Bear Republic Black Mamba

Brewed by Bear Republic Brewing Company
Style: Belgian Ale
Healdsburg, California USA

Draught @ Blind Tiger, into tulip. Pours hazy, dark brown w/ red highlights showing through, rocky tan head that lasts awhile and lots of lacing. Nose is spicy yeast, clove, with hints of citrus zest, and just a hint of roasty malt and even cocoa. Taste really is an odd combo of roasty and wit flavors - the yeasty characteristics of the wit leave the roasty tasting oddly off, with a dry, yeasty finish. Light body and moderate carbonation. An interesting experiment, but definitely not my favorite BR beer.

(Draught) Pours an opaque dark brown (near black) body with a small beige head. Aroma of roasted malt, coriander, licorice, clove, caramel, and cocoa. Flavor of roasted malt, sweet caramel, light licorice, chocolate, and lactic.

On tap: creamy off-white head and not much of it. Black body for all intents and purposes. heavy sweet and espresso aromas. Espresso taste and a bunch of sweetness in the taste as well. Some alcohol undertones. Mineral like taste at points. Unique taste for a stout.

Pours dark brown nearly black with a small off white head. Aroma is malty with some nice dark fruitiness to it. Flavor starts out roasted and nutty sweet but quickly gains a fruit quality that takes it to the finish. Not very bitter finish and fairly dry. Medium body and medium carbonation. Good Belgian but not top of the line.

just mediocre, nothing special. the bartender tried to tell me that this was an imperial stout, but obviously it isn’t. poured very black, malt, chocolate and a little bit of that belgian esk funk. it was on the dry side palate wise, i felt as if this beer was lacking something.

On tap at Bear Republic. Tasted like a generic schwarzbier to me, not really digging this one. Maybe just because it was served alongside so many thrilling beers, it deserves a better rating? Well, no time to worry about that, this mildly sweet crystal malty beer will have to go down the hatch to make room for more.

a confounding style to say the least. had this on tap at flossmoor station. i asked if there were any guest beers on tap and she mentioned this one. i asked the style and she said it was ’belgian style’. when it was brought to me and i started to drink it i was convinced that there was some mistake and that i was drinking one of their porters. what sets it apart from the usual porter is that it came across with a thinner mouthfeel which was interesting, and very little in the nose whatsoever. much more subtle in terms of the roast, this was very easy going, like a wit would be.

draft at map room. dark black with thin tan head. sweet malty aroma, a little funky. super chocolatey and coffeed, which surprised me. pretty good overall. small bit thin. not super belgian.