Surly Brewing
It all started in Omar Ansari’s garage in 1994. He liked beer, felt it should be brewed a certain way, and had expectations of what defined good beer. The motivation for the big idea was the fact that Ansari, along with current (and soon to be) beer lovers were growing “surly” because they couldn’t find enough good beer. A space was procured in 2005, previously the home of his parents’ abrasives manufacturing business – the very building used by Omar’s Pakistani father and German mother to build their own business 40 years before. By the end of 2005, Ansari and head brewer Todd Haug put the finishing touches on their big idea and all systems were finally ‘go’: Surly sold its first keg on February 2, 2006, and has never looked back. Now, seven years later, after unbelievable growth and an expanding family of beers, Surly is served at more than 500 Minnesota bars and restaurants and has received several national beer awards.
