Rating: 5/5
Racer 5 India Pale Ale by Bear Republic is a 7%ABV IPA. The guy at the store told me this was a world class, gold standard IPA. Could it really go up against Ruination, Sculpin or Pliny? Then again, Ruination and Pliny are DIPAs and Sculping is at the top of the world class of IPAs, I said screw it I’ll take it anyways. One thing to notice is the fact that it is named after the Speed Racer series. Racer 5 was Speeds best car. I hope there was no copyright infringement but either way it is a cool label. As far as the flavor goes, well I won’t deny that this beer was definitely good. It is very refreshing. The bitterness from the hops is not too overwhelming even though the grassy, piney and grapefruit citrus is definitely in there. There is also some minor caramel apple and peach flavor to it. The beer goes down well and the alcohol does not seem to overwhelm at all. The bitterness actually fades into sweet brown sugar like flavor in the after taste. This certainly gives an option to whether you want a super bitter IPA, a strong grassy and herbal IPA, a tropical flavor bitter IPA or just something that has a little bit of everything in it and well balanced. IPA people, grab this one, it is an awesome beer if you just want a simple summer refreshing IPA 😛