Bear Republic End 08

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

Tap. Pours to a nice brownish body with a tan head. The beer is a conglomeration of smooth fruits, clean yeasts, light balanced hops. Kind of like a mild. The beer had a surprisingly clean light palate.

on tap at bear republic. brown with thin head. smells of coffee amd tastes of dark malts. the problem is the hop bitterness. it ruins the beer. there is just so much bittering that it finishes unpleasant.

On tap @ the brewpub. Clear copper brown with a small beige head, fair retention. Aroma of molasses and tangerine hops up front with some toasted malts. Flavor is much the same with plenty of hop presence, even turning a bit grassy.Dry finish with bitterness @ a 4-5 that lingers. Moderate carbonation with a light to medium body. Not too bad, considering it’s a left-over ingredients beer--though I can tell. However, the beer seems too hoppy for the malts, so I just think it’s mediocre

On tap at brewery. Citrus and pine aroma. Tastes like a pale ale with ipa hops. Bitter finish with grapefruit notes.

Ta at the Blind Tiger. This tastes pretty much like exactly what it is, which is a completely random concoction of just a bunch of stuff they had laying around the brewery at the end of the year. Flavor is dull, aluminum, with light hops. Sweet and tinny. Indistinct, dullish noble hops aroma. Tastes like if you went to your average brewpub and blended their lager, amber, ipa, wheat, brown, and porter together.

Tap at Blind Tiger. Deep brown beer. Aroma is very fruity and lightly spicy. Softly fruity with a lot of orange peel and grapefruity citrus. Rich pine hoppiness with a biscuity malt sweetness through the middle. A bit of dark malt character that gives a light cocoa flavour. Finishes with a firm spicy/piny hoppiness. Pretty nice.

6oz pour @ blind tiger. Bartender says this is all the hops and malt left over in the year to craft a one time brew. Cool concept. Pours brown but has a strong pine hop tang to it. Very smooth, medium body with loong bitter/astrigent finish. What more ipas should try to mirror.

Draught at the brewpub. The board described it as "a mixture of grain left over from 2008 accentuated by simcoe and amarillo hops. An easy drinking session ale." The beer was amber-brown colored with an ample tan head. The aroma was hoppy, with lots of pine. The flavor had light caramel maltiness with a firm piney bitterness. The body was pretty light. Seemed a little lacking in malt compared to the generously bitter hops, but still went down pretty easily.