Our latest So You Want to Brew a Beer* offering comes from Surly veteran Tanner Bachman, who put his own spin on a Spaghett!, the classic summer beer cocktail.

*So You Want to Brew a Beer allows all employees, not just brewers, to take part in the brewing process. If they have a great idea for a beer, pitch it. If accepted, we brew it on the one-barrel pilot brewery at our Minneapolis facility and put it on draught at beer hall. Over the year, we track which one gets the best customer reviews/sales, and the winner gets to re-brew a larger batch that will go on at the Beer Hall for a longer run.

First of all, who are you, where are you from, what is your job title, and how long have you worked at Surly?

My name is Tanner Bachman, I live in White Bear Lake, and I’m Surly’s Senior Graphic Designer. I’ve worked here for 8.5 years.

For those unfamiliar, what is a Spaghett!?

Basically it’s a riff on an Aperol Spritz. Take a swig of a High Life bottle, top it off with Aperol, add your preferred citrus and voila, Spaghett!

What was your inspiration for brewing one?

See above! It’s just delicious.

What kind of hop/malt bill did you go with? Any special ingredients to mimic the Aperol?

I leaned on Josh Lemke’s brewing expertise to come up with the base beer. Since the standard base is usually a High Life, we decided to make a super clean, dry lager. The recipe Josh put together features 2-Row, Pilsner, and flaked corn for the malt bill and Hallertau Mittelfruh hops for bittering. After a handful of infusion trials, we came up with a mix of orange, grapefruit, and lemon juice, orange and grapefruit peel, cherries, and grenadine to hit the Aperol flavor profile. A hell of a lot of citrus went into this beer.

What kind of flavors/aromatics should drinkers expect?

You can expect a crispy dry beer with a lot of citrus upfront, balanced with sweetness from the cherry and grenadine. Nice and citrusy bitterness on the finish.

If there’s anything else you’d like the drinking public to know about the beer, please tell them now:

All told, it’s a citrusy, refreshing summer lager. Just drink it, enjoy the weather, and don’t worry too much about it.