Surly turns 20 in 2026. We’ll celebrate this landmark with you all year long, but it’s important that we start at the start with Surly beer #1: Bender.

(Technically, Bender started brewing on New Year’s Eve, 2005. It finished at 3am on New Year’s Day, 2006. Surly would open for business later that year.)

An oatmeal brown ale, Bender starts lightly hoppy with Belgian and British malts providing notes of cocoa, black coffee, and caramel. Flaked oats give it a lush, velvety roundness, and the orange-citrusy hop nose strikes a perfect balance with the malt sweetness.

We brewed a fresh batch of Bender to mark the occasion, and it’s on in the Surly Beer Hall right now (crowlers available—sadly, we’re out of the old tallboys). Drink a lot of it and give us an excuse to make more.