Posted: March 2nd, 2008 | Author: Stacy | Filed under: Beer Reviews, Craft Brew, Organic, Tripel, What's that in your fridge? | No Comments »
Bison Brewing’s Belgian-style aleI have to admit up front that I often don’t love organic beers. While I do love many other organic things — fruit, vegetables, grains — I usually find that organic beers just taste wrong, much like “sulfite-free” wines taste wrong. So it’s with a little trepidation that I bought a bottle of
Bison Brewing’s Belgian Ale. But I persist in my search for tasty organic beer, especially since I love Belgian-style beers!
This Belgian-style “tripel” ale is brewed with coriander, though I don’t really smell or taste it much. It does have a nice golden honey color, and it’s super clear. The aroma is crisp, slightly of honey, and has a cereal aroma I associate with Belgian beers. It’s like a hint of Grape Nuts, which sounds weird but really isn’t so bad. It’s nicely carbonated; fine bubbles on the tongue, but they don’t cover the flavor of the beer.
At 8.1% alcohol, this beer has that “warming” quality I like in a Belgian tripel. It seems to add to the malty flavor, and it heightens the banana and spice flavors in the finish. Kathy said this beer tastes grapey, which I don’t taste, but there you go!
I think I’d buy this again if it were on sale. $3.29 for 22oz isn’t so bad, especially for an organic beer, but on sale it would be even better.
Posted: February 21st, 2008 | Author: Stacy | Filed under: Beer Reviews, Brewpubs, Craft Brew, Events & Tastings, Gluten-free, Newsworthy, Tripel, What's that in your fridge? | No Comments »
It’s time for the finale in my three-part Green’s gluten-free beer review series. I’m kind of wishing all six other styles were imported to the states so I’d have a few more gluten-free beer choices, since this puts me at the end of the line for what I’ve been able to find so far.
On opening the bottle, a lovely malty aroma wafted out and nearly fooled my nose into thinking I was going to have a regular beer. The Quest pours nicely, with finer carbonation and a decent (but not truly Belgian Tripel-quality) head — not nearly as airy and, well, huge as what I’m used to seeing. In under a minute it went from a 1″ head to a .25″ head, as you can see in my photo. But the color is a nice honey gold/red and very clear, though probably not what I’d describe as a “blonde.”
As with the Endeavour dubbel, this beer needs to warm a bit to taste good. My first sip was tart and a bit off-tasting. Not tart and weirdly fruity/grapey, more tart like a dry cider but without the apple taste. Not even lambic or geuze tart, which still has a fruitiness to it. Gone, though, is the up front acrid sorghum bitterness and metallic flavor in my mouth.
Once Quest warms up, it tastes moderately like a traditional tripel — definite spicey aroma, warm feeling in the mouth, honey tones to the sweetness. But there’s a slight bitterness to the finish, just a little bite that’s not quite right.
So far, this is the most convincing “Belgian” style gluten-free beer I’ve tried. I don’t think it’s an every day drinker like the New Grist ale could be, but for the price it’s worth the occasional splurge. And again, if I hadn’t had regular beer within fairly recent memory, this would probably be sweet ambrosia on my lips!