This Bear Can Run Downhill

For the past 15 years Bear Republic has been brewing some of the finest craft beers in the country. Founded by the Norgorve family in 1995, Bear is located smack dab in the middle of Sonoma County. In a region that produces some of the world’s finest wines Richard R. Norgorve and family held up their collective middle-finger for all the wine snobs in world to see and said we’re gonna build a kick ass brewery in your house! Okay, I just completely made that up, but as far as I’m concerned starting a brewery in Sonoma County would be like opening a Scientology visitor center in downtown Tehran. Perhaps I’m exaggerating a little, but whether they want to or not the Norgorve family embodies the go-it-alone, rebellious streak that most founders of great craft breweries possess.

When people think of Bear Republic the first beer they think of is the ubiquitous Racer 5. Despite its association with Speed Racer, a cartoon that I wanted to like but never could, I consider Racer 5 one of the standard bearers for the American IPA style. Yes, I know you can go on Beer Advocate and find many IPAs that are rated higher, but in terms of accessibility and quality it’s difficult to find an American IPA that surpasses it. But this post isn’t about Racer. I’m here to discuss another beer in the Bear Republic arsenal that packs a bigger punch and is one of the top craft beer values out there.

Before I talk about the actual beer I have to talk about the awesome label. It has a bear on it and bears are really cool. They’re big, powerful, deceptively fast and despite what Silvio Dante said they can run downhill. What I’m trying to say is never underestimate the importance of a well-designed, eye-catching label and Big Bear Black Stout has just that. I’ve had a few people tell me that the label reminds them of the California state flag which they immediately associate with bankruptcy, natural disasters, and famous people with no discernable talents like the Kardashians. Fair enough but I still like it.

When you crack open the bottle and pour it into your favorite glass you’re immediately hit with an enticing bouquet of hops, dark chocolate, and coffee that makes you want to skip any further analysis and get straight to the drinking. I really do love the smell of this beer and if Old Spice decided to create a new Big Bear Black Stout body spray I’d dump my Swagger in a second.

As you would expect this one pours bold, black and beautiful. Throw in the eye-pleasing mocha head and you may start catcalling like a New York City construction worker.

When I finally get to the drinking I pick up minimal sweetness on the tip with the hops and roasted barley taking control over the middle and beyond. Underneath the hops and roasted barley are some well integrated coffee and dark chocolate flavors. The finish is comfortably bitter with some residual dark chocolate. The alcohol is well hidden but exerts itself just enough on the finish to let you know that this is an imperial.

Big Bear is deftly balanced, complex, all the while being extremely drinkable. At 8.1% the abv is calibrated so you can drink a bomber by yourself while catching a decent buzz without feeling too many of the effects the next day. One theory I have related to abv is the difference between an 8% and a 10% beer is exponentially greater than just 2%. I liken it to the Richter scale. The Richter scale is logarithmic; each increase of one unit represents a 10-fold increase in magnitude. When I drink a bomber (or two) that is 10% or more as opposed to one that is 8% I feel much drunker and the next day I’m substantially more hung over.

One of my favorite urban myth drinking stories that relates to this is about a guy who gets blackout drunk one night at home by himself. He wakes up the next morning with a nagging feeling that he did something really, really stupid the night before. He frantically checks his apartment, his car, and the outgoing calls on his cell phone. Everything appears to be fine and he enjoys a tremendous sense of relief between dry heaves. Three days later he gets home from work with a mysterious box sitting on his doorstep. He opens it and inside is the entire series of “Mama’s Family” on VHS. It turns out he didn’t escape his night of drunkenness totally unscathed. I contend that the difference between an 8% beer and a 10% one is with the 10% beer you order the entire series of “Mama’s Family” on VHS, with the 8% beer you order two seasons of T.J. Hooker on DVD. At 8.1% Big Bear is in the optimal abv range and should keep the poor decision making at a manageable level.

Now on to the all important consideration of price. Last year at this time I purchased a bomber of Big Bear for $3.99, this year at the same store I picked one up for $4.49. For those of you who care that is about a 13% increase. (I don’t know whether the increase is driven by the brewer or retailer.) Even with the price hike Big Bear still remains a fantastic value at around $5.00. It can go up against any number of imperial stouts that push the $7 plus mark and walk away the winner on taste alone. Please do yourself and your craft drinking friends a favor and go buy some. In fact buy a lot. Now if you will excuse me I have some “Mama’s Family” VHS tapes to box, another drunk has fallen prey.

Bear Republic Big Bear Black Stout

Russian Imperial Stout

8.1% abv

$4.49 for a bomber

$:) $:) $:) $:)

(Big Bear Black Stout photo courtesy of 30BeersIn30Days.post@blogger.com)
(Mama photo courtesy of mamasfamilysite.proboards.com)