New Beer Sunday

This week I've got a beer that I picked up when I was in Chicago at one of best liquor stores I've been outside of Indianapolis: Binny's. Bear Republic is available in Illinois and in Ohio (as well as about 25 other states). I've found they have a nice lineup of beer and at really good prices. I particularly enjoy their Racer 5 IPA, and Hop Rod Rye beers. All of those beers including this one are $4.99 a bomber. Not bad for a beer from California. I've seen them range in price from $3.99 to $5.49 among the internet beer purveyors. I tend to drink many more stouts in the winter than in the warmer months, but it has been nice all this week and this beer was actually quite nice on a 60 degree day. The other beer geeks have already reviewed this beer before I joined this hedonistic group of beer lovers.

Beer: Big Bear Black Stout
Brewer: Bear Republic, Healdsburg, California
Beer Style: Russian Imperial Stout
ABV: 8.1%
Price: $4.99
Availability: Plentiful

Appearance: Pours an opaque black with a minimal brown head on it. Not much lacing to speak of, but the head stayed for the entire beer.
Smell: I get plenty of chocolate, toffee, roasted malt, and even a touch of grassy hops on the nose. The smell is quite rich and makes me think I am about to drink dessert.
Taste: The flavor profile combines roasted malt and chocolate as the most dominate flavors. I also get secondary flavors including toffee, espresso, and an earthy grassy hoppiness finish the beer off.
Mouthfeel: This beer is quite full bodied and almost borders on the "chewy" realm, but overall is quite smooth and creamy.
Drinkability: This is a beer I could get used to having around for when I'm in the mood for a RIS, and at a very good price.


I quite enjoyed this stout from Bear Republic. This is another beer in the line of good stouts out there. If you are in a state that has Bear Republic it is worth your time to pick up a bottle, but you can also get many other stouts here in Indiana that stand up just fine to this one, but I wouldn't mind seeing it on our shelves along with the rest of Bear Republic's lineup.

Other Russian Imperial Stouts to try: Bell's Expedition Stout, North Coast Brewing's Old Rasputin, Storm King Stout from Victory, Stone Imperial Russian Stout (will come out in April I believe), Siberian Night from Thirsty Dog Brewing

Cheers!
Matt

KOTBR #27 In Review - Labor Day, The Breakfast Club, and Keeping the Ship On Course

I've seen it happen again and again - Indianapolis blogs that die the slow death; a post here and there, then once a week, then once a month, some of them dead even though they don't know it yet...

It's not going to happen here, despite Chris' efforts to pull a Joseph Hazelwood. Someone has to be Ferdinand Magellan*.

But before mutiny, let's address Roundtable #27, The Breakfast Club and the beer consumed on Labor Day.

First - the Breakfast Club. Despite Jason's best efforts to use the movie's own poster to prove it's "Chick Flickness", the audience has spoken, the polls are closed, and The Breakfast Club is - by a score of 31 to 16 - definitely not a chick flick. But Jason is welcome to cry while watching it anyway.

And now the beer - Four of the Geeks met at Chris' house on Labor Day for some tasty BBQ and a massive sampling.

Bell's Batch 8000 - Banana nut bread potpourri, a tight, tart-like mouthfeel, and a stuffed-dog humping of your tastebuds. 3.25 Mugs.

Unibroue Seigneuriale - Johnny Appleseed's Ale; caramel apple, the beautiful, sweet aroma of decomposition. 2.66 Mugs.

Goose Island Demolition - Overextended tastebuds knock one knight out, but the other two soldier on. Green beans and sulfur, and a lack of memory. 1.75 Mugs.

Bear Republic Racer 5 IPA - The perfect IPA for non-hopheads? Chris thinks so. Jason calls it "best best beer of the night." A mouth-snappin' hoppy taste. Mike drags the score down again. 4.16 Mugs.

Bear Republic Big Bear Black Stout - Jason sat this one out too. Deep Hershey's syrup nose - thick, heavy, chocolate, nutty, and caramel. We dug it. 4.5 Mugs.

* * * * *

*I would prefer that from here on out you address me as Captain Ferdinand. And I want a hat with a feather.

KOTBR #27 - Mike makes an offer I can't refuse

Mike is a slavedriver. For real. He don't care that it's football season (he's a soccer fan), and I wasn't in front of the computer at all over the weekend - but only camped out in front of my tv. I had an email from him today that said, and I quote, "Chris, you better post your goddamned review of the beer we drank on Labor Day, or I'm going to come over to your house and kick your fat ass! Hell, I'll even kick your little dog's ass, too!" For real! He's mean.

Don't believe me??? Probably a good thing. I like to make shit up.

Anyway, to save my little dog from Mike's boot, here are my mug ratings from our Labor Day brews:

Bell's Batch 8000 - Wow! This isn't a good beer to drink as your first beer. I think I commented that it would better if it was like my third beer and my taste buds were already a little numb. This just grabs your taste buds and does to you what Humprhey does to Deano's tap. I'll give Larry Bell the benefit of the doubt, because I don't think he makes a bad beer. I'll give him 3.25 mugs, partially for bravado, and partially because it's how many strong beers I would need to drink before I would like this one more.

Unibroue's Seigneuriale - I think this roughly translates as "The Lord's Ale". If that's the case, God has bad taste in beer (is it sacriligious to criticize God's taste in beer?). Typically a very big fan of everything Unibroue, this one falls flat for me. This should be "Johnny Appleseed's Ale" because that was the only thing I could taste - apples. My personal beer mantra is "Don't fruit the beer!", and this just goes against my mantra. Too much. 2 mugs.

Goose Island Demolition - I don't remember much about this beer, which I think says enough. 2 mugs.

Now, I'm going to preference my next two reviews by saying that I have a very strong bias in favor of the brewery and everything they make. But it's only because their worthy of the praise.

Bear Republic is located in Healdsburg, California, a quaint little town in Wine Country about an hour north of San Francisco. On my trip out there in May, I trekked to Bear Republic upon the strong urging of BadaBoomz' Mike DeWeese. I cannot thank him enough. I think very highly of Nick Floyd's and Larry Bell's overall product offering, but brewmaster Richard Norgrove just might have them both beat, at least in my book. I tried everything they were offering, and some of it twice. I spent a lot of time there, obviously, getting to know the bartender and the staff. The following two beers were my favorite's then, and I've got to say, I still love both of them. It's very unfortunate that their beers are not offered in Indiana (World Class & Cavalier, you listening??), but at least we can get them in Chicago, which is where I picked these up on my recent trip with Jason to the Windy City.

Big Bear Black Stout - This ranks up with one of the best stouts I've ever had. It tastes just the way a stout should - thick, heavy, chocolate, nutty, and caramel. Damn, this will be a wonderful beer to drink this fall! 5 mugs.

Racer 5 IPA - This is their most famous beer, and I know why. It's the best IPA I've ever drank. For someone who isn't a huge hophead, but still likes some bitters to your beers, this is perfect. It's mellow, yet forceful. It's just the right mixture of hops (for me), and leaves a very pleasent aftertaste. Can I say it's sumptuous? 5 mugs.

Now, Mike, please leave my little dog alone. She doesn't even like beer!

KOTBR #27 - Labor Day BBQ

It was Labor Day, we had some meat and a grill, so it only made sense to drink. Even though I originally suggested a BBQ, Chris was man enough to step up, host and cook the food for the event, thus saving us all from trichinosis, salmonella, beef tapeworm, hoof and mouth, and possibly myxomatosis.

As an added bonus, we got to watch the Muppet Show. Talk about childhood flashbacks... the opening theme put memories in my head so vivid that I was almost overwhelmed with the bittersweet memories of my lost childhood. Or maybe that was caused by the endless supply of beer Chris kept feeding us.

Bell's Batch 8000 - I suppose a beer that's 9% ABV isn't really the best way to start a night of drinking. Nevertheless we began the evening with Larry Bell's latest and greatest, a beer with a 95 rating on ratebeer - and of course I didn't like it all that much. 8000 is a wheat beer with a cloudy, pumpkin-colored appearance. In fact, pretty much everything we drank Monday had the exact same appearance, which was kind of weird. Anyway. Something about this beer reminded me of Brugge Beer's White, though I'd take the White over this. 8000 has a tight, tart-like mouthfeel and a flavor that sticks with you. The beer hits right on the front of the tongue and then leave you with not much else. I found it hard to get a read on this one, to be honest; but I know I wouldn't want more than one. 3.0 Mugs.

Bear Republic Racer 5 IPA - After starting with the 9.0 ABV 8000, we scaled it back a bit with this 7.2 ABV IPA from Bear Republic. This beer had the same pumpkin color as the Bell's, but with a lot of sediment and floaties. The Racer 5 has a sweet, hoppy nose, which is followed by a mouth-snappin' hoppy taste. I prefer my IPAs a little milder, with a little more malt backing. I know Chris really digs this one, but I'm the guy that hates everything. 3.0 Mugs.

Unibroue Seigneuriale - I'd pronounce that as "Senior Ale" - but if you know Unibroue, then you know that this isn't a beer for your grandpop. Another 7.2% ABV beer, this had the pumpkin color, a tiny bubbly head, and a tart, fruity Belgian-style nose - but there was something slightly off. Gina mentioned fermented apple, Jason agreed - I'd say that's the closest description I could come up with. The beer had an apple taste, but also a hint of caramel - caramel apple is probably a fair description. The other thing I noticed was that the beer had a very "flat" taste. Although I'm a fan of the caramel apple, I'm not so much a fan of Seigneuriale. Interesting, but not necessarily good. 2.5 Mugs.

Goose Island Demolition - Well, I like the bottle for this beer, but other than that I don't have a lot good to say about it. The bottle explained that the original Goose Island brewery was located in some sort of mini-mall that was being torn down, but through the magic of beer, the brewery stayed. This beer was created in tribute to those folks who stuck with the brewery through the demolition.

Look, that's great and all, but why does this beer taste like dirt? Earthly tones - I actually thought of green beans with my first drink. Then a bit of a sulfury taste, similar to what I got from Fat Tire. I guess this was 8% ABV... I dumped it in the sink. You can probably see where this review is going. 1.5 Mugs.

Bear Republic Big Bear Black Stout - Because we're gluttons and I can never pass up a stout - we also had a slight tasting of another Bear Republic offering. This beer had a dark, dark body (think Darth Vader), with heavy lacing. A deep Hershey's syrup nose was followed with a thick, chewy taste that found a fine middle ground between chocolate and smoked meat. 8.1% ABV. Small sample. This was good stuff. 4.0 Mugs.