Surly Mosh Pit Imperial IPA

 Surly Mosh Pit Imperial IPA. 

9% ABV, Surly Brewing, Twin Cities, Minnesota.

The “brand family” trend has been getting more popular these days. Goose Island has Beer Hug, Sierra Nevada  has “Little Thing” and Boulevard keeps expanding the Space Camper IPA series. Revolution has spun off many “hero” IPAs from Anti-Hero, and New Belgium has put the Voodoo Ranger brand at the forefront, going beyond an umbrella for IPAs, tossing the name and skeleton based imagery on a line of boozy teas. It’s like they don’t want you to think of a brewery once known for Belgian styles.

Locally, this trend has taken off lately among the bigger breweries. Early last year, Summit decided that the Saga name belonged not merely to their popular West Coast IPA, but also to a hazy version, an Imperial, and in the Goddess Series variety pack, a tropical variant. Fulton followed suit by creating the Hop Kingdom umbrella, folding 300 inside, and adding a hazy, a juicy and an Imperial. I haven’t yet had the latter, so I can say so far my favorite part of this brand family is the illustrative efforts of Brent Schoonover.

Mere months ago, Surly got into the game. One Man Mosh Pit Hazy IPA changed it’s name to merely Most Pit, Logic Bomb Juicy Pale Ale traded its dripping brain for an electric guitar and this beer I am about to drink made it’s debut. One name for three completely different beers. Customers are confused. Not sure if this trend is the wisest one to follow. 

Let’s go ahead and drink one….

Mostly cloudy, bright golden hue, strong, but soon settling, ivory head.

In the nose: big citrus, slight tropical. Orang, tangerine, mango. Pinch of pine. 

In the mouth: splash of bitterness up front, then the harsh blast of alcohol clambers on the palate. Mushy malts. I shouldn’t be surprised if this is an “imperialized” version of the Mosh Pit Hazy. (Shouldn’t it be labeled Imperial Hazy IPA, or were we just supposed to guess?)

Bit too much fuzz on the tongue for me, but that’s what everyone is into these days, so who am I to complain? Some beers, it is clear, were not made with me in mind.  

This was released first as 12-packs and I picked one up before it was released as 6-packs, to save a couple of bucks. I drank down most of them without any critical thoughts, but the last cans got me thinking that I probably won’t return to this one.  I will have to wait until the next Abrasive Ale rolls around.

Lace up your Docs, put on your cleanest dirty flannel, and dive into the waiting arms of your fellow hopheads. No frills, no keyboard solos, no guy in a cape singing about unicorns or hobbits. Just a full-on facemelter, with Idaho 7™, Sultana, Amarillo, Citra, and Cascade hops leading the attack and heavy citrus notes of orange and lemon landing like a double kick drum.