The story of Bear Republic, like most other craft brewers, begins with homebrewing. It was the spark for our passion to create quality, hand-crafted beers. We are a family-owned brewery, located in the heart of Sonoma County, California. The company was established by the Norgrove family in 1995, with Richard G. Norgrove as brewmaster.

After 11 years of rapid growth, we opened our Factory 5 brewery in Cloverdale, California, where we brew and package all our beer that goes to market. We hand select our ingredients for each batch, the grains and hops we use are chosen for their unique characteristics and the recipes and formulations are patiently developed over time. Many recipes start as a home-brew and then develop into the commercial beer available in many retail outlets today. We pride ourselves in using our established methods while always looking to improve efficiencies and techniques that allow us to provide quality beer to share with the world.

Beginning 2023 thw brewery was acquired by Drake’s Brewing.