Bison Winter Warmer

Brewed by Bison Brewing Company
Style: Abbey Dubbel
Berkeley, California USA

Serve in Trappist glass, Tulip

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Bottle shared at the 6th annual Richmond Industry Gathering, 11/27/11. Pours a hazy amber color with a thin creamy head. Good head retention. Aroma of toffee malts, raisins, faint spices and faint hops. The taste is toffee malts, raisins, spices and earthy hops. Medium bodied.

Dark fruit and esters; hints of bananas and clove. Crystal clear garnet with thin taupe head. Plum, with jam-like texture with alcohol warmth on the finish. A nuttiness with slight sweetness. Chewy body with medium carbonation and moderate lacing. A tartness on the finish makes it complex and enjoyable.

29th March 2009
Cloudy dark brown beer. Not much head. Light crisp and slightly dry. Brewed with raisans - the taste of them is in there but evenly matched with some toffee caramel. Ends with mild aniseed alcohol. Strangely lightly flavoured and easy going for a 9% beer!

24-Jan-11 (22-oz bottle: Purchased 23-Dec-07 for $4.99 at the Pizza Port Bottle Shop in Carlsbad, CA) 2006 Release. With cellaring, this beer has evolved into a cross between a Belgian dubbel and an English brown ale. Classic dubbel flavors of caramelized malt, brown sugar, molasses, maple syrup, dates, and raisins are complemented by flavors of milk chocolate, buttered toast, nuts, and earth. The beer is on the sweet side, but despite the modest acidity and earthy dryness, it’s still a bit cloying. Carbonation is light-medium. The nose is pungently earthy, caramely, toasty, and fruity, with dates, figs, prunes, and raisins. This beer pours a fairly cloudy, amber-brown body with a quarter-inch layer of beige head that fizzles away to a thin ring very quickly. The cloudiness eventually disappears and clarity is solid, so chill haze in effect here. Overall, a pretty solid beer that has cellared quite well. The brewer says he’s finally making a new batch, so hopefully we can look forward to that.

Bottle shared by a friend. Clear amber to light brown pour with a medium tan head. Caramel malt nose with dark fruits and a bit of alcohol. Caramel and maple flavor with some raisins and a roasty semi-sweet finish. As it warms, the beer takes on some creamy and nutty characteristics. Pretty solid stuff.

Bottled, early 2007 (2006 version). Dark brown brew, not much head. Aroma is sweet, chocolate & fruit (raisins). Sweet flavor with raisins. Medium bodied. Long finish, but no new flavor. Alcohol is well hidden. Good double, very flavorful.

Pours a deep mahogany into the glass, with a non-retentive head that leaves no visible lace. The nose is of dried fruit, yeast and dark malts. Flavors follow somewhat in tow, with dark esters, raisins, doughy bread, and a hint of alcohol, molasses and fruit pits in the finish. The mouthfeel is airy, somewhat smooth, but weirdly thin. This is due to a lack of complexity in texture, and lively carbonation levels. Not a bad brew, but just not one that I’m going to remember.

Bottle sampled in Feb 2008: Pours a transparent copper amber with a wispy lacing off-white head. Aroma of sweet dark caramel and raisin fruitiness with some bready doughy yeastiness. Starts with some sweet caramel and doughy Belgian yeast toward an airy mildly bittersweet finish. A pretty decent winter warmer.

Pours brown with a thin whote head. Smells of cocoa, fruity, earthy. Tastes of caramel, some spciy hints, molasses. Decent.

Brown murky color, sweet plum aroma. Malty and bready with notes of raisin Mellow hopiness, alcohol is well masked.