Beer 193: Bear Republic Peter Brown Ale

Two days of hopping around wineries is exhausting and hangover inducing...especially when you factor in craft beer sampling. Before departing for Portland, we visited eight wineries over two days. The highlight among them is a newish one called Martorana Family Winery. While n this winery is only about five years old, the family's wine story goes way further back. Definitely check out that link for some history.

I'm not a huge red wine drinker and I was definitely in red wine country. Imagine my delight when we arrived at Martorana and met Gio, the winemaker, who opened up a recently bottled Chardonnay for us. It was so good, I'm currently smuggling it back to Pennsylvania!

I would say that if you find yourself in Sonoma, you should definitely put this winery on your list. Laid back people, quality wine and two winery dogs! How can you go wrong with that combination?!?

Following the wine stops, we hit Bear Republic in Healdsburg for some beer and appetizers. Sadly we missed out on a visit to Lagunitas -- they were closed for a private event.

I had the Peter Brown Tribute Ale. It's an American brown ale that poured a deep, murky brown. It barely had any head. There was a malt and caramel aroma that carried through to the taste. The taste also had a dominant bitterness, which I wasn't expecting. It had a nice mouthfeel...kind of creamy. I think this is a good beer...I just prefer my brown ales with more malt.

Cheers!

p.s. If you're wondering about the name of this beer, I have an answer. It's named in honor of one of Bear Republic's sales reps, who died at a relatively young age. A new brown ale was being brewed on the day he died and the brewmaster dedicated the new brew to him. It went on to win a number of awards and the rest is history.