk about having a kegger party!

After the tour, I settled in and enjoyed my beer. I had the "Controlled Chaos". At 7% abv, it was a bitter West Coast IPA. It was so good. I probably should have had a Furious, fresh and cold and right out of the ultimate keg party tap. Maybe next time, I had another brewery tour stop to make. I said my goodbyes to Brendan and Kim and Bob and Bill and headed out. Before I left I paid a vist to the upstairs where all the pizza was happening. From the menus downstairs, it look like they had a full kitchen but the entire upstairs was all pizza. It was a great big Pizzeria room and it looked like a lot of fun. I snapped a few and headed out. A Pizzeria tour is again sounding like a good idea.

More pictures on this tour stop than most. I couldn't help myself. It was all so fun. Minnesota people are so lucky. So many great breweries and two of them are Surly. Then of course the lovely weather and the Minnesota Twins! People, head over to Surly please! One of my favorite stops on the Hoppin' Brewery Tour!