Bison Organic Barleywine

Brewed by Bison Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
Berkeley, California USA

Serve in Snifter

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22 oz. bottle. Coppery color with thin head. Aroma hops, citrus, and alcohol. Grapefruit finish, with alcohol burn finish. Maltiness absent.

Bottle from 2005: A mild aroma of perfume and pine greets my nose. Also find a small trace of malt lurking in the background. Has a strong malt profile with biscuit flavors as well as a extreme sweetness that almost as if pure sugar cane was added. To sweet for my taste but still holds its ground as a unique barleywine. Smooth silk mouthfeel and finishes with alcohol and metal aftertase. Color is a burnt red and was topped by a film of foam on top.

aroma of roasted but not burnt mashmallow, bubblegummy, feels like theres another aroma under thre but it cant get out. hops come out in flavor, some blunt bitterness, but still the sweet prescence. the quality & strength of the sweet here throws me off a little. feels abrupt in the mouth. definite warming.

Bottled. Pours a medium amber color. Somewhat sweet aroma with hints of hoppiness. Maybe a little grainy as well. Sweet right up front. Some bitter hoppiness and alcohol in the finish. Traces of maltiness. Missing a little, but it’s not bad. Alcohol isn’t too noticable.

Very malty aroma with a bit of alcohol accent of caramel. Body is a brown ruby, no head. Some alcohol warming with dried fruit, tea leaves, and caramel.

22oz. bottle. Dark orange with dark red hues. Small light tan head. Banana esters, sugar, and some higher alcohols in the aroma. Caramel, table sugar, heavy appleskin and banana esters in the flavor. Finish has a lingering bitter astringency and residual fruitiness. Mouthfeel is painfully thin, medium light at best, somewhat dry.

Bottled version. Pours an attractive reddish hue with a medium sized white head. Decent lacing. Strong fruity aroma. I’m thinking figs and apples. Surprisingly thin stuff. Sweet and malty but completely lacking in body. Slightly bitter finish. Does a good job of masking it’s strength. It would be nice if organic brewers were making products on par with a lot of the non-organics.

Smells of barley a lot of barley. Slight caramel and floral notes as well. Pours deep amber with a small fizzy white head. Taste is a smooth barley taste with caramel tones. Palate coats the mouth slightly with caramel and a slight hop kick to it. Does a wonderful job of covering the 9.5%abv. Greatly underrated but a brandnew brew. Interested to see how this fairs in the long run.

I am intrigued it’s not often you see an English style barleywine outta Cali!. 2005 vintage 22 oz bomber served into a dimpled pint mug. Lovelly looking beer,hazy dark golden /amber brown, hints of orange, small bubbly off white head. The aroma is all malt though its rather on the subdued side for my taste Again the taste is very malty and slightly roasty but gets sweet and rather thin near the end of the mouthful, at which point some hops are tasted and the alcohol is detected, though thankfully it is pleasing. Mouthfeel is pretty nice thoug the alcohol seems to thin it out a tad. This beer at the moment has for me average drinkability..I will certainlly finish the bomber, but not sure if i would buy another. It says on the label this must be cellared for many years..maybe that would help.

Pours a hazy deep amber with just a hint of light tan head. Aroma is all perfumey hops, fragrant and floral, with flavors full of brown sugar, turbinado, caramelized candy and fruit. Kind of a starter barleywine, weak flavors.