Healdsburg's Bear Republic Brewing Company

Another weekend, another pub. This time, a perennial favorite: Bear Republic Brewing Company in Healdsburg.

Sonoma County has a somewhat unfair abundance of fine beers. Though there are several small breweries which produce amazingly diverse and astonishingly well-made beers, in my very own, very biased personal opinion, there is no finer beer than Racer 5 IPA. I can appreciate other styles, and the skill with which they are made, but when it comes to drinking, this is the brew for which I thirst. Fresh is always best, here at the brewpub, or at the Toronado.

The Bear's space always looks to me as though it couldn't quite decide what it wanted to be when it grew up-- in the eighties. Chairs are mismatched, the space is oddly shaped and the walls are full of eclectic clutter. The music can be very good or very, very bad. That said, we've grown comfortable there and hardly notice anymore. What Bear Republic does offer, in the form of veteran barman Ryan Lindecker, is a warm, friendly welcome, to regular "tankers" as well as occasional patrons like ourselves. Prompt, attentive, knowledgeable, and above all, smiling, Ryan treats everyone like a local.

The rundown:
Overall- 5+ always worth a detour
Beer- 5+
Service- 5+
Atmosphere- 4
Burgers-5 grilled to exactly the temp ordered, could be too charred for some people's tastes, but perfect for mine. Decent bun.

Fries- 3.5 Two out of three on the Fry-fecta: fairly flavorful and crispy, but no skin. A word about potato skin: potato skin indicates that the fries came from actual potatoes, not macerated, re-formed, extruded, crinkle-cut, flavorless, or, god forbid--frozen-- potato-ish items. Often, though not always, it indicates they are hand-cut, with a french-fry cutter, just before cooking. Thin or thick, this is the only acceptable way to make fries. Real fries, skin on, even if they are not crispy, are better than McGarbage any day.

Other Parking is hardly an issue, the square is a nice little walk and shop, great bookstore nearby. Avoid the French Dip. Ketchup ever-so-slightly fermented. I have an irrational fondness for slightly fermented ketchup from my days as a waitress at an old-school seaside cafe in Santa Cruz, where the ketchup was topped up daily after sitting out on the blue plaid oilcloth-covered tables all day and would sometimes explode. This is also where I learned about real french fries, real orange juice, fresh calamari, clean pepper shakers, homemade food and "cold coffee". Grazie, Aldo.