Bison Organic Belgian Ale

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

Bright orange, lightly cloudy. Sweet, lemon iced tea aroma with some wit. Phenolic, fruit flavor. Pretty dry. Medium to medium heavy body. Fair.

Bottled. The flavours and aromas seemed a little mismatched rather than blended to provide that blalance between the ABV, yeast and malt. Easy to drink and extra points for supporting organic farming.

Bottle. Aromas od soil and spices. Gold body with big white foamy head. Some hard candy flavor present but the spicey bitterness was dominate. A dry spice left on the palate.

Pours golden and hazy with almost no head. Some sediment in the bottom of the glass. Smell is rather hoppy. Not what I would expect. A little bit of dried fruit in the aroma as well. Some figs. Flavor is very mild. It’s a little bit nutty, perhaps like cashews, but very subtle. Medium bodied, very creamy mouthfeel. There’s not much going on here at all. I keep expecting more from Bison. I liked their chocolate stout, but that’s it. Oh, well!

Pours a dark amber-gold with a medoium, fluffy off-white head. Mild abegian tripel fermentation characteristics in the aroma along with some malt, spice, a fruity top notes--both from hops, malt, and yeast. Flavor is full and not overwhelming. Good presence of malt characteristics, dark fruits, a bit of sweetness, and spiciness--though nothing goes too far out of line. Body is big but nimble and keeps everything together in lock step to make for an easygoing, drinkable, middle-weight Belgian ale.

22 oz bottle. Poured a golden yellow with a think white head that didn’t last long. Slight yeasty aroma. Very yesty taste with a spicy zing to it. Some light fruit note. The problem for me was that the high alcohol content slightly dominated the lighter flavors. Like Bison Brewing’s Organic Barlywine, some nice flavors are out of balance adding up to something not as good as it could be.

22 oz Bomber-trade w/Snojerk321. Cloudy golden color w/a slight white head & good lacing. Sweet Belgian aroma. Kind of a standard Belgian Blonde, sweet flavors of candied sugar, banana, vanilla, green apple, & a little colander. Had a bit of a dry finish to it. Easy drinking brew w/solid flavor, particularly for an organic.

50cl bottle from Willow Bend Liquors (Florida). Pours golden reddish caramel with a one finger white head that dissipates fairly quickly. Smells of ripe cherries and plums with a faint caramel-like sweetness and slight bitterness. Flavor is much of the same with a slight bitterness throughout. Hints of assorted ripe fruit on finish. Faint taste of vanilla and banana on subsequent tastes.