Minnesota trip: beers and no bikes

This past weekend I went with a friend to Minneapolis to see some other friends' of ours play a kick ass metal show. We arrived Friday before the snow started falling, we fell asleep with the snow starting to accumulate, but we didn't think much of it. By the time Saturday afternoon came around and the snow was still coming down it became clear there would be no show, and we would not be going anywhere for any reason. Then this happened:


Yep. there was enough snow that the roof of the Metrodome fell in. Crazy. So we drank fancy beers and watched movies and football all weekend.
On Monday we finally ventured out into the world. Everything seemed fine, just snowy. We had originally planned to get to a beer store, a home brew store, and a few restaurants. We only went to the homebrew place and a beer store. And holy cow did we go to a beer store. Found all sorts of goodies, all of which I'm sure I'll talk about here in good time. That said I set a personal high score: $214. Sure there was a $40 bottle of gin + 6 Bourbon Barrel Quads + my normal amount of fancy beers, but wow, over $200. Guess I don't need to spend anything on beer for quite a while. I, of course, grabbed a 4 pack of each variety of Surly. Despite being from the Minneapolis area, the brewery has nothing to do with the bikes.
So far I've cracked open two of them, the Furious, and the Cynicale.
The Furious is Surly's 99 IBU American style IPA. Big hop flavor, smell that I noticed while pouring, easily 18 inches from my nose, and a solid malt back, all add up to a competent entry into the world of American IPAs. Nothing super duper amazing to report, but it is a quality beer. Maybe I'm getting burned out on monster hoppy IPAs or perhaps my palette is maturing, or I just need something more than a ton of hops to make me live a beer, but I'm not in love with this beer. Sure it's good and well made, but nothing about it stands out in a sea on similar brews. Certainly worth a try, and I'm glad I picked it up, but it wouldn't be my first choice in a bar that had other AIPAs.

The CynicAle is a very well made farm house ale. The French farm ale is either a new trend in craft brewing, or a style I'm just becoming more aware of, but either way, I dig it. Surly's example is really really good. Smooth honey and hop flavors in the nose and initial flavor which fads to a lingering peppery aftertaste. Easy drinkin and super smooth for sure. Not sure I like it more than something like Tank 7 from Boulevard, but it's pretty close, and a bit different flavor wise.