(Minneapolis, MN) – The big pile of snow/crud in the Sears parking lot is gone. Road construction makes your phone’s traffic app more important than significant family members. The shovels and winter coats are put away WITH AN ABUNDANCE OF CAUTION.
Welcome to summer.
Surly Brewing is celebrating the three months where we can safely go outside with our second-ever variety pack. As with our first one, this will contain three essential Surly brands (Furious, Hell, Xtra-Citra) and a beer exclusive to the variety pack. That beer is HeatSlayer.
Befitting the season, HeatSlayer is an easy-drinking, Kölsch-style ale. It’s called “Kölsch-style” because a true Kölsch has to be brewed within 50 kilometers of Köln, Germany. Minneapolis is 6887 kilometers from Köln, which is 6837 kilometers outside the Range of Kölsch Acceptance, or RoKA, an acronym we just made up.
What you need to know about it:
– Pale/straw yellow in color.
– A smidge hoppier than a traditional Kölsch (as Surly does).
– Top fermented at cooler-than-normal temperatures with traditional German Ale yeast.
– German noble hops and German malts.
– 5.0% ABV.
What you may not know is that HeatSlayer and the rest of Variety Pack 2.0 pairs perfectly with the following summer landmarks:
– The vague invite to “help out” at your friend’s cabin, meaning you’ll be standing in freezing lake water helping him put in a dock for the new boat with a frankly troubling name.
– Making it to your weekend destination after sitting on Highway 10 for eternity, silently cursing every billboard for Treasure City in Royalton. These will turn into repeated, non-silent curses as the summer progresses.
– That week towards the end of June when the mosquitoes, now roughly the size of an AMC Pacer, laugh at your citronella candles and military-grade repellent and just go to town on your tender, yielding flesh.
– Buying sunscreen, going to Target for sunscreen, forgetting to apply sunscreen, getting sunburned, going to Target for aloe vera. Circle of life, y’all.
Surly Variety Packs featuring HeatSlayer are available to all Surly markets. Plan your cooler-filling accordingly.