3.5 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 14/20
Draft at the American Craft Beer Fest in Boston. Poured a coppery red. Floral hoppy aromas. Nice earthy tones, malt character and hop bitterness.
3.4 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 15/20
On draft at the Creek monkey alehouse in Martinez. It pours gold with an off white head. The aroma is fruity and herbal. The flavor has hints of fruit, butterscotch, pine, toffee and a bit of a honey/herbal bitter finish. Flavorful if a bit odd.
3.9 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 5/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 15/20
On tap at Beer Republic during SF Beer Week, what a week! Pours clear deep gold with copper hues and tan head and some nice sheet lacing. The aroma offers up some mildly roasted malts mixing with some spicy hops that create sort of a fresh spicy wood sensation like redwood maybe. Maybe this aromatic is just fresh crisp resiny spicy hops since the flavors seem to support this. I get big brash and fresh resiny bitter spicy hops that take on a spicy wood feel. Behind this are milder notes of sweet malts and roasted malts. Nice crisp brash stuff here that is pretty far away from most bitters I have had and I’m totally fine with that.
3.2 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 14/20
Draft at Ginger Man. Orange and grapefruit dominate the aroma and palate, also some herbal notes. Nicely balanced finish, with a good mix of sweet citrus fruit and West Coast hops. Nice session ESB.
3.4 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 14/20
Hanging with JoeT at the brewery on Aug 9, 2011 for my birthday. I was more focused on the company than the notes, but these’ll do until I get back there this summer and do it right. Listed as Nor Cal Ale. Sharp, like a mild IPA. Nice bitterness. Flat sweet to flat back.
3.7 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 15/20
Reviewed from notes (2009)
A: Amber brown body. Off white head with decent retention and above average lacing.
S: Floral/citrus blast. A tad more orange than grapefruit. Some lemon like hints.
T: Nicely balanced up front. Malt and hops play off each other until the citric/floral hops edge out the sweet malts with a nice bitter finish.
M: Light-medium body. A tad thin in the middle, perhaps a tad over carbonated before warming up.
O: A very nice pale that tips toward the IPA side of things. Which ain’t a bad thing in my book.
3.2 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 13/20
UPDATED: DEC 8, 2011 Draft at brewpub. Sorry original rating was entered with phone and was wrong...Dark orange gold color. Fresh aroma is very fruity. White plum in nose and palate. Is generally thin. Has some white woody pale
malts, persimmon and guava. Nice fresh grain character.
3.7 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 16/20
Appearance: clear copper under a nice pithy head – creamy and smooth, crawling up the sides of the glass.
Nose: mandarins, grapefruits, and more mandarins. Cantaloupe mingles with honeydew. Kiwi and spearmint. Herbal in the back – fields of green in bloom drifting by on a gentle spring breeze. Lavender and chamomile. Lemongrass. Candied apple skins and sweet spicy rye seeds in the back.
Palate: clean, grabbing my tastebuds in the middle with mandarin, mango, and cantaloupe – sweet juices underneath, bitterness of skins on top. Lemongrass is followed by mint. More cantaloupe along with honeydew in the middle. Floral notes in the breath. More mint along the sides tingles – like chewing on a fresh mint leaf – doesn’t overwhelm though.
Final Thoughts: delicious, but I don’t expect anything else from Bear Republic. An interesting style in its own right, this California Style Bitter brought to mind multiple beer styles and their complimentary flavors.
3.6 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 15/20
Tap @ Sierra. Pours a lighter amber hue with minimal head. Lighter citrus aromas makes this one already seem like a great summer brew. Palate is more medium bodied, entry to mid palate has mild hops, then moves to more of a granny apple in the finish. Very enjoyable. I was told it was an IPA when I ordered it, but thought it was not one only because of the hop profile not being as strong. Great summer brew!
3.6 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 14/20
Draft. Crystal clear light amber body, white head. Aroma is mildly sweet, spicy, earthy/orange, some bread. Taste is medium sweet, earthy/orange, some spicy, light bread. Light body, somewhat watery, nicely drinkable.
3.3 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 14/20
From N.Cali notes: smells like mash. strong malts. caramel. typical sweet toffee caramel malt bitter. citrus. slick and oily palate. ok. 6.6
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