Bear Republic Big Bear Black Stout

Brewed by Bear Republic Brewing Company
Style: Imperial Stout
Healdsburg, California USA

Poured black with a brown head. Aroma of roasted coffee and chocolate. Some coffee and chocolate. Little bit of bitterness.

Perhaps I got a bad bottle. This one was extremely thin and quite soft. Nothing flavorful and the low abv for the style shows in every way. The nose was very soft, with some cocoa and small but of sugar, but I wouldn’t have guessed this was a dark beer from the smell. Palate is watery and the flavors vanish with the swallow. Pretty weak I thought for such a highly rated beer.

Bottle. Very dark brown pour topped by two fingers of lasting tan head. The nose is soft cocoa, mildly sweet with a hint of alcohol. Thankfully the flavor is more complex than the nose with some anise, dark chocolate, coffee and hint of unripe fruit. Some coconut shows up as it warms giving it a Mounds Bar-esque character. Full bodied and very smooth. Some bitter citrus and cocoa in the finish. Very good but lacking something that keeps it from greatness. It is, like all Bear Republic beers, a great value for the money.

Very user-friendly, as Imperial Stouts go; however, this is not a bad thing at all. While it is an extremely dark pour, it has a much thinner texture than I usually expect from Imperial Stouts. Not heavy on the palate. Sweet tastes do not require an overly experienced beer drinker to appreciate them. A clean finish leaves you ready to take another sip. The flavors keep rolling in as you kill the 22; this is a brew you won’t get bored of.

On tap at Gingerman, Fort Worth. Beautiful dark pour, nose hints of coffee and roasted malt, full body, very smooth texture with a hint of caramel and malt that finishes delightfully bitter. Not the best stout I’ve tasted but certainly up there.

On tap at the best bar in the world THRASH ZONE, Yokohama Japan. Poured a massive thick freaky dark blackness with a suitably abundant head. Smell was slight, but inviting. A big taste on the tongue greeted me with a "Howdy, hello...I’ll be sticking around here for a while, so get used to me" kinda thing. Big, bold, black...just like Shaft or an oil rig. Truth be told, however, this bear just didn’t fit me needs. More like an IBA than a Stout, this was overly hoppy for the style and was simply too thick and heavy for me to fully enjoy a full pint. In fact, I actually felt rather sick after downing this. The first time, I thought it might have been a fluke; so I tried it again and had the same sickly stomach. Perhaps a quality beer, but does not suit me.

Aroma is sweet malts more than any coffee or chocolate. Taste again is sweet, hoppy for an impy stout, and some coffee and chocolate. Nothing great here, but drinkable.

The aroma is sweet with toasted malt, coffee, chocolate, and a small amount of hops. The appearance is almost black with a large head. The flavor is hoppier than the aroma but is dominated by the same elements from the aroma. The palate is a bit thin. Overall a drinkable beer that is to style but is nothing special.