Review: Surly Seventeen Strong Red Ale (Anniversary Ale)

I've had this beer in the fridge for two years now - Surly Brewing's Seventeen Strong Red Ale. Surly is probably one of my favourite breweries and when their beer was briefly available in Manitoba I bought a lot of it, but since COVID it disappeared completely as there's too few beer geeks who were buying their beer, so their Canadian test market failed. Seventeen is a Strong Red Ale brewed for the 17th anniversary of the brewery. I've been keeping it in my fridge for such a long time because like other beers... I needed a special reason to open it. I remember when I was 17, 18 was the legal drinking age where I live so it was very easy to get my hands on an alcoholic beverage or two..

From the website: As the story goes, a Prohibition-era secret society of cocktail enthusiasts known only as the International Bar Flies formed at Harry’s New York Bar in Paris, the alleged birthplace of The Boulevardier and the inspiration for Seventeen. Our 2023 anniversary beer blends a strong red ale and a wee heavy, aged in Tattersall Bitter Orange Liqueur barrels and 10-Year Henry McKenna Bourbon barrels, echoing The Boulevardier’s timeless flavor profile. Keep it a secret or share it with your fellow bar flies. 11.0% ABV

Appearance: It pours a murky reddish brown with a thick beige head on top. The head goes down pretty much immediately but leaves behind a nice amount of foam close to the rim.

Aroma: Sweet with notes of caramel/toffee, a bit of a woodiness to it that gives off notes of oak and a tad bit of cherry to it, a slight spice to it.. maybe cinnamon? I'm not sure. It has a booziness that reminds me of a hefty Barley Wine.. a bit of fig/raisin presence to it. 

Taste: Very sweet and a tad spiced. The first thing I get is a very sweet, caramelly ale with a bit of a cinnamon-like spiced taste to it. Also attributing to the sweetness I'm getting a candied orange kind of taste to it, as well as a bit of honey at the end. Once I get past the sweetness there's a mild oaky taste to it, a slight roasted presence that gives a slight peat-like bitterness to it, and finally a slight peppercorn taste once in a while. 

Overall Thoughts: This beer makes sense for an anniversary ale but it's not something I'd generally buy otherwise. The 11% ABV slowly creeps up on you as this is pretty smooth but I'm finding the flavours clash a bit too much for me, the "peppercorn" presence came out of left field for me, it's a bit all over the place for a beer. I'll hopefully review Surly's Eighteen sometime soon.. Nineteen will have to weight because I never picked up a can when I was in Minot a while back.