Reunion - A Beer For Hope 2007

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

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.

Chestnut brown. Toasty, chocolatey aroma with light alcohol fumes. Fairly full body. Hints of demerara and dates. Late astringent bitterness.

Bomber as an extra from Mr. Stotch. Pours with a ridiculous head, totally out of control. But not in a good way, more in an annoying way, and once its gone, its just a little fizzy cola head. Aroma is very harsh, fusel, minerals, buttery iron. Similar taste, with slight nuttiness. At first I was thinking this was alright but the more I drank it the less drinkable it became, to the point now where I’m struggling to even put down sips for this rating. Down the drain we go. Cool cap, though.

(22oz bottle) Enormous beige head, the foam works its way up the bottle for quite a while, but the pour eventually reveals a clear brown body, nice lacing. Aroma is moderately sweet, nut, roast, some root beer, chocolate/Nutella, light coffee, earthy. Taste is moderately sweet, chocolate, nut, some earthy, roast. Medium body, light acidity.

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. Bottle $4.99 Sam’s Downers Grove Reunion poured a crystal clear garnet into my pint glas. Big carbonation bubbles rise to the huge beige 3 finger head that formed on the pour. The head very slowly fell and got rocky as it did so. Didn’t get much lacing until the hed fell to about 1 finger. Smell is pretty interesting, not something I run into much. Has many of the brown ale qualities including a mild nuttiness and a soft enjoyable coffe bean aroma. The difference is a solid pine hoppiness. This beer smells really fresh, like a homebrew. Flavor is much the same as the aroma. The nuttiness leads into a mild hop bitterness mid-palate and then the freshly roasted coffee beans come through on the finish. A creamy nuttiness accompanies the coffee. Moderate hop bitterness on the swallow that the creaminess quickly overtakes. I really like the way this beer transitions. Very smooth. Medium bodied with a creamy finish. Moderate carbonation and solid hop bitterness leave the tongue awakened. I could easily sit down and enjoy a few pints of this at a time. Easy drinker and tasty. I really wasn’t sure what to expect from this beer. It’s my first from Bison brewing and after reading two of the earlier reviews they weren’t really "glowing". Definitely a good beer. I wouldn’t hesitate purchasing again when I’m in the brown ale mood. Making this beer taste even better is the fact it was brewed for such a special cause. 3/21/07

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.

Malty and bready nose with a bit of grass froward hopping. Clean and soft on the palate with nice chocolate and roast notes. very balanced malt and hop notes bely the actual size of this big brown.