Bison Brewing
In the 1960’s and 1970’s, Berkeley, California was known as the place to fight for change. And, part of that change included the way people ate. In 1971, Alice Waters took that to the next level when she opened up her now world famous restaurant Chez Panisse. The restaurant was at the forefront of the organic/ “eat local movement,” which truly was revolutionary at the time. It should come as no surprise that a generation later, Berkeley’s Bison Brewing Company would be creating its own revolution as one of the first fully organic breweries in the world.
Founded in 1989, Bison did not start out as entirely organic. However, in 2003, it converted its entire line of beers (about 5) to organic citing that doing so synced the owners’ personal lives with their business pursuits. They key word here is business, and Bison has taken the next step in the development of an environmental business in that it acquired B corporation status, signifying that it meets rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency. Currently there are 737 B Corps throughout the world, and only one other brewery, New Belgium.
Bison also helps us rethink what it means to be an “active greenie” by illustrating the agricultural effects of drinking organic beer. In its July 2012 study, Bison indicated that for each consumer who drinks a six-pack each week of organic beer (as opposed to non-organic beer), a farmer must convert about 1,700 square feet of farmland from conventional to organic agriculture. Additionally, for each restaurant tap “handle” serving 1 keg of organic beer each week, a farmer must convert about one football field of farmland from conventional to organic agriculture. Just goes to show how easy it can be to start changing the planet.
Beer – Chocolate Stout
Traditionally, I am not a fan of Chocolate Stouts, as most breweries use natural/artificial flavor, which tends to overwhelm the beer. If I want a chocolate shake, I will order one. In Washington, DC though, the Bison Chocolate Stout appears to be the Bison beer that stores carry on a regular basis. Despite my fears, I took some solace in knowing that as an organic beer, Bison’s Chocolate Stout will not contain artificial flavor, but rather organic cocoa. And, you can taste the difference.
Up front, on the nose, there isn’t much of an aroma. There are faint amounts of chocolate, as the name implies, but there is nothing overpowering. It pours similar to dark chocolate milk, with a rich head almost as dark as its body. Despite the subtle chocolate aromas, and the feeling you are about to dive into a dessert, the stout has a rather dry and crisp mouth feel, which some reviews have even described as “thin.” This “thinness” is not entirely unheard of in dry stouts, so it’s not necessarily a bad thing. But in this case, I probably wanted the beer to be slightly “creamier.” The chocolate flavor is certainly present, but it is balanced out by the roasted malts. Overall, this is a subtle, dry chocolate stout, that isn’t too overwhelming. It might be a decent entry level chocolate beer for those looking for something different. It clocks in at 5%, so you could probably have more than one, should the spirit move you.
BeerAdvocate – 3.5/5.00
RateBeer – 3.46/5.00
