Stone-Bear Republic-Fat Head's TBA (Texas Brown Ale)

As part of a trade with my buddy Rich in San Diego, I received a bottle of the Stone-Bear Republic-Fat Head’s collaboration TBA (Texas Brown Ale). The beer pours a brown color with a lofty and frothy cream colored head that lingers for a really long time. The aroma consists of lemon, pepper, caramel, toasted malts, coffee, and pine. The taste is nicely bitter with a toasted malt flavor and caramel backbone. The hops bring out lemon, pepper, and pine. The alcohol content is 7.1% ABV. I like the added hoppiness to this brown ale, and it was an aggressive representative of the style. If this is brew true to historical style, I would like to see more of these made in the future.

Bear Republic Racer 5 IPA

I finally got around to actually ordering and writing a review of Bear Republic Racer 5 IPA. The beer pours an amber color with a thin bubbly white head. The aroma consists of grapefruit, tangerine, lemon, pine, and spruce. The taste is bitter but fresh with lots of lemon and grapefruit up front. It sweetens a bit with tangerine and caramel before a bitter finish arrives with pepper and pine flavors. The alcohol content is 7.0% ABV. This was a great IPA, and I can see why so many people recommend it. So I will jump on the bandwagon and recommend you try it if you have not.

Bear Republic Pete's Brown Tribute Ale

Another beer I tried at a recent visit to Al’s of Hampden was Bear Republic Pete’s Brown Tribute Ale. The beer pours a brown color with a thin foamy tan head. The aroma consists of toasted malts and caramel. The taste is dry and has a lot of toasted malts right up front and a caramel backbone. As expected, there is also a dry finish. The alcohol content is 6.3% ABV. This was a really solid and smooth brown ale with a great toasty flavor. I feel that brown ales get overlooked too often, and this beer gives me a great reason to order a brown ale.

Bear Republic Late Harvest Lager

I ordered a Bear Republic Late Harvest Lager from Brewhouse in Camp Hill. The beer pours an amber color with a thin white head. The aroma is malty and sweet with caramel. The taste is filled with sweet caramel malts and a good hop bite. The alcohol kicks a little as well despite being only 6.3% ABV. I thought the Late Harvest Lager was a pretty hoppy lager but was very enjoyable and was very fresh tasting.

Bear Republic Hop Rod Ale

The other night I ordered a Bear Republic Hop Rod Ale at The Brewhouse Gille. The beer is dark brown in color, which surprised me for an IPA (I realize that I have been reviewing a lot of IPAs lately, which is not usually my favorite style of beer). The beer has a light floral aroma. The taste has a minimal sweetness with a hop overtone. The alcohol content is 8.0% ABV. Despite the amount of hops included in this beer, I thought the overall taste was enjoyable. It is slightly too hoppy for my liking, but I would order it again.