Bear Republic Black Mamba

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

pours black thin tan head with some lacing. sweet malty aroma. roasty-malt flavor with spicy notes, not sweet as the aroma suggests. medium bodied, bubbly on the tongue. not a bad beer, but i didn’t find it extremely entertaining, either.

Belgian Ale??? Black beer, certainly, but the supposed Belgian spicing and wheat components were completely lost on me. Well, I did notice some touches of talcum powder in the finish, but I naturally assumed that that was my buddy Cornfield’s rash flaring up again. Some light clove in the finish, but really big roasted barley malt black beer signature here mainly. Really enjoyed this experiment, whatever it proved to actually be.

on tap at maproom. pours dark reddish brown with off white head. nose is a bit roasty, some dry baker’s chocolate, some dark fruit. flavors of dark fruit, dry chocolate, some dark fruit. more like a belgian style dry stout, black wit? i dunno.

On tap at Green Dragon in Portland, OR--Poured a deep brown-black body with a full tan-beige head. Nutty, malty, sweet, and with the citrus hops character of a nice pale ale. Strange play of sweet malts, phenolic yeastiness and bitter hops. Somewhat like a black IPA, but more like a Bavarian dunkel weissen or dark wit (contradiction of terms). Roasty spicy, fruity and odd finish,

Dark copper/brown pour. Big roasty aroma. Malty flavor with notable hints of clove, chocolate, and coriander. Slightly dry finish

~Pours a reddish brown color with small white head. ~Light yeast scent with toasted malts. ~Bitter hop flavor with a syrupy sweet malt taste. Too sweet and a weird bitterness. ~Medium feel. Bitter finish. ~I don’t care to much for this one. Strange flavor. Not horrible though.

On tap at the Brew Kettle. Pours a deep brown with amber notes and a medium creamy off white head that left great lacing. Aroma of iced tea, clove, some toasty/toasty malt notes. Flavor of clove, banana, tea, toasted malt, other spices kind of interesting.

There’s an unexpected bit of ash in this beer, although ther’s not a lot of stout about this otherwise. A bit of yeasty fruit, but not really enough to keep this beer from coming across as a bit confused.