Reunion - A Beer For Hope 2007

Formerly brewed at Bison Brewing Company
Style: Brown Ale
Berkeley, California USA

Perfectly carbonated - heavy and rich toasted, complex malt backbone. Lots of biscuit and earth tones with a misplaced hop finish. reminds me of eating a grass clod, but in a nice way.

22oz bomber-A medium to dark brown brew with a nice tan head. Aroma of roasted malt, coffee, and and a little pine. Taste of malt,sweetness, dryness and finishing with a nice chocolate taste. The alcohol never cam across for me. A nice tasting brown.

So, I’m not an expert in distinguishing what a phenolic beer is, but this beer was wayyyyy overcarbonated. I was a bit more patient than the previous rater, but I still wasted about 1/6th of the beer pouring out excess head. It doesn’t smells medicinally, though; in fact it smells of coffee, toffee, caramel and perhaps stone fruit. Tastes of coffee, sweet malt, alcohol, clove, and a pleasant hoppy finish. Mouthfeel was was pretty thick for anything other than a stout, but too bubbly. It gets extra points for being all charitable or whatever.

Dark brown pour with a nice looking creamy head, almost nitro-looking out of the bottle, creamy and foamy. Toasted sugared bread, maple and some light nuts, sweet and hoppy as well. Coarse and muddled up front, starts as sweet grains and dough, rough, then turns a bit lactic with a soggy sourness. Seems a bit of a mess overall, can’t be sweet, can’t be hoppy, rather sits between and goes nowhere... I’m not really into the chocolate hop flavors going on here... ok at best.

sorry, pretty uninspired for a multiple myeloma beer. love the fight though. a more flavorful uninspired brown ale. alcohol almost absent in flavor. not much happening, some hops but mostly just sticky malt flavor. pretty good deal at a bar for $5.

This has a very handsome pour, a deep brown body with ruby highlights, a tall rocky tan head, great lacing. The aroma is toasted malts, a touch of barley, rootbeer, and bitter nuts. The flavor is much the same, although a touch of sour milk and alcohol come in at the finish. Warming and drinkable. I’m happy that my purchase includes a contribution to the Institute for Myeloma & Bone Cancer Research, but I doubt that I’ll buy any more of this.

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From a 22 oz. bomber with no freshness date, a blurb about the worthy cause on the back of bottle, sampled at cellar temperature in a dimpled mug. Poured a dark reddish hued brown with a large foamy, rocky, off-white/pale tan head, decent retention, minimal amount of laced sticking. Aromas of toasted nuts and coffee mixed with caramel, a light herbal pine with citrus in the background, earthy, and a subtle fruitiness. Good, even carbonation and a crisp, dry, velvety smooth medium-light bodied mouthfeel. Tastes of nutty coffee malt bitterness, an earthy bite, a light fruitiness, the herbal pine again with a citrus hoppiness, grain and chocolate emerges towards the end, and a dry, nutty, grainy, fruity finish with the alcohol finally emerging in the aftertaste and providing a late warmth. Not great, but not bad, a slightly unique brown ale taste, enjoyable drinkability, but not something I could spend an entire night with.

22oz. Bottle: Bottle practically exploded. Foam poured out the top for several minutes. 1/3 of the beer was lost to overcarbonation. Aroma is very sweet and earthy. Smells of nuts, malt, and cardboard. Smells like peanut butter. Poured dark brown in color with a huge, foamy, tan head that lasted throughout. Great lacing. Cloudy. Flavor is a little sweet. Tastes very malty and nutty. Earthy malt flavors. A little chocolate too. Medium body. Thin texture. Fizzy carbonation. Dry nutty finish. Overall, I would not buy this again, even for charity.