It was a Bear Republic type of night

Really smart people say you shouldn’t try to do anything important when you’ve been drinking. I don’t know who these smart people are. Or what the hell they are talking about. Brewmaniacs is important, you guys. Maybe the most important thing you’ve ever encountered ever. EVER. So maybe I shouldn’t drink and deal with it. Or maybe I SHOULD. Tonight I thought I’d tap into some of the Bear Rebuplic (Republic for those of you not #drunj right now) I had on hand. I picked up the Racer 5 and the Brown at The Coffee Grounds in Eau Claire, WI a few days ago. The stout, I ordered online a few months ago. In regards to The Coffee Grounds, the craft beer guy there is AWESOME. Very knowledgeable, you can talk to him for hours on end about beer, it’s awesome.

Ok, so onto the beers. Time for some reviewing. Let’s just get this out there – I haven’t eaten since 2 PM and I’m on the third bomber of Bear Republic right now, so my typing skills might not be at their peak performance, but I will try to make this as coherent as possible. And I’m not proofreading this bitch. It is what it is.

Here are the Bear Republic brews that I took down tonight:

(from L to R) Racer 5 IPA, Pete Brown Tribute Ale, Big Bear Black Stout

BEAR REPUBLIC RACER 5 IPA

Clocks in at about 7% ABV, somewhere around 75 IBUs. They hop it with Chinook, Cascade, Columbus and Centennial. Not my favorite hops, but certainly some outstanding ones in the mix. While this isn’t a Top 10 IPA for me, it’s absolutely an outstanding IPA. Has a nice hop bite to it, enough malt backbone to make it heavy but not too heavy, and the hop profile is very entertaining. The mouthfeel really sets this beer apart from a lot of other IPAs. It’s thicker and fuller than most IPAs out there – that puts it ahead of some of those “lighter” IPAs in the market. Good news is the malt does not take over the beer (which is essential in a good IPA). Solid, solid IPA here. Very drinkable. I will come back to this one.

BEAR REPUBLIC PETE BROWN TRIBUTE ALE

6.3% ABV, 25 IBU. I’ve been pretty consistent that Cigar City’s brown and Surly’s Bender are two of the best browns out there. This guy made a claim to fame tonight for me. While it didn’t necessarily knock those guys off, it absolutely left an impression on me. It has a nice smooth, roasty flavor on the onset. Full bodied, yet not too much roastiness to take you out of the game. Some caramelness to it, sweet molasses flavor to it. Really, really enjoyed this beer. Perhaps it’s because I was in the mood for brown, but this beer hit the spot. Definitely one of my Top 5 browns.

BEAR REPUBLIC BIG BEAR BLACK STOUT

8.1% ABV, 55 IBU. Nice body to this beer. Not too thin, not too thick for a stout. It has some bitterness to it, but it balances well with the roasty malts. Like the brown, it has some caramel to it, but not nearly as prominent because of the stoutness of the beer (brown sugar maybe?). Like the previous two beers before this one, I am impressed by it. A really nice stout. The smell and mouthfeel makes me think it’s an imperial stout, but Bear Republic classifies it as an American Stout. It feels like a Russian Imperial Stout. I had to check the Bear Republic website to make sure I wasn’t losing my mind, but I don’t see anywhere on their site that they classify it as a RIS. I will say this, it tastes like a RIS, it feels like a RIS. So if you are seeking this out, expect a RIS from this beer. Impressed, to say the least of this beer.