Bear Republic Racer X Double IPA

There's a fun beer app that I've got on my phone called Untappd. It's got some social networking aspects, but mostly I use it to keep track of beers that I've had. You can also get little accomplishments, called badges, for things like drinking a certain number of Irish beers having a beer in a particular place. There's a "special" category of badges which are only available for a limited time. There was one for Racer X at the end of October. When I saw it at the grocery store, I picked it up, but when I checked the app, it looked like that was the last day to get the badge, and I wasn't really in the mood for beer, so I stuck it in the fridge to enjoy later. When I decided to have it a few days later, I checked into the beer on Untappd and I was happy to see that the badge was still available, so it all worked out.

Actually, it really did all work out. This is my kind of double IPA. There's a strong malt backbone with caramel notes topped off with lots of hops. It's very well balanced, and that's perfect for me. Too bad it's seasonal because I think I like this better than the standard (and really easy to find) Racer 5 IPA.

Is it a coincidence that great wine-making regions are also great at making beer? There's Firestone Walker in Paso Robles, Anderson Valley Brewing Company, and in and around Sonoma County, there are three amazing breweries with Bear Republic in Healdsburg, Russian River in Santa Rosa, and Lagunitas in Petaluma. My next trip to Sonoma I plan to go to Lagunitas, which we skipped before, and I need to plan a trip further up to Anderson Valley to check out both their wine and their beer in person.