Reunion - A Beer For Hope 2007

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

Bottle served in a pint glass: Ruby highlighted brown with a nice lasting off-white head. The aroma has notes of caramel, biscuit and nutty malts, a hint of apple ester, and an earthy quality. The flavor is surprisingly lactic and acidic with the malty background. The finish is a tad grassy and has some peppery character. The mouth feel is cardboardy and dry with aggressive carbonation. Your average brown, was hoping for more.

220z bomber. LOud hiss upon opening. Earlier mentions of an overabundance of CO2 are correct. Big nose with hints of caramel and citrus. Touch peppery and orange. Great sugary aromas. Nice full bodied palate. Sourly overcarbonated. Accompanying citrus tartness. Good malty flavors of caramel and toffee. Coffee and chocolate bitterness. Cocoa and dried fruits. Great malt profile. Finish is crisp and lively. Notes of cherries and citrus fruits dance across the finish but are short lived. Well crafted brew.

sample while shopping at Sam’s in Chicago. pours clear brown with little white head. nose and flavor has lots of toasted nuts and cookie. alcohol well hidden. pretty watery. a pretty decent beer here.

Bottle: Deepest of browns, rather dark actually, head is large and frothy, color of cream, fairly clingly lacing, light sediment floats about.   Soft biscuity nose, very pale earth and toasted malts as well.   Muted hop bite on the tongue, soft malts, certainly not as malty as I would have thought for an Imperial Brown.   I would say some alcohol is apparent, but I likely think its a slight astringency instead of alcohol that burns up the nose hairs.   Has a bit of a metallic, or tin, aspect as it finishes.   A little rough, certainly not smooth.   Moderate body and mouthfeel, twas expecting a bit more if it was to be a big Brown Ale.   Lingering husk like flavors.   Yeah, just too astringent on the backend to really enjoy.   Tiz not bad, certainly looked great and smelled alright, but this one just didn’t work for me.   Sorry Alan.

Nice hints of darkly roasted malts...coffee and chocolate and nuts. The palate is a touch thin bodied. And my bottle was WAY overcarbonated...almost a complete carbon dioxide bomb. Decent enough brew but nothing remarkable.

Mine gushed. Had to wait a couple of minutes and after that it was real flat. The imperial in this one means full bodied, malt, and sugar. The aroma is a bit musty with some caramel as well. Taste is bitter upfront giving way to a big beer. The finish is slightly metallic and there is that sugary mouth feeling that lasts with you forever.

A big thanks to cquiroga for bringing this beer to the Woodshop tasting at Stuffed Sandwich in San Gabriel, CA. This was a gusher. After waiting several minutes for the head to die down, it was a non-descript brown ale

Wow, is this underrated or what? Clear dark mahogany appearance with a humongous, soft head and layers of lacing. Deep malty nose with roasted notes and fresh hops (grapefruit, lilac?), but a slight medicinal character. Nutty, earthy but light stout-ish flavour. The caramel malts hit the palate immediately and stay for the finish. Medium carbonation, very drinkable, nice balance for a brown. Great beer!