Bear Republic has earned a reputation for producing daring and bold brews. Located in Cloverdale, Bear Republic Brewing Company was established in 1995 by the Norgrove family and they’ve been developing their handcrafted brews ever since. With a very busy brewing schedule, it took a little bit of finagling for them to fit their Hop Chef beer into the plan, but Head Brewer Rob Kent made it work. “We thought this would be a good opportunity to show we can have a little fun in brewing. I mean isn’t that what we all started brewing for in the first place.” Damn right!
When Rob pulled Sweet Limes as his ingredient, he had the unique experience of not having even “heard of, or seen them before.” Nonetheless, he was excited to see what the flavor and aroma can do for a beer, so much so that he cut one open at our ingredient drawing and added it to the beer he was drinking. “The biggest hurdle with sweet limes is that they don’t have a lot of flavor, and the aroma is light. Obviously we couldn’t go with a big aromatic brew, and had to keep it on the light side. It will be interesting to see what the beer turns into.”
So what do Rob and his team have planned? “We are going to brew an American Cream Ale with Sweet Limes, possibly supplemented with Kaffir lime leaves and regular limes. There is another idea that we might add a small amount of our already fermenting Berliner Weiss. Should be fun.” To top it all off they’ve got a perfect name for their brew: Sweet Child of Lime. “I guess we’re feeling a bit nostalgic for the big hair, or in my case hair in general,” added Rob. Get a taste this Saturday!
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