1554 Enlightened Black Ale

This black ale, in my opinion, is pretty damn good! The aroma is smooth, not overpowering, with barely the faintest smell of hops. Nice head, nice smoothness to the pour.

The taste is ever-so-pleasant, with chocolate and creamy overtones and aftertaste. This 1554 Black Ale is probably the best beer I’ve yet to taste by New Belgium. The aftertaste lingers slightly, but mostly it’s the chocolate that hangs out. Goes down very smoothly, rests nicely.

This beer is supposedly a throwback to Belgian black ales, pieced together from ‘an ancient crumbling Belgian library book.’ Even if it’s not accurate to the old Belgian dark ales, this one’s got my number. I hope to enjoy the 1554 Black Ale on a regular basis.

Bison Brewing Chocolate Stout

I started out with the Chocolate Stout, and it had a fairly weak smell to me. I smelled a bit of chocolate, but nothing that punched me in the face. It’s got a nice balance of chocolate, stout, and general beer flavor, but it just wasn’t quite punchy enough to remember.

Bison Brewing IPA

Now, granted that I’m not a huge IPA fan, Bison’s India Pale Ale was not so bad. It had a nice light color, it was clear, and the aroma was wholesome, organic, and grassy.

The taste was light, a nice hop flavor that wasn’t overbearing like normal IPAs. The aftertaste was a bit rough for me, though, a bit too lingering.

Barley wine

I didn’t like this, but that’s probably just my tastes. I don’t think I care too much for barley wine in general. So I guess I have no business talking about a barley wine.