Bear Republic Cafe Racer 15 at Kite & Key

A week ago Thursday, Kite & Key did a small tap takeover with a bunch of Bear Republic beers. With the exception of Tartare, all of them were still on tap when I made my weekly visit on Tuesday. At least I'm pretty sure that's true. I did manage to stop in last Friday to get Tartare, though, which is still as awesome as I remember. Some people on BeerAdvocate are arguing with me that it is too sour, but they are just wusses. I chose Cafe Racer 15 for my beer on Tuesday which is a double IPA.

Sugary sweet, melon like nose. Not malty sweet for the most part, more just sugar based. The body had a similar melon sweetness with some light earthy notes in the back. A bit thicker than most IPAs but somehow still a bit dry at least in the beginning. Hops and sweetness was nice through most of the glass, but there was a boozy quality to it that grew a little cloying as I drank more. By the end, the 9%+ ABV wasn't anywhere near as well hidden. Still, depending on what you are looking for in a double IPA, this was decent enough.

Bear Republic Big Black Bear Stout

Still working on my backlog, but taking a break today since it's full of ridiculously long posts and I just wrote one of those yesterday. Instead, I'm going to be lazy and write about the Bear Republic Big Black Bear Stout I had at Kite & Key on Monday.

Smooth chocolate nose. Light on the roast and more sweet smelling than anything. Body was similar with chocolate, a light licorice roastiness, and some roast in the finish. Basically what you'd expect from a stout. Nothing that will blow you away, but still tasty and worth trying.

Bear Republic Tartare at Kite & Key

This past Sunday was the first Savage Sixtel Sunday at Kite & Key since Beer Week in June, but I was still a bit drunk from the Smoke 'Em beer fest at Yards so I didn't make it. However, everything was still pouring yesterday when I stopped in for my normal Monday visit! Huzzah! Specifically, I couldn't wait to try the Bear Republic Tartare, a berliner weiss I've heard a lot of great things about.

Fantastic nose. Definitely a wheat base but a delicious base, lemony and tart. At first, decently sour with a lot of lemon acidity. However, I got used to the sourness pretty quickly and it developed in complexity with the lemon, the wheat, and the tartness blending incredibly well. This totally lived up to my expectations and it is definitely a top two or three berliner weiss. Just awesome.

I also got to meet a guy who works at Akkurat in Sweden. Lots of really interesting information about how they serve beer, importing US craft stuff, and prices. We can complain about beer prices all we want, but man stuff is expensive in Sweden.

Bear Republic Heritage Ale

Stopped by Kite & Key earlier this week and ordered a Bear Republic Heritage Ale, a scotch ale.

Nice malty, bready nose. Sweet and inviting. Started with a burst of caramel sweetness which was followed by malt and toffee. The sweetness never became cloying which was good. This was just a really flavorful scotch ale and really hit the spot. Glad I chose it.

Bear Republic Hop Rod Rye

I've had Hop Rod Rye on draft before and really liked it so I was very excited to open a bottle. Happily, in the bottle is just as good as on draft.

Smelled of hoppy grapefruit with some slight rye spiciness. Started a little citrusy up front, followed by some caramel and rye bread sweetness, and finished with a mouth-coating bitterness. Luckily, the bitterness lessened while the sweetness grew which made it quite enjoyable. I really like this one and you should give it a try if you see it.

Watching Soccer at the Kite & Key

Okay so I've been spending a lot of time at the Kite & Key. So sue me. It's close to our house, the atmosphere is nice, the beer list is pretty great, and they have tvs really well placed around the room. So, yeah, you are probably going to be seeing more posts about it. You'll have to deal with the disappointment.

For this time, Jo and I went because we wanted to watch the Germany vs. Japan Women's World Cup game while having a few beers. We settled down, Evan, the bartender, did us the favor of putting on the game, and I ordered a Bear Republic Hop Rod Rye, an IPA made with rye.

Bear Republic Apex at the Kite & Key

Another Tuesday, another visit to the Kite & Key. Kind of surprised I've managed to keep up my tradition for even three weeks, but it's pretty easy to stop at on the way home from work. This time I got a glass of Bear Republic Apex, a double IPA.

Hoppy grapefruit nose but very mild. On the first sip, I got some slight pine notes instead of grapefruit, some bitterness and a hint of sweetness. Both the bitterness and the sweetness were very light, leaving mostly just the very pleasant hop flavors. Honestly quite impressed with this Double IPA and really enjoyed my glass of it. It went down pretty easily too.

Beer Tasting

I had some friends over on Friday night for a beer tasting.  I got 3 bottles for it and everyone else brought 1 or 2 big bottles (except 1 guy who brought 4, 2 commercial and 2 homebrew.)  I thought it would be a fun way for all of us to try things we either don't usually drink or can't drink alone because the bottle is too strong.  I've had a bottle in my fridge for 2+ months because of that issue.  I took some notes and tried to get pictures of all of them but missed 2.

By the end, we finished 12 bottles.  I'll go through the first six and then the last six just to split up the post a bit.