The Surprising Happenstance in Discovering the Bear Republic Texas Brown Ale

My esteemed parental units came into town and we set off as we often do in search of the finer things in life: alcohol. We left this behind -

- to revel in a grape soaked weekend in Sonoma that looked a little like this:

Duck with mascarpone mashed potatoes (I believe)

Saturday we hit up 7 wineries and Sunday tasted 28 different wines, including 18 from DuMol. While Sonoma is well known for wine drinkers but not to me, it quickly gained my affection. The scenery differs from Napa but is as beautiful. Their Pinot Noir is quite different from the peppery Santa Barbara Pinot's and they have some fantastic Syrah and Zinfandel.

There's a famous winemaker's proverb that goes, "it takes a lot of beer to make good wine." I have yet to partake in the grueling grape harvest that occurs every fall, but after a weekend of grapes I was ready for a beer. In Healdsburg Sunday night, we headed to a wine bar for a pre-dinner glass but the bar was closed. Amidst the signs pointing tourists to local jewelry, bakeries, and nic nac stores, I saw the logo for Bear Republic Brewery. Tucked away from the main st thoroughfare was the actual Beer Republic brewery/brew pub!

For reasons I can't explain, I thought Bear Republic was located in Tahoe, but blind luck led me to their location. I think this makes 13+ breweries visited in the last 20 months.

Bear Republic brews some gems. Their IPA Racer 5 is a fantastic West Coast IPA, and I'm especially fond of their Hop Rod Rye and Red Rocket hoppy red ale. The brewpub has a number of specialty beers they only keg for that location, including several single IPA brews. I normally would order one of those, but being from Texas, a collaboration beer caught my eye.

The Texas Brown Ale was released two months ago by Stone. The recipe was collaboration between Stone, Bear Republic, and Fathead, a brewpub/brewery in Cleveland which has won several awards at GABT (Great American Beer Festival). The TBA is not only a relatively unknown beer style, but it's also a mistitled one. According to Stone's website:

This particular beer pays homage to a relatively little–known beer style called Texas Brown Ale, which, strangely enough, has its roots in California. It originated as a hopped up version of a brown ale recipe. While delicious, these beers failed to fare well in homebrew competitions, since there was no recognized category they could be entered in. They were far too hoppy and bitter to be considered a traditional brown ale. But when a competition in Houston, TX, accepted entries for what they named the “California Dark” category, the American Homebrewers Association followed suit soon after, though they perplexingly changed the name to Texas Brown Ale.

Kinda bizarre really. This article from a local liquor shop in Houston (where I grew up) goes into greater detail about the style's creation Specs article on Texas Brown Ale. Anywho, unless you're planning an extremely geeky trivia night around beer styles, it's basically a hoppy brown ale. It says so at the bottom of the label. However, the collaboration offers a unique twist, and it's why I'm a passionate fan of collabs - good brewers come together and create something out of the ordinary. Craft Breweries are technically in competition with each other, but they're more so committed to making unique and high quality beer. The result is usually delicious, if not extraordinary.

Stone in its 15 years existence never used Cascade hops, a mild but spicy and fruity hop grown in Oregon, and similar to the English Fuggles hop and a distant cousin once removed from the Czech Saaz hop used in pilseners. After the collaboration, Stone used Cascade again in their latest Barleywine. The TBA also is also brewed with molasses and brown sugar, which gives the body a very distinctive taste. 

Overall, the TBA is heavier and hoppier than your average brown ale. Molasses is an interesting ingredient to use because yeast has hard time breaking down the type of sugar used in molasses. Instead of fermenting out most of the flavors like yeast does with Candi Sugar, a greater amount of the molasses flavor is left in the brew. I also believe this results in the heaviness of the TBA, to the beer's benefit. Another fun factoid is the brown sugar tends to caramelize in the brewpot, especially when the boil is 90+ minutes. For the TBA, the result is an initially malty beer with biscuit and roast flavors (like your average brown ale) that ends with bits of sweetness, caramel and fruit. The four different hops used in combination with the unique sugars creates a complex brown ale and inspired me to savor each sip. If you like hoppy barleywines or intense stouts like Great Divide's Yeti, you will probably enjoy this collaborative delight. TRANSFORMERS rating.

More Brown Than Black Collaboration IPA is the best of both worlds

There's a great story behind this collaboration from Stone, Ninkasi and Alchemist. The proceeds of the brew are going to help victims of Hurricane Irene, which is near the Alchemist brewery. Ninkasi and Stone are two of my favorite breweries so I'm excited to see how the brain trust pulls off what sounds like a unique style and brew.

This collaboration is so knew that it's not even in the Stone book which I received for Xmas. It's still somehow photo-bombed the collab. There's a lot of sediment with the pour and the aroma has more citrus zest from the hops than you might expect with such a dark roast malt. The flavor has the sweet brown sugar and biscuit-ness of a brown ale and only a tinge of roasted bitterness. There's a whole lot of hop going on but the malt body hangs in there to balance it out. The mouthful finishes dry and quick, which makes me want more. Nearly black in color, this brew has the heart of a brown ale and the bitterness of a Ronin Samurai. Sorry, I'm watching 13 Warriors on Netflix streaming now and its awesomeness is bleeding into the post. It's pretty gory and cool. Anywho, THE ROCK rating. Great beer by great breweries for a great cause, go getcha self some More Brown Than Black!

Bruery Acer Quercus syrups my day

I was planning to make my 7th home brew today, but after a 2 hour cleanup, the brew store was already closed. To console myself, I'm attacking my body with a 4 meat pizza and the highly touted 9.5% collaboration beer between The Bruery and Laweon's Finest Liquids, a nano brewery in Vermont. 

It’s technically a rye beer, but there’s so much more infused into this - an oak aged ale brewed with maple syrup and date sugar (and smoked malt). I'm hoping the rich combination will overload my senses and lull me into a blissful food coma.

 

The aroma is incredibly malty and the syrup balances out the bitter roasted malt with a fascinating sweetness. The smoked malt is subtle and kicks in at the end. Acer is smooth and complex, a true sweet stout. I think this is inspired and a ingeniously Promethean beer. BAD BOYS rating. Drinking this saved my day, until I realize that this is a limited production and there isn't any more to go around....NOOOOO

Stone Collaboration Japanese Green Tea IPA warms the heart

I have about 45 minutes before I run to the airport and fly to Utah to meet the 'rents for a weekend getaway in Park City. David is at the X-Games and so I'm on my own for the beer, giving me the opportunity to pull something I've EAGERLY anticipated having, a very unique collaboration between Stone and two Japanese breweries, Ishii and Baird. Check out the video here

I love the craft brewing community for many reasons, but I especially love collaborations. This collaboration is particularly special, as Stone wanted to reach out to Japanese breweries to make a beer that relays the Japanese people are not alone and that people are thinking about them. This beer's proceeds will go to the Tsunami and Earthquake Disaster Relief Fund. It's dry hopped with Green Tea and the alcohol is the same magnitude as the earthquake, 9.2%, to correlate with the tremor. The whole situation is heartwarming is creating an uncomfortable amount of empathy within me. I already heard some really amazing news about my future today, which I will reveal a week from today on our one year beer-versary, and all this 'helping people' crap is really getting to me. Come on Walker! I need to find a telephone booth stat!

Besides the humanity, I'm just excited to try interesting beers and this is right for my wheelhouse.

There is a complex earthiness from tea, much more than I would think from dry hopping. As mentioned in the video above, the IPA-ness is a departure from your typical American IPA and it's more herbal than citrusy. While the herbal hop flavor is different than what I expect from a Stone beer, the body has the trademark of a Stone IPA. Overall, the bitterness is complex but also a quite astringent. This is a hop lovers brew for sure. I'm eating leftover spicy chicken mole and the bitterness is pairing well with the spice. I really appreciate this beer, even if I don't rank it as an All-Star. ARMAGEDDON rating.

New Clairvoux Ovila Dubbel collaboration with Sierra Nevada is monastery friendly

David picked this up from Whole Foods and as soon as I heard the abbey's name, I knew I'd heard it somewhere. It soon clicked that I'd read an article months ago in the LA Times that was heart and liver warming.

"In partnership with monks at an abbey north of Chico, a brewery will release an ale that pays tribute to the Trappist beers of Europe. Proceeds will help reconstruct a monastery from stones left by William Randolph Hearst."

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/nov/29/local/la-me-monks-beer-20101130

I can drink and support local architecture? Sold. Where do I sign?

Kleenex's have been my best friend for the past four days. That, beer and ice cream, which together complete what's nown as "Gods Medicine"

If you like history, read the article as the monastery stones have a long and twisted road to their California resting place.


The dubbel isn't as sweet or as full bodied as a Trappist Dubbel. The flavor profile includes soft caramels and it's closer to a brown ale. It's crisp and pours a beautiful color. It's very drinkable but for $11, the price isn't worth it. I sure wish it was cheaper, I'd drink more. ARMAGEDDON rating.

San Diego County Session Ale is an excellent collaboration beer after our home brew

Before tonight's beer, we tried our Belgian IPA home brew today for the first time (not inebriated by Oscar Sunday shenanigans). Everyone apparently loved it Sunday, but I wanted a perspective that didn't involve beer goggles so we cracked one open before our beer of the day:

Ain't she beautiful? Belgians have more fun

When we tasted the Belgian IPA before bottling, it didn't have the necessary malt body to balance out the hops and so it tasted overly bitter. Good news! The carbonation really shored up the body and the BIPA tastes very, very good. The hop bite has the complexity we want and the Simcoe at the beginning gives very distinctive bitterness. The beer has decent clarity, not as crystal clear as at bottling - strangely enough. I'd like a stronger hop aroma though. 

I have big plans/changes for the next batch, which I won't bother you with now, but I'll actually do the dorky thing and post my beer recipe site, where my recipes are saved. Nerd Alert. You can see the above beer receipe, the future one, and the Belgian Red Ale that's soon to be bottled which I thought up myself. http://hopville.com/brewer/recipes/milkisforbabies

Onward and upward to the beer of the day, a Collaboration between two well known San Diego breweries and the winner of the 2010 March Madness Competition, Kelsey McNair. They created a 'Golden Session Beer' that is essentialy a large production format of his award winning 'West Coast Bitter.

Stone Brewery, Ballast Point and Kelsey McNair Collaboration

This is hoptastic but isn't overwhelming. The hops are there in numbers but are mellow and spicy. It's your summer day IPA - a really enjoyable drinker. Pick this up at Whole Foods for $3.50. THE ROCK rating. I wanna make one of these now....

...One of the best perks of doing this is that every couple of weeks, I'm inspired to create something I've never done before and I soon follow through with it. How consistently does that happen in life? To use the parlance of Charlie Sheen, Beer is totally WINNING.

Victory Saison du Buff makes rosemary a rock star

So I went to the doctor this morning. I hadn't been since September, a month after we started drinking a beer every day. Wanna guess who gained 10 lbs? This guy! You can't tell by looking at me, but somewhere, hiding, beneath my epidermis is the effect of 200+ beers. It's not like I'm at the point where I'm calling up Curves, asking what their monthly specials are, but it's time to realize I'm not 23, I work a desk job, and salad's are not the enemy (*note* If you put Raspberries in my salad though, I might turn into the Incredible Hulk's bigger and meaner Brother, Magnus Hulk). I still have 150 beers left and speedo season is just around the corner, as Nick G reminds me every other day, so here's to eating healthy and drinking growlers of beer.

On that note, look at the giant beers I bought at The Bruery Saturday. I've already counted them for the year and will only be drinking for pleasure. Heyyy

Three truly unique and delicious brews

I'm back on track with the collaboration beers after the brewery trip interrupted my planned three consecutive San Diego involved collab beers. This one is from Stone Brewery, Dogfish Head, and Victory out of Pennsylvania and it's an herb centric beer. If Dogfish is involved, you know it's going to be a little wacky.

Clocks in at 6.8% alcohol. The rosemary hits you strong upfront like cheap perfume. It's intense (more on this later).

I had a triple white sage beer from Craftsman at the LA Beerfest and it was amazing. Craftsman also made a lavender beer and it was unappealing. I feel the biggest factor for herb centered beers is the role of the herb. Is it used as a centerpiece and the beer revolves around it? Or does it take a backseat to the body of the beer and play a supporting role, a Robin to the beer's Batman? I believe in the latter and I think that's the more sensible route. It's the same way with cooking - you don't have rosemary for your main meal, it's used as a part of the main meal.

But these guys are professional brewers and they don't-give-a-shit about being sensible, especially Sam Calagione from Dogfish, who is a wild man. This Rosemary centered beer blows my little philosophy out of the water. It's really good, wow. It's definitely something to try, and it has a bright label so you can't miss it at Whole Foods ($3.50). TRANSFORMERS rating



I'm usually very beer-centric on the blog (and like to overuse the word 'centric'), but every so often Jebus presents an opportunity impossible to pass up and not post about. Ladies and Germs, today that opportunity is spelled S-H-E-E-N.

"I'M ON A DRUG. IT'S CALLED CHARLIE SHEEN
http://livethesheendream.com/

Here are several additional gems, but there are so, so many more on the above website:

"SORRY MY LIFE IS MUCH MORE BITCHIN' THAN YOURS. I PLANNED IT THAT WAY."

"I EXPOSED PEOPLE TO MAGIC"

"I AM A WARLOCK"


"CLEARLY I HAVE DEFEATED THIS EARTHWORM WITH MY WORDS"

"I AM AN F-18"

"ROCK BOTTOM? THAT'S A FISHING TERM"

"THE RUN I WAS ON MADE SINATRA, FLYNN, JAGGER AND RICHARDS LOOK LIKE DROOPY-EYED ARMLESS CHILDREN"



If you feel like taking the blue pill and having your reality checked, take this 10 question quiz and choose whether the quotes are  either Charlie Sheen or Muammar Gaddafi (thank you brother Warren) -->
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/quiz/2011/mar/01/muammar-gaddafi-charlie-sheen-quiz

Highway 78 Scotch Ale collaboration is the Brandon Flowers of side projects

I love me some Modern Family. It's consistently hilarious and one of the smartest comedies on TV. Tonight's episode, as do many others, focus on the parental relationships - specifically, how relationships are a give and take of two people who are totally in love but also have distinctly different personalities. Making it work is a real collaboration. Which is perfect because I bought three different collaboration beers to have while David is off watching space shuttles launch. I only wish all relationships troubles could be as funny as Modern Family and as delicious as this Stone, Green Flash Brewing and Pizza Port collaboration.

Collaborations are all the rage this year and I had two big collaborations over Christmas (Weihenstephan Samuel Adams collaboration & Brookly Schneider collaboration) which were very interesting beers. I love that craft brewers are celebrating their...craft....(cheese) instead of being agro and aggressively competitive. Everyone just wants to make delicious beer! Team America....F-yeah.


It's a dank 8.8% (yepee). It's super malty, with hints of chocolate and dark, rich roasted barley and caramel. This is the beer I want to drink driving night time driving across an empty desert road with the windows down...riding in the passenger seat, duh. Still not legal but who's gonna stop me in the desert? An ACME anvil? Pff, I'm not chasing the Road Runner.


What's interesting about these three breweries gathering to brew - as they note on back of the bottle - is they hail from the San Diego region and are all known for being hop-centric breweries. So what did they decide to brew when they came together?  To create one of least hoppiest beer styles around, a Scotch Ale. 


So I am surprised that hop heads made this. These guys are obviously pros who are passionate for all styles of beer, but after allowing the beer to help marinate the ideas floating in my gray matter, I realized the great opportunity this collaboration afforded the three brewers. 

Like any business, each brewery builds up a brand. Stone for example, once you get to know their beer, has a very unique set of hop expectations. This collaboration provides an opportunity for the brewers to to flex their creative muscles and create a beer outside of their established hop heavy brands. This is their side project! Take The Killers for example; they are a pop driven band channeling heavy weights like Joy Division, Morrissey, Springsteen (etc).  Brandon Flowers wanted to create a particular sound that he was passionate about but that is smaller and more focused than what The Killer stand for, so he created a solo project and produced an album 'Flamingo' that he channeled his Vegas-Country voice. It's completely different from The Killer's catalog but is still fantastic and stands distinctly on its' own. 

The actual State Highway 78 is a highway that runs from Oceanside (near San Diego) to Blythe (Central Cali). The Scotch Ale 78 is their solo project, and it's delicious. I might even pickup another one at Whole Foods, because who knows if they'll make another one like this. THE ROCK rating.

Hotly Anticipated Weihenstephan-Sam Adams Infinium is the real Champagne of Beers. Have I mentioned champagne is not my favorite?

Merry Christmas to all! Unless you hate and/or have no affiliation with this Christian holiday, then Seasons Greetings asshole.

Sam Adams teamed up with the oldest brewery in the world which is located in Germany, Weihenstephaner, to create a fairly new style of beer that's gaining popularity, Champagne Beer.

Lakers are losing big, hence, celebration is in order and I have just the right beverage 

It cost $20. I also don't like it. It's unique and is certainly a well crafted beer. However, this collaboration isn't as complex as the Brooklyn-Schneider brew which knocked the pants off me yesterday. The Infinium poured with super heavy carbonation and smells as malty as it tastes. I suppose what surprised me so much was the abscence of hops in this beer. It's overwhelmingly malty and tastes of apricot. Color me unimpressed.

Btw, the pilsner glasses you see in all the pictures this week with my/dad's initials frosted into them, wanna guess how long my parents have had them? They were a wedding present. They've been married 42 years. Isn't that sumpthin?! I had no idea until my dad casually mentioned that and it blew my mind.

Conclusion: Me and my brother Warren (chocolate santa car pictured above) both like the Brooklyn-Schnieder Weissbock we drank yesterday much more. The Infinium lacks complexity and is way too malty for my taste. Was worth the 20 dollar price tag? Nopers. ARMAGEDDON rating.

Brooklyner-Schneider Hopfe-Weisse dump trucks excellence on me the night before Christmas

Santy Claus bought me 2 one of a kind collaborations that I most likely would not be having under normal circumstances, due to price, and the first of which I'm having the night before Christmas.

I don't know what spurred this collaboration but this is what they made: a pale weissbock fermented with schneider yeast, dry hopped with a blend of amarillo and palisade hops. To be honest, I chose this beer to drink first because I was less excited about it. I will also admit, I am a fool.

Pours with a ton of carbonation and a golden pale hue. It smells of a sweet bock (which I'm familiar with after drinking Shiner this week) and the Amarillo hops upon subsequent sniffs.

With each sip, the beer became greater as its complexity slowly revealed itself. There is a strong citrus and lemon zest in the flavor profile. It's medium bodied but drinks breezily and finishes with a distinct bite from the hops. I can taste the alcohol and guessed closely, clocking in at 8.5%. Superb complexity from a weissbock. My brother loved this beer, as did my parents. Here's a wide-shot of the beer with one of my random childhood items:

Momma Davis finally convinced me (sad to say) to trade out my Tonka Truck wallpaper I've had in my room since before 10 (I'm 27 now) for some 'real' walls, tan...paint. I've been holding out since college began because I enjoy the nostalgia factor; coming home to the same room and decor I had in high school and seeing how different a life I lead now. Well, it's time to change that too I suppose. New paint looks good, but I had to memorialize the trucks in the picture above, they're pretty damn awesome.

Anyway, this collaboration has yielded a distinct and sweetly delicious beer. It cost $15 at the Houston HEB, so I'd say it's more of a special occasion beer but TOTALLY worth it. A great gift idea for a beer lover. These two breweries have made a beer worthy of my highest Michael Bay rating, BAD BOYS. The plaque is in the mail.