Briny-wafted pale-toned pils with cardboard-like grain palate and eager spiced-hop bitterness retains casual dry-bodied splendor to lightly oxidized floral finish.
All posts by John Fortunato
BISON REUNION ’08 ORGANIC RED RYE ALE
Busy embossed label of hazy copper amber ale (brewed with caraway seeds) promotes myeloma and cancer research. Bettering blander organic beers that seem more interested in staying natural and earthy than delivering flavor, its glutinous hop-spiced flaked rye inertia picks up pumpernickel, macadamia, raisin and fig illusions. Brown sugared chocolate-caramel-cocoa malting sweetens enigmatic orange-red fruited backdrop. Dryly vegetal fennel-gourd recess provides added dimension. Barleywine hints come and go.
BISON ORGANIC RED ALE
So-so sunset red medium body counters roasted barley-oats frontage with woody Cascade hop bittering, mild brown chocolate variance, and blanched honey nut dab. Sweet caramel malting usurps flimsy spicing ’til metallic finish drains backend appeal.
BISON ORGANIC GOLDEN BOCK
Phenol light-bodied clear straw bock (with funky pungent scent and creamy texture) hides sneering alcohol trepidation behind hard-candied fig-prune souring, raw honeyed astringency and transparent earthen floral backdrop.
BISON ORGANIC GINGERBREAD ALE
Uniquely impressive medium-bodied winter porter places cinnamon-spiced gingerbread theme above hop-roasted maple-sapped molasses malts. Oncoming brown chocolate sweetness deepens black cherry, almond, and pecan illusions seeping into burgundy-soaked cookie dough finish.
BISON ORGANIC BELGIAN ALE
Arid champagne-tingled light-bodied tripel drags sour lemon-candied acidity through grassy-hopped coriander encumbrance. Perfumed herbal spicing, whimsical spearmint-menthol sass, unripe apple tartness, and tertiary white grape-apricot-peach sunset falter.
BISON CHOCOLATE STOUT
Brewed with Dutch cocoa and retaining lactic brown-sugared chocolate fudging, medium-bodied stout also reveals secondary raw molasses, charred walnut, and burnt cedar illusions. On the horizon, chicory-doused black coffee influence darkens roasted hop bittering. But flawed charcoal scorch haunts oily mocha finish.
BISCHOFSHOF PRALAT PILSENER
Sunset orange dry German pils with minor turbidity finds spice-hopped tangerine-melon tang overshadowing desolate candied honey sweetness. Fizzier and simpler, yet more bitter, than brewers’ Jubilaumsbier.
BISCHOFSHOF ORIGINAL 1649 JUBILAUMSBIER
Subtly straightforward hay-hued pilsner prudently lightens floral hops and orange-tangelo sourness while retaining robust malted grain richness.
BIRRA DEL VECCHIO PILS
Rugged maize musk contrasts rye-breaded cracked wheat sweetness dominating clear pale pilsner. Setback honeyed malts adjoin lemony seltzer fizz before tinny cardboard finish diminishes affable light-bodied fluff.
BIG SKY SCAPEGOAT PALE ALE
Strangely reliant on doughy sourness rather than fruity briskness most pale ales offer. Complacent barleymalt toasting casually sweetens orange pith bitterness up-front. Ripe vegetal waft and pumpernickel-rye wisp nicely counter burnt sugar sweetness consuming dry spiced-hop finish mellower palates will enjoy.
BIG SKY POWDER HOUND WINTER ALE
Nearly bock-like with its dusky prune intimacy, chewy toffee-caramel malting, and soft hop-spiced tingle. Gritty cereal-grained subtlety aids moderate cinnamon-toasted nuttiness, but herbal seasoning lacks.