Archive for the 'Bear Republic' category
Bear Republic XP Pale Ale
Sometimes you have a party, and you wake up the next day to find out that all of your good beer is gone and all you have left are 4 cases of Busch Light, Natural Light, Bud Select, and Pabst Blue Ribbon. It’s a lukewarm reception, indeed, and only truly welcome if it’s a heavy sporting season. Lucky for us, March Madness is right around the corner, so I think cheap domestic beers will find a happy home here in our corner of Durham.
However, I do happen to have a few bombers of good beer that I’ve been meaning to drink and review, so I reckon I’ll dig into those coffers tonight and save the PBR for a later date. Today, I’m trying out the Bear Republic XP Pale Ale. I’ve never been a huge fan of Bear Republic, if only because I can’t often get my hands on their stuff. However, I recently found myself a couple of nights in the Flying Saucer where the Red Rocket Old Ale found great favor with me. So, it is with that good taste in my mouth that I’m anxiously trying out the XP.
This brew pours a deep golden color with some evident debris and quite a lot of carbonation. This carbonation contributes to a thick white head that eventually subsides into a paper thin coating over the surface of the beer. The aroma here is super malty, full of sweet biscuit flavors that are quite appealing. And, that’s about it for the aroma – there are very light bits of hop apparent here, but it’s mostly just bread. In the mouth, the carbonation initially stings the tongue a bit, but not in a bad way. Subsequently, the huge malt profile of this beer shines through, providing lots of tasty sweetbread flavors and coating the tongue front to back. Down the throat, the beer continues to tingle a bit as it leaves a decent coating all over the mouth – a rather big mouthfeel, indeed, and an aftertaste that is especially resilient. And, really, that’s about it – it’s a big pale ale with huge malt flavors that nearly eliminate the hop content. That being said, it’s really quite good. If you like pale ales and you’re a fan of malt, then you’re sure to like this beer. I can find nothing here not to like…
Bear Republic “Racer 5″ IPA
This is an IPA out of Bear Republic, a relatively small brewery in California. I consider this a great offering – The pour is a typical medium amber, and the aroma explodes with floral hops. The head is a bright white and has great longevity and sticks to the glass. From the potent aroma, I assume that this beer must be dry-hopped. The flavor is also bursting with hops with a heavier-than-usual bitterness on the tongue. The beer has a rather light mouthfeel, enters with a flowery sweetness, but quickly turns very bitter on the back of the tongue and sticks with you for quite some time. All in all, I feel like this is one of the better west-coast IPAs, and one that I would gladly drink again.
