Racer X®
Bear Republic Brewing Company in Cloverdale, California, United States 🇺🇸
IPA - Imperial / Double Rotating|
Score
7.66
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Racer X® is an uncommon Double India Pale Ale which puts a California twist on English brewing traditions by adding an assertive hop aroma and bitterness that compliments the firm malt backbone. Like its little brother Racer 5, Racer X® is balance in a bottle.
2009 California State Fair – SILVER
2009 San Diego International Beer Competition – 2nd
2009 West Coast Beer Fest - GOLD
2009 California State Fair – SILVER
2009 San Diego International Beer Competition – 2nd
2009 West Coast Beer Fest - GOLD
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8.9/10
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Appearance 10
Aroma 9
Flavor 9
Texture 8
Overall 8.5
On tap at Najas, enjoyed with Kosko20. Pours with a hazy glowing orange body and a creamy white head with good retention and phenomenal lacing Aroma is floral, citrus, spicy and exotic fruit hops, hops and hops. Taste is hops with notes of mango and maybe even papaya and strawberry, balanced beautifully with a brown sugar maltiness. Long duration with lots of fruitiness provided by the hops. Creamy mouthfeel and light bubbles. Well hidden alcohol. Greatly crafted beer!
Tried
from Draft
on 30 Dec 2008
at 04:35
8/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 9
Texture 8
Overall 8
Tap at City beer, SF. Mentioned to be 10% abv. Hazy amber color, short head. Aroma of loads of hop, grapefruit, hint of citrus. Remarkably soft taste for such a heavy hopped beer, some sweet grapefruit. Great mouthfeel. Delicious.
Tried
from Draft
on 07 Dec 2008
at 14:08
7.8/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
Draught @ Horse Brass Pub, Portland. Pours a hazy amber color with a small off-white head. Has a malty very hoppy bitter grapefruit aroma. Sweetish malty hoppy bitter flavor with grapefruit hints. Has a malty hoppy bitter finish with a long hoppy bitter aftertaste.
Tried
on 04 Oct 2008
at 06:07
7.5/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 8
From tap at Pizza Port, Solana Beach. Pours deep golden yellow to orange with a lacng white head. Mild spiced and fruit hoppy arma. Flavour is rather spiced and dense hops fruity. Strong bitterness coming up into the finish. Spiced and hoppy lasting flavours.
Tried
from Draft
on 06 Aug 2008
at 18:09
8/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
Shaker glass on draft at Capones in Norristown, PA. Pour is copper / amber with a nice off white head. Aroma of big hops (could smell them as they were setting the glass down). Lots of orange and grapefruit as well as pine resin hops. The taste has the same big hop taste, with the pine taking leads, and a really nice soft citrus (orange mostly) taste taking the middle through to the finish. Decently big malt backbone lends really nice balance and palate to this beer. The sweetness is really takes a nice edge of off the hop bitterness in this one. Insanely drinkable.
Tried
from Draft
on 27 May 2008
at 10:22
7.8/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 8
On draught at Callahan’s in San Diego. This brew is a clear and lustrous bronze color with a medium beige head that diminishes slowly. Rings of lacing on the glass. The aroma consists of piney, resinous hops and grapefruit along with notes of sweet malt. Medium-bodied with an assertively hopped character that is balanced well by sweet grainy malt. Touches of caramel are present, and the alcohol slips in every once in awhile too. The finish is bitter with a lingering piney hops flavor. Good all around.
Tried
on 21 May 2008
at 02:17
6.8/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7
I had this probably 3 years ago at Redbones one night when I was too drunk to fairly review the beer. I remember it being quite good back then, but never being able to find it again until now (I believe Publick House had it at one of their Hop Head Throwdowns between then and now, but I’ve never made it to one of those).
Draught pint at Sunset Grill on 7/18/07
Copper-melon-amber colored beer, clear, with a one-finger beige head that sits well at cover, leaving minimal lacing.
Light pine perks up immediately in the nose, but before it can get too resinous or heavy, some lighter fruit notes (mango, pineapple, apple, cherry, orange) emerge and give it the complexity and aromatics expected in an upper tier DIPA. Some spicy wintergreen esters are noted as well, but before I’m completely satisfied with the aromatics, lots of (relatively speaking for the style) malt notes butt in. Sweet caramel malts and a fair amount of breadiness infringe on the hop aromatics, melding with the fruitiness to produce that peachy-melon-like sweetness that, when taken with hop bitterness and acidity, comes to fatigue my nose/palate rather quickly. White grapefruit and some alcohol dryness somewhat cleanse this sensation on the finish, creating a new, fresh, fruity experience with each new sniff. But it always ends too malty. Medium to medium-high strength of aroma, no flaws.
Very bitter, piney-acidic bite to the beginning, with watermelon and cherry adding enjoyable flavors, but caramel malt and dry, bready, earthen notes distracting/detracting too much from the hops. Some alcohol burn in concert with the hop acids on the finish. It’s too pine/resin heavy up-front, which dosent allow the softer fruity notes to shine and becomes too sweet through the middle, ending on too much bitterness and alcohol. Still, it’s fairly enjoyable and flawless. Carbonation is low, not terribly tight.
Draught pint at Sunset Grill on 7/18/07
Copper-melon-amber colored beer, clear, with a one-finger beige head that sits well at cover, leaving minimal lacing.
Light pine perks up immediately in the nose, but before it can get too resinous or heavy, some lighter fruit notes (mango, pineapple, apple, cherry, orange) emerge and give it the complexity and aromatics expected in an upper tier DIPA. Some spicy wintergreen esters are noted as well, but before I’m completely satisfied with the aromatics, lots of (relatively speaking for the style) malt notes butt in. Sweet caramel malts and a fair amount of breadiness infringe on the hop aromatics, melding with the fruitiness to produce that peachy-melon-like sweetness that, when taken with hop bitterness and acidity, comes to fatigue my nose/palate rather quickly. White grapefruit and some alcohol dryness somewhat cleanse this sensation on the finish, creating a new, fresh, fruity experience with each new sniff. But it always ends too malty. Medium to medium-high strength of aroma, no flaws.
Very bitter, piney-acidic bite to the beginning, with watermelon and cherry adding enjoyable flavors, but caramel malt and dry, bready, earthen notes distracting/detracting too much from the hops. Some alcohol burn in concert with the hop acids on the finish. It’s too pine/resin heavy up-front, which dosent allow the softer fruity notes to shine and becomes too sweet through the middle, ending on too much bitterness and alcohol. Still, it’s fairly enjoyable and flawless. Carbonation is low, not terribly tight.
Tried
from Can
on 23 Aug 2007
at 15:30