Surly Discontinues Bender & Cynic For 2019

From Surly:

When we released our 2019 Brand Calendar, some of you noticed that longtime Surly flagships Cynic and Bender (our first beer!) were no longer on it. Some of you noticed this quite loudly, in fact.

The reality of the craft beer industry in 2019 is that there are very literally thousands of breweries vying for limited shelf space. Certain beer styles simply don’t move with the velocity of others, and those styles will get the short end of the stick on the market. Those styles include Belgian-style saisons and oatmeal brown ales. Continuing to can Cynic and Bender, despite how much we love them, was throwing good money after bad.

These beers deserve better than to be consigned to the dustbin of brewery history without a proper Viking funeral, so we’re holding The Cynic-al Farewell Bender on Jan. 10 from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. at our original Brooklyn Center taproom. We’ll crack some cans, share some memories, and bid them a fond farewell*.

To get an invite for you and a guest, please share your tribute to Cynic or Bender at the following form: https://surly.formstack.com/forms/cynicfarewellbender. If you get an invite, all we ask you to bring is a non-perishable item or three for The Food Group. Beers are on us.

*For now. After all, Bitter Brewer is on tap in the Beer Hall. Everything that dies someday comes back.