Bison IPA Single Hop Series - Willamette

Brewed by Bison Brewing Company
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Berkeley, California USA

Serve in Shaker, Tulip

send corrections   |   shelftag   |   edit barcodes   |   add pic

Bottle. Amber beer with an off-white head. Light citrus/pine aroma with earth and s light green note. Citrus and lightpine flavor with light wet earth, light malt, and a hint of vanilla. Medium bodied. OK bitterness. Citrus and light pine lingers with light earthiness and light malt.

Bomber pours copper with white head and some spotty lacing. The aroma has citrus, floral, spicy and earthy hops as well as sweet sugary malts. The taste is sweet with malts and caramel malts moving into earthy hops, earthy organic stale malts, pine hops, some spicy hops and citrus. Kind of a malty earthy organic IPA I just can get into.

Bomber into a pint glass. The pour is not-quite-clear orange/yellow with a fluffy eggshell head that sticks around for quite a bit. The aroma is wonderfully hoppy, but not like a lot of IPAs - sure, there’s a bit of citrus and floral hanging out in there, but there’s also deep earthiness, resin, and a solid malt backing. The flavor is very well balanced. A good dose of the style of hops with a nice malt backing to balance it out. The only drawback is a slight tinny/metal taste lingering in there. Other than that, a solid IPA.

Thanks to Exiled for sharing this bottle. The beer pours a hazy golden yellow color with a white head. The aroma is very fruity and flowery. The flavor is grassy hops with medium bitterness. You also get some of the fruity hop flavors but they are indistinct. Medium mouthfeel with medium carbonation.

Bottle from Total Wine RC. Poured an amber/gold color with a frothy white head. Aroma of citrus, spice, earth, caramel, metal and vanilla. I like the concept of these single hop beers, but this one was really less than stellar in the flavor. Alot of metallic and earthiness/grass; Some citrus and caramel components. Palate seemed a bit on the thin side, but not too bad. Just ok overall.

22oz bottle from BevMo. Pours deep gold with a faint orange hue. Head was off white in color, dense and quite creamy, some spotty lacing. Nose held watered down citrus hops with some cereal grain. Too much grain and malt on the palate. I thought the point of a single hop series was to highlight the hops, not the malt.....

12-Jan-10 (22-oz bottle: Purchased 12-Jan-10 for $3.99 at BevMo in La Jolla, CA) The single-hop series continues, and this one seems to have more impact from malt than the others. The hops has a floral, grassy, earthy, slightly mint character with light-medium bitterness but hardly any resiny bite. The malts are actually very dry and on the twiggy side, but also show a lot of grainy flavor as well as some slight huskiness. The nose is earthy, grainy, grassy, and husky, but there’s also a bit of cheesiness going on as well. Medium in body, moderate in carbonation, dry and somewhat dusty on the palate. Golden-amber with a very slight haze. The off-white head builds to half an inch before slowly to a thin sheet. Ringed and patchy lacing decorates the glass. Overall, this seems to be my least favorite so far. It just seems so earthy and lacks punch or brightness.

Bomber into a goblet. Mild is a great describer of this hop but a delicate and subtle flavor and aroma does it add. Very grassy. The grassiness is balanced out by a nice malt body with a touch of sweetness. A little bit of a spicy aroma. Not a very aggressive hop and reminds me of a lot of english style ipas but this single hop drink is very educational.

22oz bomber from Capital Market, Salem. $3.99 Pale orange, slightly hazy body, small off white head..generous lace. Very resiny hop aroma,herbal tones..with a treacle/toffee malt profile. Hmm intresting flavour profile..juicy resiny hop definatly there but its more than balaced by the toffeeish malts..that finish off treacle like. Nice on the palate..caresses, Overall i really liked this one..as the "blurb" says..noy a typical hoppy IPA.

22oz bottle from Whole Foods in Maui. Pours a cloudy golden. Aroma is fresh earthy hops with a decent malt backing. Taste has hints of British tasting hops but amped up a fair bit. Sort of like an Imperial English IPA. Malt is very pleasant and evident offering notes of cereal and mild roast. Finish lingers well. Not quite an American IPA but certainly more hop forward than most English examples of the style. Very good.