[BW] Beer Blog

Brewery: Bison Brewing
Style: English Barley Wine
BeerAdvocate.com Rating: 85
RateBeer.com Rating:3.05/5 (48th percentile)

After getting a severe craving for barley wine and wanting to try something new, I decided to pick up a bottle that had been looking back at me for a long time. Enter Bison Brewing’s 2005 Barley Wine.

I had never tried anything from Bison Brewing before, but apparently all of their brews are organic. That makes two new experiences for me because I had never had an organic beer either. What did I find? Something that filled a very large void in my heart.

As I brought my glass towards my nose to get a good smell, I smelled something I hadn’t smelled in quite some time; this stuff smells almost identical to Mirror Mirror. According to the ingredients they’re not an ingredient, but it smells like it has an apple hue.

The taste was also very similar to Mirror Mirror. Unlike Old Crustacean or Old Boardhead, Bison Brewing’s Barley Wine relies on hues of apple and berries other than citrus. I don’t know what else to really say other than if you like Mirror Mirror and other English style barley wines then you’ll love this one. I’m also not sure as to its availability because Beer Advocate says its a winter release, but the beer store down the street still has plenty. Perhaps nobody bought any? My advice is to pick yourself up a bottle while you still can.

Note: The picture shown above is taken from Beer Advocate. I’d take my own, but the label on my bottle has a big rip in the middle.

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I’m going to apologize ahead of time for this being a rather quick review, but here it goes:

I’ve had a couple of Dogfish Head’s brews before, but I had never tried any of their IPAs until today. I’ve heard awesome things about the 90 and 120 minute IPAs, but while at Produce Row for lunch today I noticed that they had 60 Minute IPA on tap and just had to try it.

The verdict? A pretty average IPA. I know it’s just the 60 Minute IPA and not the 90 or 120, but I guess I was expecting something a little bit more. It’s not bad by any means though and it’s a good IPA, but just a little generic for my tastes. I can’t wait to get my hands on a 90 or 120 Minute next time I do a beer run. So far Ruination hasn’t found a worthy challenger, so bring it on Dogfish Head.

Also, quick shout out to Evo of Michael and Evo’s Wingin’ it. For those of you who don’t listen, Evo drank a Blue Dot IPA for their last show and linked to my review. What’d you think of it? I’ve come to the conclusion that I had a very under-conditioned bottle, so my opinion is kind of invalid as it just wasn’t ready. Thanks for checking my site out and you have a new listener now.

-Rick

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I don’t really have any new beers to review or anything real ground breaking to share at the moment, but let me share a little story with you.

So, a couple nights ago a few friends of mine invited me to go out and have a couple beers with them. I was tired and didn’t really feel like going out, but they convinced me anyway. The kicker was they wanted to go to this bar (which I won’t name) that I’m not a fan of at all. It’s just your typical stupid college bar where the classiest beer on tap is Widmer Hefeweizen or A-B Beach Bum. Lo and behold, that bar was incredibly full and after waiting a good 15 minutes without getting to the bar, we left.

Enter Squirrel’s Tavern. Squirrel’s is probably my favorite place to get a brew here in Corvallis due the incredibly awesome bartenders and the plethora of delicious beer. Then, suddenly, my friend Cindy decides to purchase something that I have yet to ever see surpassed in terms of awesomeness; a pitcher of Rogue Hazelnut Brown Nectar.

Hazelnut Brown Nectar is at this point my favorite beer, however it had never even occurred to me to purchase a pitcher of it. I guess I just associated pitchers to be full of crappy macros as every experience I’ve had with a pitcher has been so. I almost shed a tear for its sheer beauty.

So, in conclusion, the easiest way to my heart is a pitcher of Hazelnut Brown Nectar, that pitchers aren’t evil when full of good beer, Cindy is awesome, and Squirrel’s Tavern rocks my face off.

-Rick

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