Review Date 11/20/2004 Last Updated 12/29/2012
Try?
Re-buy?
Their exceptional Chocolate Stout is a chocolate lover’s dream come true. Just the other day, however, I chanced to find Bison’s limited run holiday brew, Gingerbread Ale. It just wouldn’t be the holidays without the oh so wonderful specialty brews that so many breweries across the land give us each season. This year, it was nice to come across a new one.
Gingerbread ale is based on a porter, though not an exceptionally heavy one. The porter is spiced with ginger, nutmeg, and cinnamon, and the idea is for the soft, sweet dark malty flavors to combine with the spices to suggest gingerbread cookies. I think it works, and the beer really is like gingerbread cookies, albeit gingerbread cookies with a 6.8% by volume alcohol kick.
Gingerbread Ale is sold on draft and in 22-ounce bottles for about $4 each. That’s a bit higher than other beers, but still a bargain I think considering the quality of the brew. And hey, it’s Christmas, right? Gingerbread ale is a great brew for your Thanksgiving or Christmas festivities, and would go well with the dessert course. Or try a bottle while sitting before the lit tree, with the sounds of Christmas music emanating from the stereo.
Bison Brewing Organic Gingerbread Ale pours to a deep mahogany color
with a medium creamy head formation and a sweet, spicy dark malt nose with
hints of banana. The spices are the first thing that grab your tongue as you
sip, the ginger foremost, then the nutmeg, and finally the cinnamon. But there’s a lot more going on here. Subtle notes of candied fruit meld with chocolate, toffee, banana, and spice cake notes, as well as a slightly nutty and sweet dark maltiness. The finish is balanced perfectly with just enough hops to balance out the earlier sweetness. If I could make one improvement here, I would add just a bit more body.
Still, this is a delightful holiday brew. Gingerbread Ale is complex and delicious, with so many flavors going on that its hard to keep up with them all. If you have a beer enthusiast on your Christmas list this year, why not treat them to a few bottles of Gingerbread Ale?
Update 12/29/2012: As I sip a bottle of Bison Gingerbread Stout tonight I'm remarking upon how delightful this beer is, and how much it really resembles a fresh baked gingerbread cookie. It's the extra dose of ginger that does the trick here, overpowering the nutmeg and cinnamon to make all the difference. I still prefer Twain's Gingerbread Brown Ale as the ultimate gingerbread in a glass, but this one is quite nice as well.
A bit smaller a beer than it was the first time I tried it, at 6% alcohol by volume today as opposed to 6.8% in the past. At $8.98 a four pack, though, the beer is priced about the same as it was then.
And remember, try a new beer today, and drink outside the box.
*Pricing data accurate at time of review or latest update. For reference only, based on actual price paid by reviewer.
(B)=Bottled
(D)=Draft
