Bear Republic Brewing Co.

coldriver

Texas

4.58/5  rDev +9.8%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4.5 | $$

Stop 2 (after Moylan's) on a Russian River Valley pubcrawl 7/18/2011. Bear Republic is consistently one of my favorites with Hop Rod Rye, Racer #5, and Big Bear Stout and I was very excited to see the point of origin. About evenly balanced between indoor and outdoor seating and we choose to sit inside at the bar. Bartendress was about as good as they get and seemed to anticipate our needs very well. You could see into the brewery behind windows and we noted an employee totally working his ass off - if you ever come to Texas you're hired dude. Decent selection of their regular and special beers but the waitress apologized that the last keg of Cafe Racer 15 was kicked the previous day. Right before we left though, working-his-ass-off-dude wheeled out a fresh keg and our waitress went out of her way to make sure we got a free sample. We had the wings during our visit and they were fantastic. Overall a very enjoyable visit.
Incidentally, we stopped for coffee at Flying Goat before leaving town and I've gotta say it was the best cappuccino I've ever had. The barista was a true maestro!

07-30-2011 18:59:38 | More by coldriver

Pumpknrdge

Florida

4.56/5  rDev +9.4%
vibe: 4.75 | quality: 5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.75 | food: 4 | $$$

One of my favorite stops on the west coast. Fantastic beers and great food. I could drink the racer 5 everyday no problemo. The brew pub is really nice, right downtown in Healdsburg. They had growlers to go in rubber bladders when I was there last. Finally getting this good stuff in Florida.

02-10-2013 04:23:14 | More by Pumpknrdge

DoubleJ

California

4.08/5  rDev -2.2%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | $

Another of Andre's requests, having been impressed in the past by its Hop Rod Rye. Guilherme was interested too. I would have prefered Lagunitas, but I knew Bear Republic would be an acceptable alternative. We had a little trouble location the brewery because it's located away from the street. We found someone on the street to give us direction, and then we parked our car in the back and found ourselves outside Bear Republic.

The tanks are clearly visible from the bar, but seperated by a glass wall. Yet the interior did have the scent of malted cereals. We chose to sit outside, where the patio is enclosed from the cool outside air. We even had our own heatlamp. But we weren't forgotten by the staff, whio came by a number of time to check on us.

16 different house beers were pouring, including Grand-Am, Hop Rod Rye, Newport Rebellion, and Global Kolsch. Naturally, we ordered a flight of all their beers. If you want a full pour, you can get one for just $4-5! The beers we tried were solid to good, though I'll admit a few that I've had before seemed a little muted (of course, visiting Russian River before may have disfigured my palate).

I had never been to Healdsburg before, and Bear Republic was the reason for breaking that spell. Bear Republic lovers will certainly enjoy their visit here.

11-12-2012 22:14:53 | More by DoubleJ

northyorksammy

Ontario (Canada)

3.98/5  rDev -4.6%
vibe: 4 | quality: 3.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | $$

Here I am at this must visit place, to try the beers they never bottle..and the rare time I can find them I have been beary pleased. The bartender is John and we are talking beer. He is giving me style and another style. Is it the style? I had a great pale, and an unusual sour beer, among others. A large square bar, many tables, tempting merchandise. Great service, not to busy on a cold Monday night. Parking down the street. A beautiful and very safe town.I understand the food is very good, and a big step up from your your usual bar food.

11-11-2012 00:56:03 | More by northyorksammy

elNopalero

Texas

4.38/5  rDev +5%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4 | service: 5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 3.5 | $$

For a place with nearly national distribution their brewpub had a laid back, small town feel to it. Even on a weekend night when places just down the road were packed and lively my party still managed to find a table without any wait and enjoy a few beers. Food was on par with expectations—nothing dazzled, and the prices were about what I’d expect to pay. The real plus here was the service—the servers were exceptionally friendly and welcoming across the board. Good beers, good people, good times.

08-31-2012 02:52:13 | More by elNopalero

DrunkenMonk

California

3.95/5  rDev -5.3%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | food: 3.5 | $$$

Had a nice lunch here on Fathers Day 2012. Good food, excellent service and good beer. I was surprised the waiter wasn't prepared to offer pairing suggestions.. I ordered a burger and asked his advice on what to pair with it. He kept telling me a hamburger, so I figured he misunderstood and didn't know what I was talking about. No problem.

I ended up with a sample paddle of MANY beers that were draft or brewery only, and not sold in stores. The wine country wheat beer was a bit grapey. Many of the others were hop-centric. I'd eat and drink here again.

07-22-2012 06:06:32 | More by DrunkenMonk

WeedKing4

Ontario (Canada)

4.14/5  rDev -0.7%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | $$

Stopped here for a quick 'beer' lunch. The beer selection was very nice. All their regulars were available with some nice specials/limited beers too. They even had the Texas brown ale on tap. I enjoyed an oak iipa as well. We only had the roasted garlic spread appetizer for food. Good selection of clothing to buy, and the service was very friendly as well.They were even brewing behind the bar. it smelled awesome. Would love to make this place a regular stop if I lived here. lots of seating as we were out on the patio to enjoy a beautiful spring day.

05-02-2012 15:00:26 | More by WeedKing4

beerwolf77

Wisconsin

4.4/5  rDev +5.5%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 5 | selection: 4 | food: 4 | $$

My wife and I spent an afternoon drinking and carrying on with the locals here. It's a fairly nice brew pub but nothing I haven't seen before. The beers were all good especially the 10 year old barley wine. The best part of our experience was the bar staff and the locals. The bar tender was filled with stories and silly jokes. Had us cracking up the whole time. Plus the locals were very friendly and fun to chat up. It was like being back home in a bar we had been to a hundred times. After several pints we got hungry and ordered some food. It was very good but standard fare for a brew pub. This was a great stop on our way up to wine country.

02-15-2012 01:41:13 | More by beerwolf77

williamjbauer

West Virginia

4.13/5  rDev -1%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | food: 4 | $$

I really enjoyed my time here. I didn't have huge expectations and this was a nice surprise.

A - A bit nicer than your average brewery.

Q - Great quality for what you spend.

S - We had great service and conversation the entire night and even some good reviews of other local breweries.

Sel - I had 8 of about 16 beer available. Great selection and if it has "racer" in the name you must try it.

F - Pretty good appetizers and a nice price.

V - It was fine we saved money by going with appetizers but the menu was fair for all types of food.

02-07-2012 17:43:40 | More by williamjbauer

dgilks

Australia

3.58/5  rDev -14.1%
vibe: 3 | quality: 3.5 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4 | $$

Right in downtown Healdsburg, this was a stop on the way North to Anderson Valley and Fort Bragg.

The atmosphere is very dark and a little dingy. The overall vibe though is of a sports bar. That all said, it just didn't feel that comfortable.

The quality of the beers is not bad and the pours are decent.

The selection is pretty good with a few interesting and slightly unusual BR beers on offer.

Service is brusque and a little cold. Not bad but certainly not great.

On the whole, I like their beers well enough but I'll take them in the bottle at home.

01-22-2012 06:22:24 | More by dgilks