We started kicking around a new look for Surly Hell a while back. We didn’t want to mess with the liquid itself, as it remains a rare constant in the ever-changing craft beer landscape: Hell’s bready, lightly sweet malt flavor, floral hop aromatics, and balanced finish are traditional and timeless.

Instead, we went back to the inspiration for our flagship lager: Dorit Ansari.

Dorit is Surly founder Omar Ansari’s mother. She hails from Bremen, Germany. As you may know, Surly has a well-earned rep for hop-forward beers and award-winning IPAs. Which is great, except that Dorit prefers beers with subtler hop profiles, like the zwickelbiers popular back in Bremen. So, we made one. An unfiltered, pale gold lager, named after the German word for “light.”

Given that she inspired the beer, it seemed right to make her the star of our new Hell packaging, using a promotional photo from a brochure for Sparky Abrasives, the family business of Dorit and her late husband, Naseem. (The building that housed Sparky Abrasives became the original Surly Brewing location in Brooklyn Center.)

Hell’s new look hits shelves in June. Raise a toast (or, more accurately, Prost) to Dorit!