Ol' Republic Brewery: Nevada City, CA
Ol Republic Brewery // tahoefabulous.com
My parents came to visit over Thanksgiving weekend, and we took a short road trip to Nevada City while they were here. This quaint historic mining town in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada is one of my favorite day trips from Truckee, especially in the winter and spring when I get sick of the snow. It’s only about an hour each way, but drops enough in elevation that it’s significantly warmer and drier than Truckee.Despite its small size, Nevada City is home to two breweries, Three Forks (which I mentioned brieflyhere) and Ol’ Republic Brewery, both of which are great. I’d only been to Ol’ Republic once before, so we stopped by last weekend and split a sampler, and it was just as good as I remembered. Here’s what I tried (all descriptions by Ol’ Republic:
Dead Canary Lager (4/5)This lager begins with a water profile closer to the more mineral waters of Dortmund in West Germany. This allows for the wonderful malt characteristics to shine, exhibiting aromas of white bread and grits. Our painstaking step mashing process rounds out the flavor profile of pancakes. A touch of noble hops added at just the right moment in the boil underscores the subtle, yet complex interplay between the malts and the hops, while Saaz hops added at flameout keeps the sugars in check with it’s herbal spice notes. This beer personifies our brewing philosophy. Pair with triple creme cheeses like Humbolt Fog.
Frontier Amber California Common (3.75/5)This beer is somewhat of an identity crisis, as it’s neither an altbier nor a common, truly. This beer has a rich malt aroma, deep amber color, medium body and sweetness, balanced by an assertive hop presence, including a pass through a hop back with whole leaf Tettnang. A beer unlike many others, it borrows the grain bill from an altbier or an amber ale, lagering from a Marzen, uses Nevada City water with no adjustments, and is hopped like it was a Pilsner or a pale ale. The result could have turned out like a clown car of flavors, but, instead, it’s a car full of Jason Stathams. - I usually don’t like ambers or commons at all, but I was surprised at how much I liked this one.
Cosmic Fly By IPA (4.5/5)This beer is worlds away from our typical “cleanest lager in the land”. But we’re here to show that those that know how to play by the rules, know how to break them best. This beer pours opaque pale with a thick billowy head due to higher protein content from the flaked oats and wheat and softened water. This creates the backbone that gives this beer the thick and chewy body with a cracker flavor. Wakatu hop delivers slight floral touches and very light bittering notes, while bringing on the citrus. Amarillo puts a bucket of oranges in it, while keeping the funk alive. Liberal additions of Galaxy allow us to not only add to the tropical fruit salad with passionfruit and melons, but to take this beer into deep space. Carl Sagan sent music. We’re loading the capsule with this hazy IPA.
Rocker Box Hazy Session IPA (4.25/5)