Bear Republic Black Racer Black IPA

Bear Republic have been pretty solid so far, clearly a good brewery doing good things.

This is a variant of the popular Racer 5 but blackened up considerably. I found it a bit maltier than usual for this style, quite chocolatey but tasty overall. There's the barest hint of chili here if you stare at it in the right way.. maybe just miscategorised spice. Hop bite is present but as it warms, gets a little jagged.

I can't really put my finger on it but there's something about this that's just a bit less compelling than a lot of the other things Bear Republic do. It's a Black IPA certainly and quality beer, but just missing the mark somewhere with the overall feel and balance of flavours. Reasonable if there's nothing else going. 6.0

Bear Republic Pete Brown Tribute Ale

Big bodied brown here, gives the impression of more than its stated 6.5%.

Its dark heavy brown-amber body pumps out a slightly too-sweet nose that made me fear a bit for the balance of the beer, but first impression is not too bad. Nutty, chocolatey sort of rich brown character, and flavoursome.

At this sort of low % I like a US Brown to be sessionable - ie either hoppy (to an extent) or dry enough so that you can send it back with efficiency. This beer's a bit too sweet for that and gets cloying quite quickly. Not bad beer, but not quite to my taste either. 7.0

Bear Republic Racer 5 IPA

Another Californian drop vying for the mantle of king of the IPAs.

"Bigger is better" it says, but this is a reasonably restrained 7.0 abv, which makes for a pretty sessionable experience. It's a golden colour in the glass, very light, visible and approachable. Taste-wise it's one of those archetypal IPAs, a little bit on the sweet / sugary side possibly but well balanced overall. I found there was a slight missing spot about three quarters of the way through the flavour profile that could have been punched up to really finish this beer nicely.

My feeling is if you were in the states and could pick up a six pack for a lobster or so, it would be a no brainer. As it is .. it's pretty damn pleasant but probably not as much of a special experience to warrant choosing it too often over some of its rivals. 7.5

Bear Republic Big Bear Black Stout

I just love them big bottles of stout.

Had assumed from the bottle (perhaps naively, looking back at the red star logo) that this was a standard english stout, but from the plum pudding nose you become instantly aware of it's Leninist roots.

You get lovely round oily stout first up, then it moves into fruit tones, and finishes up dry roasty coffee. Pretty damn good, but contrary to the label marketing I found this kind of slow going due to its Ruski nature. A good beer to sit with over a long evening with a book. Or a bear. 8.0

Bear Republic Hop Rod Rye

Bear Republic Hop Rod Rye, replete with quite splendid livery.

This is big dark and heavy brown, low head dissipates quite quickly, heavy in the glass and in the mouth at 7.5% ABV.

The big rye malt backbone is the dominating characteristic of this beer. It's a beer for winter I think like a better version of Coopers Vintage Ale with the nice rye characteristic to boot.

There's not a lot wrong with this drop but it doesn't really blow my socks off either. For the dosh and the percent etc I'd choose something with a bit more balls. 7.5