The Surly bosses, Todd Haug and Omar Ansari. Photo by Carlos Gonzalez.

It's hard to imagine a time when Surly Brewing wasn't a dominant fixture on the craft-beer scene and in the mouths of Twin Cities drinkers. The Brooklyn Center brewery — known for its hoppy, tongue-lacerating Furious and other adventurous beers — is celebrating its fifth anniversary with a month of fan-appreciation events.

Already underway, Surly has set up more than a dozen parties at its original bar accounts. Each bar will offer rare firkins and specialty beers. Here are the participating bars according to Surly's press release:

• Wednesday (That's today!), February 2 - Blue Nile, 2027 East Franklin Avenue, Minneapolis
• Friday, February 4 - Winterfest, Minnesota History Center, 345 Kellogg Boulevard West, Saint Paul (Sold out)
• Saturday, February 5 - Mackenzies, 918 Hennepin Avenue, Minneapolis
• Monday, February 7 - Muddy Pig, 162 Dale Street, St. Paul
• Tuesday, February 8 - Acadia, 329 Cedar Avenue South, Minneapolis
• Thursday, February 10 - McCormick & Schmick's, Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis
• Tuesday, February 15 - Happy Gnome, 498 Selby Ave, Saint Paul (Sold out). The Happy Gnome will be giving away 2 tickets to the dinner. Show up at 4 p.m. for your chance to get tickets.
• Wednesday, February 16 - Pizza Nea, 306 East Hennepin Avenue, Minneapolis
• Thursday, February 17 - Stub & Herb's, 227 Oak Street, Minneapolis
• Sunday, February 20 - Triple Rock, 629 Cedar Avenue, Minneapolis
• Monday, February 21 - Grumpy's NE, 2200 4th Street NE, Minneapolis
• Wednesday, February 23 - Bryant Lake Bowl, 810 West Lake Street, Minneapolis
• Sunday, February 27 - Mac's Industrial, 312 Central Avenue, Minneapolis
• Monday, February 28 - Groveland Tap, 1834 St. Clair Avenue, St. Paul
• Wednesday, March 2 - Whistle Binkies, 3120 Wellner Drive NE and 247 Woodlake Drive SE, Rochester

Here's a description of the specialty beers from Surly's press release:

• Surly Pentagram: In honor of Surly Brewing's fifth anniversary we brewed a 100% Brettanomyces fermented brown aged in used red wine barrels. Brettanomyces is a yeast used in place of "normal" brewing yeast, it produces a unique flavor profile. Pentagram is a single barrel "tasting" of Five. Five (with all barrels blended together)will be released later this spring in bottles and kegs. Pentagram has strong flavors of earthy black cherry and raisins with a sour finish. 6.66%abv 14IBU
• Moe's Bender: Chocolate, vanilla bean, coffee and Oak Aged Bender. 5.1%abv 45IBU
• Mole Smoke: Inspired by the flavors in mole. This version of our Smoked Baltic Porter uses 4 different chili varieties, roasted cacao, cinnamon and vanilla 8.8%abv 30IBU
• Imperial Brown Eye: Brewed for the 2009 AHA Wort Rally. We fermented this Imperial Brown Ale with a Belgian yeast strain and aged it in second use Bourbon barrels. 8.5%abv 40IBU

For details on the party schedule, go to Surly's website, where the brewery will release specifics a couple days before each event. For example, here is the schedule for tonight at the Blue Nile:

The beers include Cherry-Wood Bender Firkin, plus Pentagram, Moe's Bender, Aha Rally beer ($2.50 pints). The time: Tickets for Pentagram go on sale at 4 p.m. (tapping at 8 p.m.). Firkin at 6 p.m., Aha Rally beer at 7 p.m., Moe's Bender all night.