Bison Organic Chocolate Stout | Bison Brewing

4.07/5  rDev +17.3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

Served in a nonic pint while on vacation in beautiful Seattle, WA.

Appearance : Dark chocolate black body, 100% opaque, no light penetrating. The head is beautiful and khaki colored, standing at 3 fingers and leaving gracious lace on the sides of the glass as it recedes to a resting 1 finger.

Smell : A prune juice aroma, with soy sauce, blueberry juice, pomegranate and roasted malts. Chocolate can be nosed in a "health store organically bagged powder" kind of way. I guess you'd say it's cacao. Not a bad nose here and pretty unique.

Taste : A fair balance of coffee bean bitterness and roast malts, with a dusting of cocoa in the background. Slight almond. Some vanilla creme lingers on the tongue for the finish.

Feel : Refreshing, which is not something you'd normally associate with a stout. But it is easily drinkable, it's not thick, it's more medium bodied and flirting with the porter style but the creaminess lends it a hand in bringing it back up to a thicker stout like feel. Nice dry bite on the finish yielded from coffee/bean.

Overall : I'd say it's better than the rep it gets overall. I liked it, I thought it was decent and better than some milk stouts I've had. Remember, this is a lighter milk/sweet stout - don't judge it next to an Imperial or Russian Stout and you'll view it more positively.

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3.38/5  rDev -2.6%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.75

Pretty generic stout. Pretty thin and bubbly without any real finish to be found. After it warms up a bit the cocoa starts to come through. I understand that there may not be a huge selection of certified organic ingredients to work with and make a stand out stout, but if you've had the Samuel Smith organic chocolate stout you'd know that's not true.

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3.58/5  rDev +3.2%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

4.23/5  rDev +21.9%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

Bison Organic Chocolate Stout has a thick, beige head, a very dark brown (almost black) appearance, with heavy lacing left behind. The aroma is of dark coffee, cream, bitter chocolate, and rich, dark-roasted malt. Taste is of acidic, strong coffee, chicory, cream, bitter chocolate nibs, and dark malt. Mouthfeel is high medium, and Bison Organic Chocolate Stout finishes semi-wet and drinkable.

RJT

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3.93/5  rDev +13.3%
look: 5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75

I grabbed this as part of a tour de sweet porters/stouts. Poured from a 12oz bottle.

A: Standard stout black, no noticeable head.

S: Smelled mostly like a standard stout, with a pleasant hint of chocolate.

T: A mild stout flavor with no hoppiness and a bit of maltiness. The chocolate was present, but not overwhelming.

F: Watery, as is expected.

O: Very drinkable, low bitterness and a nice finish. The chocolate is there, but not as strong as I'd hoped given that it didn't have a strong stout flavor.

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3.5/5  rDev +0.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

4/5  rDev +15.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

3.38/5  rDev -2.6%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.25

3.62/5  rDev +4.3%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5

Nice, near-opaque chocolate-brown appearance, with good café-au-lait-colored head that subsides to a moderate ghee-tinted rim of foam; solid, dry-sweet nose, though without all that much cacao perfume atop or alongside those sharp, dark-sugar aromas. Very easy-drinking: quite light, and incredibly smooth on the mouth-feel—perhaps excessively so, given it's nominally a stout—this is highly sessionable (especially at 5.0% abv), to the extent it's much more reminiscent of a porter in the manner it operates; indeed, there's almost no heft, thickness, or roundness, and just a scant degree of richness. However, there are good smoky, burnt-sugar notes, and some appreciable creaminess. As the ale releases more of its depth of taste, very mild bittering emerges, but from the organic Peruvian cacao the predominant qualities are brighter, dark fig-and-açai fruity notes. These emanating flavors that build towards the beer's clean, fairly breezy dark-chocolate finish.

In my opinion, a nice cacao-spiked porter miscast as a "stout."

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3.4/5  rDev -2%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 2.75 | overall: 3.25

3.9/5  rDev +12.4%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

A- Pours solid black with whiffs of cocoa colored head. Some decent streaks of lacing, especially considering that there isn't much foam to stick to the sides.

S- Chocolate, roast, a bit of fireplace burned wood.

T- It's a stout alright- though the taste is a little generic, it fits the bill well. Toasted husky seeds and smoke give way to smoother dark fruit flavors in the middle of the tongue- prune and raisin. Not the strongest flavors but decently complex.

M- A little more carbonated than you'd expect, but otherwise it fits the bill.

O- A nice easy drinking stout. Not too high alcohol- I guess maybe more than a session, but on a colder spring or fall day it would be nice to hang out with a couple of these.

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4.02/5  rDev +15.9%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

The smell is of something familiar I can't put my finger on. While the taste is slightly different than the smell, with a delicious sweet cocoa flavor.I just got one in a variety 6 pack, but I would be very interested in having a whole six pack of this.

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3.5/5  rDev +0.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

3.38/5  rDev -2.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.25

historical ratings from personal notes

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3.25/5  rDev -6.3%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.25

2.75/5  rDev -20.7%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 3

thin watery no chocolate more coffee

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3.31/5  rDev -4.6%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.25

3.51/5  rDev +1.2%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.5

Poured from a brown 12 oz. bottle. Has a black color with a 1/2 inch head. Smell is of chocolate, roasted malts. Taste is coffee up front, some chocolate and cream. Feels light in the mouth and overall is a pretty good beer.

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3.52/5  rDev +1.4%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

4.33/5  rDev +24.8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

12 oz. bottle from Whole Foods. Nose of dark chocolate and roasted barley.Taste of black coffee and bittersweet cocoa. Semi bitter and toasty. Lots of flavor. Good carbonation. Tasty, yet dry. A combination that you don't often find. The dry finish makes it very drinkable. Excellent.

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3/5  rDev -13.5%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

3.25/5  rDev -6.3%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.25

2.48/5  rDev -28.5%
look: 3.75 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2.25 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.25

All the bitterness of expresso and dark chocolate without much of the flavor.
Pretty expensive beer, wouldn't buy again

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3.19/5  rDev -8.1%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.25

3.38/5  rDev -2.6%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

I was sold on the idea that this is the first chocolate Stout. I was also sold on the idea that ancient Aztec culture, Montezuma and his chocolate obsession is upon the label associated with this beer. I expected richly, intense flavors of cocoa and that claim of "Peruvian Coco." By the label, I was led astray. This is an acceptable stout, not exceptional. Moreover, it is really only a mild Stout, not what now would be considered chocolate according to new craft beer standards. I think what bothers me most is the diluted, almost watery mouth feel. Roasted malts mostly dominate the flavor and aroma of this beer. Meaning, the overpowering roastyness works against its purpose as being chocolatey. I can see how in '89 this stout may have seemed game changing. But today the stout and it's recipe are due for some improvement. I will not buy this beer again until the flavor and smell can rightly be boasted of in the context of Peru, ancient Aztecs, and Montezuma serving up chocolate in "goblets of beaten gold."

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