bear republic – Beck's Beer Blog

beer pairing dinner

On April 10th, Beerthirst is teaming up with our friends at Russell Brewing for a night of craft beer and BBQ at Memphis Blues BBQ! It’s a 5 course dinner with 6 beers, and we will be pouring the Bear Republic Racer 5, North Coast Scrimshaw Pilsner, and Green Flash Double Stout. 7 – 10pm, $50 per person. 1342 Commercial Drive.

collaboration beer

new collaboration brew from stone, bear republic and fat head – a texas brown ale
sounds a lot like a cascadian dark ale to me…

st. augustine’s sampler

had me a sampler the other night (ha, more like a week and a half ago…) at st. augustine’s

and so did amanda

i went with hopworks’ organic rise-up red, bear republic’s peter brown tribute ale, lagunitas undercover investigation shut-down ale and sierra nevada’s pale ale

i loooved the undercover ale – bitter but not in that amazing northwest ipa way, it was actually kinda sweet, like brown sugar malty hoppy, which sounds like a weird combo but it was very much working for me!

the sierra nevada is not the hoppiest pale ale, but definitely more hops than some of my friends would like!

the rise-up red is a full-bodied wonderfully hoppy number, and i really like it!

the peter brown tribute ale was malty as f*ck, roasty but not too sweet – molasses yay! very nice addition to my sampler!

women in beer

and another installment in the “it happened a while ago” vcbw posts…

women in beer
the thursday of vancouver craft beer week
held at republic

first of all, they asked me to speak
right there you know i’m gonna gush just a little bit about this event
secondly, there were so many amazing women there
you know i’m gonna gush just a little bit more!

rebecca of crannog hammers the hand truck porter cask

because i was speaking, i got to go in early

you know, to help stuff the swag bags

aaaaand schmooze with the brewers and lisa morrison!

it was great being in there early

i got to see all the casks get sprung

and talk to everyone before they got swamped by the loving hoardes

claire of big river brewing helps with the howe sound cask

the beer goddess also helped out with the howe sound cask

at 6:00 the doors opened and the lovely supporters of women in beer arrived

we had all expected that it would be set up differently

more places to sit, a proper place to speak from, actual food

but alas, republic had a different view of the set up

what we got was a great mingling space

with a few roving servers with tiny tapas

and a lower platform to speak from

so we improvised

speeches got cut from five minutes each to 30 seconds

people went out for food after the event

and more schmoozing happened

lisa morrison double-fists it at big river’s station

i began my drinking at claire connolly’s station

she’s the brewmaster at big river brewpub in richmond

she had the women’s collaboration beer on tap

along with her esb

i loved them both!

the women’s collaboration beer was a smoked saison

look at me, i liked a saison!

i wish this beer had been available at more events – it was a gooder

at the beginning of the night it was a bit too cold

but i had it again at the end of the night after it had warmed up a touch and it was a thing of beauty

i next wandered over and met kala hadfield of spinnakers brew pub in victoria

(if you’ve read any of my other vcbw posts, you’ll notice that i ran into kala several times over the course of the week, and she was enjoying herself each and every time!)

she brought an ipa

she figured it might not go over with all the women new to beer

but hoped it might convert some, and would please the hop headed women

and boy, was it ever a hop bomb!

i loved it!

next up for me was the howe sound menage a trois – mango, passionfruit and raspberry wheat ale with coriander

there was a whole lot going on in that beer!

but it worked

the coriander kept it from being too fruity

i said “it tastes like a patio”

and not five seconds later someone else came over to try it and quipped that they felt like they were on a patio drinking it!

rebecca kneen of crannog brought two casks with her

the handtruck porter, which has molasses in it to make it a little bit smokey

and the backhand of god stout

all hail the mighty organic beers!

we were supposed to pair the porter with the chocolate course

but since that came right at the end of the night i had my hand truck porter all by itself

and it was amazing

at the end of the night, when the chocolate finally came out, i had it with the backhand of god

and found that to be quite a divine pairing

sloppy seconds

sloppy seconds, hoppy seconds, spring hop
whatever the heck it officially ended up being called
the camra members-only hopfest at the alibi room on monday night was lots of fun

the goal of the evening was to give members who missed out on tickets for hoppapalooza to try the hoppy casks and kegs leftover from hoppapalooza
so for $20 members bought themselves entry to the alibi room, a burger dinner and a pint of cask not tapped at hoppapalooza
after that pints and sleeves were on at regular price, less 10%

as i lamented in a previous post, i shoulda had half pours at hoppapalooza so that i could have made it furher through the list since there was no way i was going to finish the list at $5 sleeves

i began with the included pint of swan’s scotch ale
which was uber-sedimenty and too boozey for me
i made a concerted effort, but i just couldn’t finish the whole pint

then my new friend from edmonton bought me a pint of north coast’s acme ipa
which had an amazing nose and quite an edge to it, i’m a fan

then i moved into sleeves and had a bear’s hop rod rye, conrad’s pilsner and the ninkasi believer double red ale (to make sure i still liked it, which i did)
as it was just after 10:00 by this point i passed on finishing the sleeve of fat tug that jason bought for me
jen seemed pretty pleased to take it off my hands
and i made it to bed before 11

the social was a great opportunity to chat up a storm with brewers and appreciators alike
and trade war stories from the first three days of vancouver craft beer week
and i’m impressed that i managed to get out of there reasonably sober!
i felt like a million dollars on tuesday morning!

thanks very much to the alibi for accommodating my stupid dietary restrictions
(there were mushrooms in the veggie burger, so they very kindly grilled me some tomatoes to use on my bun instead)
and providing such great salads and condiments
the coleslaw in particular was divine!

beer list

probably not the exhaustive list of beers i received for my birthday
but i think its pretty close!

baird beer’s suruga bay imperial ipa
howe sound’s oatmeal stout
rogue’s dead guy ale
russell’s wee angry scotch ale
anchor’s porter (a whole six pack – yay!)
howe sound’s total eclipse of the hops
howe sound’s devil’s elbow ipa
ninkasi tricerahops double ipa
sculler’s ipa
hopworks’ secession cascadian dark ale
tree’s hop head ipa (a whole six pack – yay!)
hopworks’ ace of spades imperial ipa
bear republic’s hop rod rye
mt. begbie’s nasty habit
driftwood’s nasty hildegard
howe sound’s rockfish red
fernie’s sapsucker
howe sound’s hightide hemp ale

(and that doesn’t even include the two phillips hop boxes that stacy brought over for the party itself…)

my friends rock!!!!!!!!!!!!!

bottled beer

rather than sampling too many beers in one night, tippling at st. augustine’s the other night featured a few bottle or pint choices after a single sampler each.

the thought was to try four beers we weren’t sure we’d want a whole pint of, or were already in love with. then follow those with choices we were sure we’d want a whole pint (or bottle) of. and it turned out to be a sound plan!

alison was the smartest about this method – she got them to let her have a sip of her choices first, then ordered the pints. she had the r&b red devil ale and the tin whistle killer bee dark honey ale. she’s in love with both of these so much that she went to the beer store last night to buy herself bottles for home! of the red devil she said: “nice hop – really not sweet… great depth. keeps on going.” of the killer bee she said “i’m a killer bee!” (yes, we were a bit tipsy by this point in the evening) and inspired by the mohammed ali documentary on the screen above her head, i replied “float like a nut brown, sting like a honey bee”, which sounded far wittier at the time! seriously though, i found my sips of the killer bee to taste like a nut brown ale with a bit of honey flavour.

r&b’s website says: “R&B’s Red Devil Pale Ale is an English-style pale ale with a coppery red hue. Not to be confused with typical red and amber ales, Red Devil is crafted with the palate and bouquet in mind. A mix of 2-Row and C-75 malts are accentuated by the addition of Crystal, Fuggles, and Whitbread Goldings hops at three different stages in the brewing process. In keeping with English tradition, this little devil has a hoppy floral aroma and malty sweetness, which are followed by a slightly dry and very refreshing finish. The perfect companion to a game of footy down at the local pub. (28 IBU, 5.2% alc/vol) Available in bottles.

Awards
Silver – 2007 Canadian Brewing Awards
Bronze – 1008 Taste of B.C.
Silver – 2009 Taste of B.C.”

for her pints bridget had her favourite backhand of god stout by crannog, and then let me talk her into trying a bottle of anderson valley’s barney flats oatmeal stout. i didn’t take any notes of her impressions, and i know i tried the barney flats, but can’t actually remember what i thought of it! doh! in trying to avoid sampling too many beers in one night by switching to bottles, i forgot to take into account that i was going to at least take a sip of everyone else’s choices and i can’t properly distinguish my memories of all the tasty mouthfuls. must take better notes!

after enjoying the anderson valley ipa at a tasting, i decided that my first bottle at st. augustine’s was going to be their boont esb. st. augustine’s says: “6.8% The abundant hopping in this four-time gold medal winner creates arousing aromatics, accompanied by pleasantly bitter bite. Boont Extra Special Beer is deep gold in colour, with a spicy hop aroma.” yup, i agree. after a violent pour, it took quite a while for the head to simmer down enough to drink it. lovely hop nose and bitter finish. i’d definitely buy this one again.

my next choice was bear republic racer 5 ipa – the one that they sued central city over. but st. augustine’s was out of it, so that will have to remain on my list to try another time. instead i went with their hop rod rye. st. augustine’s says: “8.0% A high gravity IPA brewed with 18% rye malt, Hop Rod Rye has a floral hop aroma and subtle caramel notes with a slightly earthy and spicy rye character.” yup, true, true. i enjoyed the play of hops and rye. i want to try this one again when its the first beer of the day and not the last in a long line. i think there’s a lot there to appreciate.

from the anderson valley website:

“Barney Flats Oatmeal Stout Takes Bronze at World Beer Cup® in Chicago
AVBC’s already award-winning Barney Flats Oatmeal Stout took the Bronze Medal at the 2010 World Beer Cup® in Chicago. Entered in Category Number 63 -Oatmeal Stout, Barney Flats beat 31 other entrants to take home a medal. The beer was taken directly from the packaging line. It’s the same beer that can be found in your 6 pack at home which is not just shy sluggin’ gorms neemer.

For more information on the World Beer Cup® and this year’s winners, visit http://www.worldbeercup.org/“

Boont ESB: “The abundant hopping in this four-time gold medal winner, creates arousing aromatics, accompanied by a pleasantly bitter bite. Boont Extra Special Beer is deep gold in color, with a spicy hop aroma. Starts with a big, malty backbone and finishes with a refreshingly bitter bite. Boont Extra Special Beer is excellent alone or as an accompaniment to your favorite well-seasoned meals (such as Mexican, Korean, Chinese, Indian, or Thai, cuisine).

Boont ESB was named the Regional Champion in the 2003 US Beer Tasting Championships, in the Bitter/ESB category, has won two Gold Medals at the Great American Beer Festival, and has several other medals, as well.

As with all of our products, Boont ESB is never sterile filtered nor heat pasteurized, and should be stored in refrigeration. However, to fully enjoy its rich and complex flavor, it should be served between 40° and 45°F. 6.8 % Alcohol by Volume. 61 IBU. “It’s aplenty bahl steinber horn.””