A Southern California concentrate brand with multiple tiers and types for consumers to choose from, BEAR Labs produces vapes, live resins and rosin. They’ve been congratulated for seeking out flavors that aren’t easily found on shelves by working with smaller farms to lock in these varieties on a long-term basis and present them to dispensaries at a friendly price point.
Today we’re looking at one of BEAR’s top-level, Tier 1 rosins. The brand divides its cold cure hash into four distinct sections, which they say are all 90-120u. According to the company, each tier is marked off by how much rosin a strain produces, the rarity of the strain and the amount of flower produced from the harvest. So, if something is hard to get or grow, has a low return (Sour Bears washes at around 3%), and is super unique or flavorful, it reaches top-tier status.
We actually first discovered the magic of Sour Bears during the 2022 Hall of Flowers in Santa Rosa, California. Back then, the entire CA Leaf Magazine crew was impressed by how the rosin produced fruit notes that could shine through all that Sour in the mix. Almost three years later, Sour Bears has become a serious fan favorite among BEAR Labs smokers.
Sour Bears was washed from material taken from Booney Acres up in the Emerald Triangle. This is a multi-award-winning farm that has racked up over a dozen Emerald Cup wins, as well as accolades from the California State Fair Cannabis Awards. In fact, this strain won second place in Ice Water Hash at the 2024 Emerald Cup. Bred by Symbiotic Genetics out of Sacramento, Sour Bears builds on the popular strain Kombucha (a cross of Sour Diesel and Purple Punch F2), by adding a booster shot of sour with a Sour Diesel Bx3. Booney says they discovered the strain in 2001 after working with Kombucha No.6, which was hunted by the good people at Pure Melt.
BEAR Labs’ first-tier presentation of this strain has a wonderful color, like a pale, waxing yellow moon, and a fudge-like texture to the glazed candy shell over the rosin. For maximum flavor, we recommend giving this a little stir or some optional badder-tech (exerting a little pressure to push the rosin together, then kneading lightly over the surface). Much like the first time we tried this one, the flavor strikes the palate with a strong Sour D edge before giving way to a more grape fruit snack and gas-flavored landscape on the exhale.
It seems like fans want to see more Sour terps on concentrate menus, and while this isn’t a new release for BEAR and Booney, the ongoing success of this flavor at a time when people are always looking for the next new thing speaks volumes.
getbearlabs.com | @bearlabsofficial
This article was originally published in the February 2025 issue of California Leaf.
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