Bison Reunion - A Beer For Hope (2008)
This year’s beer is an Organic Red Rye Ale, once again brewed in cooperation with Bison Brewing in Chico, CA. It is a reddish-amber colored beer, with a pronounced malt forward profile balanced by the delicate spices of the hops and rye. It is 6.5% alcohol by volume.
3.4
186 reviews
Berkeley, United States
Community reviews
Bottle. Pours a clear, dark amber with a strong dark red hue and a thin brown head. Aroma is full of malty rye notes and a hint of caramel. Flavor has a slight sweet caramel note with a strong presence of rye. Just a slight bitterness from the hops. Quite smooth.
22oz bottle. Pours a lightly hazed, darker amber colored body with a thin, off-white head that dissipates immediately and leaves barely a trace of lacing. Not a bad color, but dull looking. Aroma is thinner, but chewy and sweeter caramels with a bit of an apple-berry fruitiness. Some toasted malts and a hint of rye spice as well as a touch of herbal hops. Flavor is better and quite nice. A good amount of spicy rye accompanies a thinner, but sweeter caramel. A light earthiness and fruity ester as well as some chocolate and toasted bread. Finishes dry and somewhat sticky with a light to moderate bitterness that lingers for a medium duration with some sweetness. Lighter, thinner body that resembles a watery feeling, but doesn’t quite get there. Overall, a pretty tasty beer. Other aspects could use work, but the rye adds a nice spice to this that made it fairly enjoyable.
Bottle: Garnet colored, fairly clear, moderate to thin foamy off-white head, falls quickly, spotty lacing. Heavy toasted malt nose, a little nutty and even earthy. Good malt base on the tongue, minor sweetness,
clean finish. This was quite nice. Finishes with some nutty and earthen notes. Body and mouthfeel are moderate but strong for what it is. Smooth, with a little stickiness on the tongue after the finish.
Yeah, this was rather enjoyable! Moreso of a maltier Amber, with less hop bitterness. Nice one Alan!
Bottle. Fruity sweet, toffee and mild spice on the nose. Flavor is sweet with a notes of toffee and earthy chocolate, bitterness that comes and goes. The caraway is there in the background. A bit of oxidation is evident also. Light to medium body with a some lingering bitterness and sweetness in the finish. Suffering a little from age, but a decent beer.
2008 Bottle - Pours clear dk orange with a small off white head...aroma is full of rye spice, caramel and yeasty esters...flavour is similar, dry grain, sticky molassas, lingering gritty bitterness...thought it was a touch hotter than 6.5%...sticks to the mouth like glue, I love rye...
12th September 2008. Clear red beer with a very frothy head. Also has caraway in the mix. Unusual beer, aromatic, slightly sour. Red fruit undertone. Semi dry aromatic finish. Different and very drinkable.
Amber brown with large fluffy head. Beautiful looking beer. Aroma of detergent soap. The flavor was really malty and sweet with some hoppage....some odd grainy flavors. Unique and interesting, but not really excellent.
I’m not quite sure why this bottle was put back up for sale at local stores recently. It’s still quite drinkable, though. The beer is a shade between burgundy and garnet with a small white cap that fades quickly, at this point anyway. There’s a healthy dose of rye in the aroma. It’s spicy and sweet, like a light rye bread. There are also some interesting raisin-brandy notes floating around in there, possibly from the age of the bottle. The flavor is still quite clean, though the hops seem washed out. It’s like a light specialty malt barleywine. There are brown sugar, brandy and caraway seed mixing together. It’s a tad thin and this feel shows off the age a bit, but the beer has aged quite well given that it’s not really a prime candidate for such. At any rate, it’s better than expected and rather nice for an evening nightcap.
This bottled brew from a bottle shop poured a small sized head of foamy fine to large sized tan colored bubbles that were mostly lasting and left behind a typically carbonated light brown orange cola like colored body. The mild aroma was rye bread. The mouth feel was tingly at the start with a mild intitial hop bite. The flavor contained notes of tingly rye and hops. A very interesting flavor that I could only describe as thin yet not thin. A decent one that I would consider buying again.
22oz bottle. Poured a clear deep copper color with a thin tan head. The aroma was bready malts, spices and sweet caramel. The flavor has a bready caramel malt sweetness with cocoa upfront which gives way to a more spicy and hoppy background with a touch of citrus. Very well balanced and easy drinker.
Bottle, from State Line Liquors (Elkton, MD). Pours reddish amber, capped with a moderate-sized ten head. Aroma of caramel, rye, grapefruity hops, and some herbs. Rye hits the palate first, with dark chocolate, citrus, chili power, and toffee rounding out the edges. Rye and caramel cling to the palate for a fairly long finish. Flavorful and very drinkable.
Bottle sample at a tasting. ThanksDavid Cohen! Clear reddish-amber color. Aroma of piney hops, resin, some nuts, slight spiciness, some rye bread and some fruitiness. Sweetish flavor with some chewy malt at first, and later some spiciness and a bitter finish with resinous hops. Medium-bodied. OK
At a tasting, thanks David, almost no ght copper colour with just a touch of haziness, aroma of malt with some fruit and chocolate, flavours of malt, pronounced alcoholic bitterness, and some dark chocolate which lingers to a long sourish aftertaste, meduim bodied, no hint of caraway.
Thanks David, red to copper with a small cream colored head, aroma of cherries, yeast and a touch of toffee, flavor has some malt, yeast, dry fruits and a bit of scotch, finish is hoppy and bitter, body is medium. Hope might come with the Hop.
Pours a clear, copper color with 1/2 inch, creamy, off-white head. Aroma is composed of rye, light chocolate malts, smooth roasted doughy notes and a solid hops presence - light citrus and floral notes. Flavor starts off with rye, a grassy and lighter citrus hops note, light caramel in the middle and the caraway seeds comes through slight sweet with a strong tangy bite at the end. The beer has a lighter feeling and pretty low carbonation. Overall the rye is pretty strong in this brew but as a whole it is pretty good.
Bomber. Clear brown pour with a small, tan head on top. Aroma is herbal, doughy, a touch of aquavit, a bit metallic. Taste is better than the aroma, raisins, spicy rye, caramel, toffee, butterscotch, and a bit of tea. Pretty fruity. A bit of alcohol presence. Medium carbonation and a bit thin.
Bottle on 08/15/2009. Mostly clear copper amber body with a large rocky off-white head. Sweet rye, and grain aroma with a touch of roast. Fairly dry rye and grain flavor with some spicy hops and a bit of tea-like notes. Medium body with moderate carbonation.
This beer has a nice dark brown/ dark red color. Very pleasant to look at. There is not much head, it fades away rather quickly. This beer has a very pungent hop aroma, and I can smell the malts. It smells a bit thick. I also smell a little roast aroma. I got a limit edition bottle so I hope this is the right one. A bit weak on the flavor. This beer is smooth, and it is hoppy, but the flavors are rather weak. The hops are nice I love the hop flavor, but it is very mellow. The beer isn’t flat, but it is not as lively as I would like it to be. The beer is exceptionally creamy. Way to go on the palate. The malt flavor is noticeable and smooth. I truly appreciate this aspect of the beer. Overall, the hops are good, just a little on the weak side. The malt flavor and smoothness is very unique and exceeds most beers. Rating this year or more after rating this because the beer was tied to the red ale and now is a separate rating. That is the reason for this rating.
Very malty. Deep amber. Sweet.Overall balanced rye. Much better than expected.
Clear brown color...Small head...Sweet malty aroma...Medium body...Mildly carbonated...Malty and mildly sweet...Bit of hop spice in lingers in the finish...Well balanced with delicate flavor...Slightly nutty...Excellent
22oz bomber from TBS- Thanks MAtt. Pours a clear copper with a decent beige head. some nice lace. some coffee, bread, sweet malts, raison, toffee. really smooth. pretty good.
22 ounce bottle from Bruisin Ales. Pours a hazy strawberry red color with a thin head. Decent head retention and lacing. Aroma of toffee and citrus hops. Taste is resin and citrus hops, toffee, raisin and nuts. Medium bodied. Fairly nice.
22 oz bottle Poured a medium reddish-amber color with a small sized off white head. Aromas of toasted rye, caramel, citrus and some fruity. Tastes of toasted rye, caramel, and citrus.
Bottle. Poured a dirty orange-brown color wtih minimal head. Aroma of orange, rye, caramel and sweet malt. Liked the aroma. Flavor was dominated by rye, and I liked it. Caramel with a good amount of sweetness. A solid hop presence in the finish to provide a bit of balance.
22oz bomber. Pours a dark cloudy browbn color with very minimal clear bubbly head. Nose is malty with no hop presence. Malts are caramel and very sweet and datey. Palate is thick, but kind of off and a bit peppery. I was hoping for a rye dominated feel here but that was not to be had as the caramel sweet malts dominate. Flavor is the aforementioned caramel sweet malts with some date like flavors. Fairly unimpressed here as I love trying rye influenced beers.
Pours amber with little to no head. Smells of caramel and jewish rye bread. Tastes of bitter hops and rye with a slightly spicy fruity finish. Beer brewed for a good cause go get one.
Hazy dark amber with a thick tan head. Aroma is pine, hop, caramel, spice and rye. Roasty sweet then bitter roast finish. Good balance.
It was odd to see a Bison beer in Colorado so I bought it, plus charity is cool. The color is dark red with a short head. The smell is spicy malts. The taste is also spicy but the rye is not overwhelming. Easy to drink but I would not want more than one.
Serving type: bottle
Reviewed on: 03-26-2008 03:38:25 id: 647914
Shared at the Butters Big Blowout. Clear orange pour with small ring of white head. Sugary caramel malty with twinges of alcohol heat on the aroma. Flavor is a little oakey, which i guess is the ’rye’ quality. More sweet caramel malt. A little syrupy bitter sweet on the finish.
Nose reminds me of caramelized sweet vidalia onion aromas, fluffy light rye. Great beer