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Surly Brewing Company
American brewery
American brewery
| Field | Value | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| name | Surly Brewing Company | |||
| logo | Surly Brewing Company logo.png | |||
| image | File:Surly Brewing Company, Minneapolis - Sign (43787161302).jpg | |||
| location | 520 Malcolm Ave SE. Minneapolis, MN 55414 | |||
| owner | Omar Ansari | |||
| opened | 2005 | |||
| production | 47757 usbeerbbl in 2013. | |||
| website | ||||
| active_beers | ||||
| {{brewbox beer | name | Furious | style=India Pale Ale}} | |
| {{brewbox beer | name | Logic Bomb | style=Juicy Pale Ale}} | |
| {{brewbox beer | name | Hell | style=Lager}} | |
| {{brewbox beer | name | One Man Mosh Pit | style=Hazy IPA}} | |
| {{brewbox beer | name | Axe Man | style=India Pale Ale}} | seasonal_beers = |
| {{brewbox beer | name | Surly Lemonade | style=Lemonade Beer}} | |
| {{brewbox beer | name | Wet | style=Wet-Hop IPA}} | |
| {{brewbox beer | name | Abrasive | style=Double IPA}} | |
| {{brewbox beers | type | Special Release}} | ||
| {{brewbox beer | name | Darkness | style=Russian Imperial Stout}} | |
| {{brewbox beer | name | Smoke | style=Oak Aged Smoked Baltic Porter}} | |
| {{brewbox beer | name | Tea Bagged Furious | style=Dry Hopped Cask India Pale Ale}} | |
| {{brewbox beer | name | Tea Bagged Bender | style=Dry Hopped Cask Brown Ale}} | |
| {{brewbox beer | name | Pentagram | style=Wine Barrel-Aged Brett Dark Ale}} | |
| {{brewbox beers | type | One Time Release}} | ||
| {{brewbox beer | name | Sausage Fest | style=Smoked Belgian}} | |
| {{brewbox beer | name | One | style=Imperial Lager}} | |
| {{brewbox beer | name | Two | style=Cranberry-Infused Dark Ale}} | |
| {{brewbox beer | name | Three | style=Braggot}} | |
| {{brewbox beer | name | Four | style=Milk / Sweet Stout}} | |
| {{brewbox beer | name | Five | style=Wine Barrel-Aged Brett Dark Ale}} | |
| {{brewbox beer | name | Syx | style=American Strong Ale}} | |
| {{brewbox beer | name | Seviin | style=Belgian Strong Dark Ale}} | |
| {{brewbox beer | name | Eight | style=American Oat Wine}} | |
| {{brewbox beer | name | Nein | style=Dunkelweizen}} | |
| {{brewbox beer | name | Ten | style=Old Ale}} | |
| {{brewbox beer | name | Eleven | style=Quadrupel}} |
The Surly Brewing Company is an American craft brewery with facilities in Minneapolis and Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, and initially stood out for primarily canning beers, rather than bottling. Surly's brewing system in Brooklyn Center is a 30 beer barrel (BBL) Sprinkman, one of four identical systems produced by Sprinkman of Wisconsin. The Minneapolis location has a 100 barrel system. The beer hall in Minneapolis features many events including live music and trivia.
Despite sharing a similar name and being headquartered in the U.S. state of Minnesota, the brewing company and Surly Bikes are separate enterprises. An agreement between the two companies allows the bicycle manufacturer to display the single word "Surly" on its products.
History
Surly Brewing Co. founder Omar Ansari had been homebrewing since 1994. After apprenticing at New Holland Brewing Company in Michigan and enlisting Todd Haug of Minneapolis's Rock Bottom Brewery, Surly Brewing began brewing in Brooklyn Center.
In February 2011, Surly announced that it intended to open a restaurant and beer garden, which was expected to cost US$20 million. The new facility would also increase its brewing capacity to approximately 100,000 barrels. This type of installation was not in line with Minnesota's liquor laws, however. With the help of the Surly Nation, fans of the brewery's beer, some members of the Minnesota Legislature were convinced to propose changes in order to allow it. Minnesota's three-tier liquor sales system would not allow breweries to distribute their beer for retail sale and sell on the brewery's premises, as a brewpub does. After just a few months, changes to Minnesota's liquor laws that would allow Surly to sell beer for consumption at the proposed BrewPub, were passed in an omnibus liquor bill introduced by Rep. Jenifer Loon (R - Eden Prairie) and Sen. Linda Scheid (DFL - Brooklyn Park). Known as the "Surly Bill", this bill was signed into law by Governor Mark Dayton on 25 May 2011.
In 2012, Esquire magazine selected Surly Brewing Company's CynicAle 16 ounce as one of the "Best Canned Beers to Drink Now" in a February article.
Surly purchased an 8.3 acre plot of land in Prospect Park, Minneapolis for its $20 million brewery in April 2013. Surly secured $2 million in environmental mediation grants from Hennepin County to address more than a century's worth of accumulated industrial pollution at the site. Their new brewery and taproom opened in December 2014.
In 2016, Surly was featured on an episode of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, hosted by Guy Fieri.
In 2020, Surly announced it would layoff 150 employees and indefinitely close its 350-seat beer hall, pizzeria, events center, and retail store in Minneapolis. The company said the decision was a result of an employee contracting COVID-19 and declining revenue due to restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic. The company said sales at its on-site location were down 82% from the prior year, and it was no longer profitable. However, the announcement of it came just days after employees announced their intention to unionize under Unite Here Local 17 that represents restaurant and hospitality workers. Some labor leaders felt the move by Surly was retaliatory and filed unfair labor practice charges. The vote to form a union failed by one vote in October 2020. It reopened in June of 2021.
In 2025, the company announced it would open its first out-of-state taproom and restaurant in Grand Forks, North Dakota, through a partnership with Short or Tall Eatery and Drink Hall. The new venue, situated near the University of North Dakota campus, will feature a 7,000-square-foot restaurant space with an outdoor patio and offer New Haven-style pizza.
Distribution
For the first several years Surly was only available in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area due to limited supply. An initial expansion to Chicago was reversed in June 2010 to ensure they could reliably serve the brewery's home market. In November 2013, Surly re-entered the Chicago market, being offered at over one hundred different bars, restaurants, and liquor stores in the Chicago metropolitan area. This expansion included canned and kegged Surly Cynic, Hell, Bender, Overrated, and Coffee Bender, with some Chicago liquor stores carrying select Surly specialities when available. Surly Brewing to return to Chicago, Chicago Tribune, 7 November 2013, Josh Noel In early 2015 Surly expanded its distribution to include Iowa and also aimed to include Wisconsin by the end of the same year.
The brewery has since continued to grow the geographical area it serves. In May 2016, Surly launched distribution in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Nebraska, responding to longstanding demand from fans in those states. Initially, popular beers such as Furious, Hell, and Overrated were offered on draft, while a variety of other core products were made available in cans. Surly now distributes its beers in 13 states, primarily in the Midwest, including Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas, Texas, and Arizona.
References
References
- (11 June 2016). "Frothy Minnesota market might not bear much more craft beer". StarTribune Media, LLC.
- Shepard, Robin. (2011). "Minnesota's Best Breweries Brewpubs: Searching for the Perfect Pint". The University of Wisconsin Press.
- (19 December 2014). "Surly Beer Hall Opens".
- Zoss, Jeremy. (10 October 2012). "A Tale of Two Surlys". The Growler.
- "Brewery: History". Surly Brewing Co..
- Lussenhop, Jessica. (9 February 2011). "Surly's $20 million dream brewery: A first look". City Pages.
- (30 May 2011). "Cheers to passage of the 'Surly bill'". Star Tribune.
- Lussenhop, Jessica. (25 May 2011). "Surly bill is now law". City Pages.
- (2012-02-22). "Best Canned Beers to Drink Now". Esquire magazine via Yahoo news website.
- Roper, Eric. (15 April 2013). "Surly buys Minneapolis site for $20 million brewery". Star Tribune.
- (19 December 2014). "Surly Brewing taps to start flowing in new age of beer". MPR News.
- Jones, Hannah. (26 April 2018). "Mathematically Speaking Guy Fieri Loves Minnesota". City Pages (Minneapolis, Minnesota).
- (3 September 2020). "Surly Brewing Co. to close its destination beer hall in Minneapolis". Star Tribune.
- Klecker, Mara. (5 October 2020). "Surly closes beer hall after employee contracts COVID - “The hits just keep on coming,” the brewery said in a Facebook post.". Minnesota Star Tribune.
- Nelson, Rick. (1 April 2021). "Cheers! Surly Beer Hall to reopen - It’s been rolling out barrels all along but June 1 date set for its destination site.". Minnesota Star Tribune.
- Klecker, Nicole. (25 September 2020). "Surly now supports union election but still closing beer hall". Minnesota Star Tribune.
- Norfleet, Nicole. (9 October 2020). "Surly Brewing employees fail to form union". Minnesota Star Tribune.
- Fleming, Jess. (6 May 2021). "Surly on track for partial June 1 opening — facility will ramp up in stages". Saint Paul Pioneer Press.
- (2025-04-25). "Short or Tall and Surly Brewing Company to open pizza and taproom near the UND campus this summer".
- Nelson, Dustin. (2025-04-25). "Surly Brewing is opening a second taproom, but not in Minnesota".
- Surly Brewing. "Get Surly in the Chicago Metro Area". Surly.
- (1 April 2015). "Minnesota's Surly beer, Doomtree headed to Des Moines". Des Moines Register.
- (26 March 2015). "Minnesota's Surly Brewing offering tasting in Bay View ahead of Wisconsin entry". Milwaukee Business Journal.
- (2016-04-06). "Surly Brewing To Distribute In North Dakota, South Dakota & Nebraska".
- "Distributors".
This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.
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