Now all I need is a bottle of golidlocks!
Bears have always seemed to me like they might make good pets. Am I alone on this. I know what your thinking they can eat you whole. Sure, sure, but a cat can eat a mouse whole too and i no plenty of well fed cats that do no mouse hunting. Besides that my huskies could have killed me and they didn't. Bears are so playful and expressive I bet they could be domesticated in three generations. What are we here for again? oh right beer.
Ok, here's the deal with stout. I love stout, I have made stout and been drinking stout my entire drinking career. I drink stout all year round, and nothing is a better beer on a rainy day. But, the craft brewing world has gone down a road with stout that has been detrimental to the progress of stouts. Everyone wants to be the darkest, driest, most robust manliest stout around. this has yielded a number of really yummy beers but, the variety can get a bit weak. and don't get me started on how to counter act it there is the rush to throw fruit in the stout. I think Bear Republic fell into this pit. "Big Bear Black" OK, we get it, it's tough. It's a big rough and tumble man's bear and you can't handle it if you like high heels. (I own two pairs). do we need to call a stout black. Is anyone making an amber stout or a blue stout?? Enough Beating them up many of the craft brewers out there and all the home brewers (myself included) think the can reinvent the wheel by loading the black patent malt on. A stout that really mixes it up by the way is left hand's milk stout. I think the milk is about a lactic fermentation, which Guinness also does.
to give them there due this is a fine choice for the ultra dark stout. If it was local to me I would drink it with regularity. it is of course black and completely opaque. a bit low on head but a nice Carmel color. This probably results from a low carbonation, which works for the dryness of the beer. Pretty high in the hop register, which compliments the bitter of the burnt grain character but to me it seems like another attempt to be the toughest beer around which doesn't impress. it does have a really nice tingle on the tongue. It just breaks the magic 8% booze level, which is part of the tingle and general warmness of the beer. But, since it just beats it at 8.1 % it is not a booze flavored beer like the super high content stouts (dogfish head world wide... ahem) It has a sweetness in the fore front, but it gets wiped out by the bitter notes. The finish is so dark malt it remains with you for several seconds potently.
In truth it is a fine beer but, there are plenty similar beers available, so when you want the darkest stout around grad the one made locally and be good to the earth. but, if you live near healdsburg cloverdale California. go nuts for the big bear.
say it once say it loud my beers black and I'm proud.
Dan
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