Bison Organic Gingerbread Ale

Brewed by Bison Brewing Company
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
Berkeley, California USA

Date: 02/23/2005
Mode: Bottle
Source: Tasting

amber, gingerbread cookie aroma, light sweet malt flavor with light ginger and cinamon spices that fades as you get used to it, a cross between a normal beer and a spiced ale

Aroma: 5/10; Appearance: 5/10; Flavor: 5/10; Palate: 5/10; Overall: 10/20
Rating: 2.6/5.0
Score: *4
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(22oz bottle) Small beige head atop a clear dark red-brown body. Aroma is medium sweet, ginger bread and nutmeg. Taste is medium sweet, ginger, roasty, caramel, some nutty, light nutmeg. Watery light-medium body.

22oz bottle. Poured a dark brown color with a small sized off white head. Aromas of gingerbread with some chocolate and spices. Tastes of gingerbread, spices, and chocolate. The gingerbread was definitely there. I was a little surprised (pleasantly) by this one.

(Bottle) Pours a dark mahogany body with a medium beige head. Aroma of gingerbread, and nutmeg. Flavor of toasted malt, gingerbread, and some cocoa. Better than I expected.

Bottle... Clear, deep copper ale. Spicy nose of gingerbread and apple juice. Malty, chocolatey, spicy flavor with a hint of dark raisins. Medium-bodied with a lightly creamy mouthfeel and medium carbonation. Chocolatey finish.

22 oz bottle. Deep brown beer, light yellow tint, creamy tan head, nice spicy aroma, ginger, clove, cinnamon, nutmeg and sweet brown sugar. There is a definite sour aroma that is quite unappealing, maybe a bit of diacetyl as well. Spicing comes across as a bit harsh. Flavour of toasted malt, but malts aren’t as complex as they could be. Very spicy but some distracting woody flavours sneak in. Not a great spiced ale.

I thought this sounded interesting, until, that is, I recalled I didn’t even care much for gingerbread when I was a kid oh, so long ago. It pours a clear, light mahogany body, lightly carbonated, with an unimpressive light tan head. The gingerbread ingredients are all there in the aroma - ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg. In the flavor, they pretty well blanket all malt-related tastes. The finish, too, feels like you’ve just eaten a cookie. All in all, this comes across like any of a number of real imaginative "Christmas Ales," meaning fill it with allspice flavors.

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Dark tawny colored with a retentive dark tan head, lots of nice lacing. The nose is doughy and sweet with gingerbread and allspice. The flavor has a bit of roasty and smokey qualities with an overbearing ginger taste that smoothly floats down the palate. Very smooth and chewy drinking beer, good!