Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Beer 62 - Bear Republic Racer 5 IPA




Draft drunk on September 16, 2010

Brewed by Bear Republic Brewery, Healdsburg, CA. Bought and drunk in the Champions Sports Bar at the Marriott LAX airport hotel while waiting for Patricia to arrive from Houston. I wanted today's beer to be drunk on the boat ride the Auto Expressions team took today in Marino Del Rey to celebrate excellent Q2 results but they did not have any beers on board that I had not already tried. So I walked from the Renaissance – where I was staying - to the Marriott since I knew the Champions bar in the Marriott .had 16 beers on tap.

Bottle drunk on August 27, 2011

Score 3 stars out of 5

Bought by my friend and colleague Angela as thanks for some help I gave her gathering and submitting information.  The payment far exceeded the value of the work I did, so I was very grateful.  Drunk at home in Katy, TX, while relaxing after a day spent visiting Sofia at UT and then preparing dinner of Turkey meatballs in spaghetti sauce, served with mushroom filled ravioli.

Web site: http://www.bearrepublic.com/ourbeers.php

The web site says “Racer 5 IPA®, American India Pale Ale, ABV: 7.0% IBU: 75+ Color: Golden, This hoppy American IPA is a full bodied beer brewed American pale and crystalmalts, and heavily hopped with Chinook, Cascade, Columbus and Centennial.  There's a trophy in every glass”.  The bottle says “Racer 5 is an aggressive styled India Pale Ale.  Handmade from a brewery whose motto is “Bigger is better”. This golden, well hopped, bottle conditioned ale demands your attention.  Try the next generation of I.P.A. Racer 5 … Go … Go.  Brewmaster notes.  Keep cold, respect life, don’t D + D, real ale is alive, yeast is good, serve at 45 – 50 degrees F”

Racer 5 IPA was a good choice at the Marriott hotel. A nice light brown color with a slight head from the tap. The beer tastes a lot like an English bitter, very nice. It is strong and full bodied. The bitter taste is well balanced and provides a satisfying taste. It went well with the shrimp, avocado and tortilla chips I munched on for dinner.

I was less pleased with the bottle.  I found the balance of the beer to be overly hoppy and bitter to the taste, a bitterness that detracted from the pleasure of drinking the beer.

The 1,643 raters at RateBeer.com like this beer a lot.  They give it an average score of 3.89 which puts it in the 99th percentile of all beers and the 100th percentile of India Pale Ale. (http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/bear-republic-racer-5/1608/ )

At BeerAdvocate.com they were almost as kind, giving the beer an average score of 4.21 which rates an A- = excellent.  (http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/610/2751 )

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