Tonight, a few friends and I had the pleasure of attending an open house at the New Republic Brewery, College Station’s first ever microbrewery. I had been looking forward to this for weeks in advance. The first time I heard of this new brewery was almost immediately after I got back from Queensland, Australia. A brewery in College Station was almost too good to be true, so I did a little googling and found just what I was looking for. Although this brewery supplies their prototype brews to a few local places, including Obannon’s, I decided to wait and sample the brew fresh from the source.
As I arrived at the brewery, I felt a little lost. The brewery is tucked into the corner of some other generic prefab tin buildings; I couldn’t distinguish one from the other. I knew though, once I saw everyone standing in line, that I made it. I saw my friends, made a couple greetings and jumped into the line like everyone else. While waiting, one of the company’s founders, Dean, introduced himself. At the time, I couldn’t think of anything interesting to say because I was still so happy to be there. I hadn’t been to a brewery since 2006 when I went to the Coor’s brewery. Even though the production scale isn’t the same, my enthusiasm for the experience was equal if not stronger. The brewery was very small, as to be expected from a start up. The tasting took place standing around their bags of malt, and some of their fermenting tanks. This really aided to the feeling of being a part of the brewery’s foundation.
Once I reached the front of the line, I was faced with a choice. I could either take my 2 free tastings in 3oz. size or I could purchase a New Republic ‘nonick’ style pint glass and get my tastings in pint size.
 |
| The obvious choice |
I bought the glass and started to enjoy my first tasting. I first went with their newly created summer brew, known only as The Domestic. This beer was very refreshing; it had a clean, crisp taste. I’d like to try this beer in a more structured setting, where I’m not as distracted, maybe then I could do the review justice. The second brew I sampled was the New Republic mainstay, their Bellows Amber Ale.
The beer was slow drawn from their own keg-erator style tap, leaving just a short finger’s worth of brown-tinged head. The color of the beer itself was dark amber. This beer appeared very thick, which could be a negative as most would agree that non-wheat beers should be presented with clarity. However, this brew was considerably darker in hue than most ambers and the darker the beer, the less light can be expected to pass through it.
This beer had a fine aroma of malt. Bellows Amber is comprised of 70% Vienna malt and a 30% mixture of Munich and Crystal malts. The Vienna is just a standard base malt, imparting a textbook malt flavor and amber color. The Munich and Crystal malts are where the toasted flavors come in, Crystal malt especially delivers a caramel flavor that comes though strong in first inhale.
The beer is flavored a lot like it smells, with a heavy sweet malt front end. There was also a licorice note that I picked up on. On the back end of the swallow, the hops come into play. You get a nice piney bite, with a subtle citrus note. The beer ends clean, leading you into the next sip, and makes you miss it when you’re finished.
Overall, I’d give New Republic Brewing Co.’s Bellows Amber Ale 4 out of 5. I really enjoyed the sweet malt flavor; I could definitely see myself enjoying this on a cool October evening. All I could ask from this beer is just a little more of a bitter hop edge, to balance the sweetness. This is a great starter brew for this brewery and it’s going to be really exciting to watch them grow!
 |
| Keep an eye out for this one |
No comments:
Post a Comment