Surly history
Surly started with a brewing kitShocker, right? People who love beer begin homebrewing. In 1994, Surly owner Omar Ansari received a homebrew kit as a gift. Purchased from St. Paul's legendary Northern Brewer, it became the gift that keeps on giving.
The more Omar brewed, the more he enjoyed the craft. And the drinking. Omar's first real beer came at age 14 at Munich's Hofbrau Haus, and it made quite the impression. By his early 20s, the growing enthusiast was exploring the country, seeking out the best micro in every region he visited.
Omar and his mother Dorit at the legendary HofbrauHaus. Nice Hat.
Omar dabbled for years, regularly making batches that thrilled his friends. Why? Because it was great beer. Or because it was free, you choose.
In 2002, Omar and his wife, Becca, had their first child, Max. Instead of traditional birth announcements, Omar created a beer announcement. An EPA was sent to scores of family and friends. Response was kind, and it motivated the new father to get serious.
First came all-grain brewing, which quickly overwhelmed the garage. Soon Omar had so much equipment he moved it to the family business, and it has grown from there. In January 2004 inspiration hit the surly man. He loved brewing beer, but it wasn’t enough. He wanted to make more... lots more.
The "Pilot Brewery", Omar's original "brewhouse" is in Surly's brewery for test batches.
The idea for a brewery was born. A building was procured (owned and occupied by the first-generation family business) and education undertaken. Beer education, Omar enrolled at the American Brewer's Guild. Many texts and lectures were processed and a week at Otter Creek Brewing in Vermont ensued. Omar's education wrapped up with an apprenticeship at New Holland brewing in Michigan. At the spring 2004 Craft Brewers Conference in San Diego, Omar met Todd Haug, an experienced head brewer at the Minneapolis, Minnesota, Rock Bottom. That was convenient, being that Omar calls the Twin Cities home. The pair actually attended the same junior high but hadn't seen each other since.
A month later, Omar visited Todd's brewery and was blown away by his beer. Omar was convinced that the slightly hostile beermaker was bitter enough for the title of Surly head brewer. By fall, Todd was convinced, as well.
A year of preparation followed. The family business' 5,000-square-feet of industrial space was converted to a brewery, and other renovations included rebuilding the office area and installing a tasting room. Mmm, tasting room.
Only two things remained. The first was to encourage the fine city of Brooklyn Center, Surly's base, to change the law and legalize breweries. It didn’t take long, who doesn't like yummy beer? And good beer makes for good business. (In other words, Surly said "Legalize it!" And it was done.)
Next up? Find a brewery. We searched far and wide and finally found one right next door. Sort of. A great used brewery built in Wisconsin was there for the taking. The only problem? It was not in Wisconsin. It was in the Dominican Republic, which apparently is nowhere near the Midwest. After several weeks of international negotiating (translation: wading through b.s.), we had our equipment.
A few months of finishing touches followed before they were ready to bring Surly's vision of great beer to those with a thirst for finer refreshments. Sure there were setbacks; Omar somehow managed to cut his own water line. That happens. You move on. By the end of 2005, all systems were finally go.
So there you have it -- a brief history of Surly Brewing, Minnesota's first new brewery west of the Mississippi since 1987. While you're enjoying the full-bodied flavor of the beer, remember that it was more than 10 years in the making. We think it was worth it. We hope you agree.
Surly: The anger fueled by the inability to find good beer.
OLD EMAILS SENT OUT:
SENT: May1, 2006
Hello Surly Nation!
Guess what? Our open house is happening May 12-13! Details are available further down, but first some other news. May starts Surly’s 4th month of operation and things are flying at the brewery. You can now GET SURLY in 50 bars and restaurants in the Twin Cities! The newest additions to Surly Nation since the last email are:
Highland Grill, Sweeney’s Saloon, New Hope Cinema Grill, Big Ten Restaurant in Hopkins, Joe’s Garage, Ike’s Food & Cocktails, Green Mill – Uptown, Grumpy’s Downtown and Campiello – Eden Prarie. Check surlybrewing.com for links to these establishments.
This Wednesday from 7:30 to 9:30, Todd and Omar will be at Mackenzie in downtown Minneapolis giving away free pint glasses and assorted Surly swag. On Thursday, we’ll be at the Arborfest Beer festival at Macalester College. A number of great breweries and brewpubs will be attending the event, and tickets are still available. Admission is $40 and proceeds go to charity. Find out more at www.ticketworks.com
We’ve been busy at the brewery getting things ready for our upcoming open house. Landscaping has been completed and the bar is moving along. Mark your calendars; this is the final update: The open house will be Friday, May 12 from 4 to 8 p.m. and Saturday, May 13 from noon to 4. You can stop by anytime during those hours, take a tour and, oh yeah, drink a few beers.
In addition, our newest beer, Cynic Ale, should be available! We’ll also have a number of special beers that Todd is putting on cask. Underage visitors are certainly welcome, but they obviously won’t be drinking. We’ll have loads of merch for sale, so bring your pickup or station wagon to haul away all your Surly stuff. No need for making reservations, just stop on by.
SENT: March 27, 2006
Hello Surly Nation,
Let’s see, what’s new... Well, we are now up to 40 accounts in the Twin Cities! The newest accounts are: all Twin Cities Old Chicago’s, The Craftsman, Punch Pizza – Uptown, Shelly’s, Shakers, Campiello’s, Elsie’s, The Sample Room, Beaujo’s, Big Bucks, Barley Johns, St. Petersburg, Rix Bar and Blondie’s. Check our SURLY BARS page for more info.
We got some nice press from Jeremy Iggers, the Star Tribune food critic. Check out this quote on a review of our favorite St. Paul bar, The Happy Gnome. “As a self-confessed hophead, I was especially impressed by the Surly Furious, from the newly opened Surly Brewing Co. in Brooklyn Center. It's an extremely hoppy ale balanced by plenty of malty body.” Great, he gets it! If you stop by soon at the Happy Gnome, you might get a free tulip glass when you order a Surly. Hurry, there is only a case of glasses. In other news, we were able to get the news clip from Channel 12 up and running on our web site. Check it out on the home page - it is listed under the date headline of March 19.
All 9 local Old Chicago’s are putting us on tap for their Home Town Mini-Tours. To kick things off, Wednesday, 3/28, Todd will be at the OC Downtown from 7-9pm, and Omar will be at the Minnetonka OC from 7-9pm. We will also show up on future Wednesday nights at the OCs in Eagan and Uptown. Stop by if you can.
Todd and I have been in the beer lab, working on our new beer. I think you will like it - we do. It should be ready in 6-7 weeks at your favorite Surly Bar. “What’s it like,” you ask? Come on, like we are gonna tell you now.
We have been preparing for a trip to the Gitchee Gumee Beerfest this weekend and we are excited that we’ve been invited to some other big beer festivals this summer. Stop by and say hi this weekend - the whole crew will be there.
See you at the bars,
Omar
SENT: Feb. 25, 2006
Good morning Surly Nation,
Wanted to let folks know about the latest news in the world of Surly. Today the Star Tribune published the article about the brewery. The article turned out great and ended up being a good companion piece to yesterday's article about the Twin Cities 10 best beer experiences. This has been a busy week for us at the brewery. We finally have all our equipment running in peak condition and we have added a some great new places where you can Get Surly!
Liquor Lyle's, Stub & Herb's, the new Pizza Nea - Uptown, and Tandoor Resaurant have all decided to pour some Surly. Check out the Surly Bars page for the complete list of the Surly bars and restaurants in the Twin Cities.
Todd and I have been putting in lots of hours and look forward to adding more accounts next week and another article about Surly will be coming out. Talk to you next week with the updates!
Cheers,
Omar
www.surlybrewing.com
SENT: Feb. 17, 2006
Hello Surly Nation!
Big news! On Saturday, Feb 18, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune will run an article about Surly Brewing Company. Reporter Chris Riemenschneider and a photographer spent more than two hours at the brewery this week and we had a great time. At least I did. Gotta love photo shoots that entail drinking lots of great beer.
Check this: Two weeks ago, Surly was available in just two Metro locations. As of today, 13 area bars and restaurants have Bender, Furious or both! Now, some of these establishments have yet to tap their Surly keg, so check out the “Surly Bars” page and call the new additions with questions. Here are the places that are currently pouring or will be this weekend: Acadia Café, Blue Nile, Bryant Lake Bowl, Cafe Twenty Eight, Grumpy’s – Northeast, The Happy Gnome, Mac's Industrial, MacKenzies, McCormicks & Schmicks, The Muddy Pig, Solera, Triple Rock Social Club, University Lounge. At this rate of growth, we’ll be in every Minnesota watering hole in three months and should surpass Budweiser later this year. Or something like that.
Two other notes: First of all, we’re not quite ready to give tours. We’re finishing up a couple of building features mandated by the city, but then the doors will open to our adoring public. You’ll be the first to know, we promise. Secondly, we ain’t bottling anytime soon, so stop asking. Gosh! We just began brewing, people! Give us some time to get our beer legs.
Now that we’re delivering Surly, we get to see lots of friendly faces raising glasses. It’s so satisfying to see our hard work enjoyed by all y’all. We never get tired of hearing about how people love the beer, so keep the feedback coming. And remember; be sure to sport your Surly swag at bars. We’re often out and about, and if we see you representing then your next Surly is on us!
Cheers,
omar
SENT: Feb. 2, 2006
Hello Surly Nation!
The day we have all been waiting for is finally here. Surly beer is
officially available! You can find both Bender and Furious on tap at Café
Twenty Eight in Linden Hills, and Bender is pouring at Solera in downtown
Minneapolis. As a matter of fact, Surly is pouring for only $2.00 a beer
after 10:00 weekdays at Solera. I know, I just came from there. Prepare for
a night out if you are drinking at Café Twenty Eight, as they are a
restaurant and do not have a stand alone bar. For that matter, a reservation
is a good idea. Surly beers always go well with food. We have bars and
restaurants that are trying to drain a tap line for us over the weekend, so
keep checking the website next week for additional taps as they develop. We
hope to be adding locations fast and Furious.
We are a sponsor of this weekends Winter Carnival Disc Sports Fetival, so
check us out at Half-Time Rec in St. Paul on Saturday. Five kegs of Bender
will be poured, see you all there!
In other news, the Surlybrewing.com online store is also up and running –
just link to Surly Swag. You can find hats, bumper stickers, glasses,
shirts, sweatshirts, work shirts and work jackets (though the price is
currently wrong… should read $50). Buy lots and wear them proud. If we see
you around town in the garb, we’ll buy you a beer. To help in that endeavor,
if you buy a zipped sweatshirt by Feb 10th, we will ship it to ya’ for free.
We are Surly, but we can be damn nice when we wanna be.
The tasting room still has one small thing missing… the bar. We have been
busy making beer instead, so we will have to keep you posted on when the
tours and tastings begin. Until then, head out to every bar you frequent and
ASK FOR SURLY. Help us spread to word and encourage quality local beer. I
think we will all be glad you did.
Prosit,
Omar
Sent: January 3rd, 2006
Happy New Year Surly Nation! We ended 2005 with a bang, brewing our first batch of beer Fiday, December 30th. Actually Todd and I did not finish until Saturday, December 31st, but whose keeping track? We like to think of 2006 as, "The Year of the Beer". Congrats to Shannon McWhite, she picked December 29th as our brew date and she wins $100 of Surly Brewing merchandise.
December was a busy month as we completed building lots of items in the brewery. We crossed off many of the items on our To-Do List (drinking beer was not crossed off... that one is never finished).
It is amazing to look back over the past 2 years when this idea was originally hatched. There was never a question that this dream would come to fruition, but it certainly took a lot longer then originally envisioned. That's OK, as the brewery ended up being a lot bigger than we first
thought. In addition, the brewery and tasting room are turning out great! We are excited to finish our tasting room so we can invite Minnesota beer fans into our building and share what we have been working on for a couple years. We hope to have the entire bar built and start tours in February. At that point we can throw open the doors and meet the folks that are as excited about great beer as we are! If we can convince the right people, we might even be
able to sell growlers to visitors.
I also want to thank all the beer fans that have sent me emails over the past months with words of encouragement and their excitement. It shows our vision of bringing more great beer to Minnesota is shared by the public.
We have a number of bars and restaurants that are committed to carry our beer. We will let you know who they are as we get closer to our launch date. And speaking of launch dates, we hope to have our beer in kegs and in the market at the end of January. Keep checking back on the web-site for updates.
Cheers,
Omar
SENT: Septmeber 25th, 2005
Hello beer lovers!
Time for your second note from Surly Brewing Company (we'll stop counting sometime soon, but indulge us for now).
First of all, we got our first piece of press! The Minnesota Homebrewers Association's publication, The Boiler, came out and visited us at the brewery. Here's the result: http://www.mnbrewers.com/newsletters/2005_09.pdf
Scroll down to page 8 for the goods. Hopefully all of our future interviews will be as fun - drinking beer may facilitate that.
In recent weeks, we've received many friendly emails, phone calls and even visits from well-wishers. Thanks! It does a body good - nearly as much as beer - to get such great feedback. Folks are also wondering when we'll be brewing our first batch of Surly. Damn good question. Unexpectedly, we have had to purchase a brand new boiler and chiller which are "in the mail." So, tell you what: Why don't you tell us when we will first brew, and then we'll both know!
Seriously - let's have a "Guess the brew date contest." Send us the date you think we'll first start brewing. It could be any day between tomorrow (not so likely) and Dec. 31st (2005, for the smart-alecks out there). The winner gets his/her choice of $100 worth of Surly merchandise, anything from hats to frisbees to glasses to shirts and jackets.
So let's hear it! Shoot us an email at beer@surlybrewing.com, pick your date and prepare to be the first on your block to rock some Surly swag. Vote today, drink tomorrow!
In related news, the delay in receiving a couple of final pieces of equipment means we won't be attending this year's Minneapolis Autumn Beer Review. Instead, look for us at the Winterfest beer festival in St. Paul.
That's it for now. We'll leave you with this from founding father Ben Franklin:
"Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy."
Amen, brother Ben.
More soon!
Omar
www.surlybrewing.com
Sent: July 7th, 2005
Hello beer lovers!
Here is your first email from Surly Brewing Company!
Good news: The brewery showed up and is now in our building. We got our hands on a 30 BBl Sprinkman system (that's 60 kegs brewed at once) that'll be fired up in the very near future.
Currently, we're meeting with contractors and working madly to get brewing as soon as possible. Our start date? Good question. We'll tell you when we know.
We're shooting to have beer at the Twin Cities Autumn Beer Review, which is the first week in Spetmeber in downtown Minneapolis.
I'm Omar Ansari, owner/president of Surly. I've been homebrewing since 1993, when my then-girlfriend gave me a homebrew kit. "Just what I need - another hobby," I thought. They say give a man a beer and he wastes an hour; teach a man to brew, and he wastes a lifetime. And I'm well on my way.
Curious beer lovers have been emailing, wondering how things are going. Well, my wife and I added two cute boys to our household in the last six weeks. Needless to say, that slowed our brewery opening slightly. Three boys under the age of three - good thing there'll be plenty of beer around.
Todd Haug, Surly's head beer maker, has been brewing since he was 19. After brewing at Summit and being the brew head at Rock Bottom, Todd has a great deal of expereince and beer knowledge. Further, he looks like one of the Hanson brothers when wearing his cool safety specs. Todd enjoys to rock, and he also likes goats.
And here's the best news of all: The brewery will have a tasting room, and we hope to have beers available for visitors in the near future.
Well, that's all for now. We're hard at work at our first yummy beer, which we promise will be damn tasty.
More soon!
Omar
www.surlybrewing.com