Flying Bison Brewing out of Buffalo New York surprised me with their Buffalo Lager. I’m not sure why I wasn’t expecting much out of their beer, but I wasn’t, so it was quite a nice surprise when I poured the Buffalo Lager and received a billowing head of foam that stayed there long enough for me to get my camera out and lingered until I finished the beer.

The beer was pure gold (though a bit cloudy) and had a mild malt sweetness that was nicely balanced with mild hop bitterness. Hop aroma was present, but not strong. It finished very clean making it quite drinkable.

If you look over at Beer Advocate, there is quite a discrepancy of opinions on this beer. I suspect there is a quality control problem with either their brewing process, or distribution, to create such a disparate view of this beer.

The lagers I sampled also had some trub settled at the bottom of the bottle; however, lack of information from the brewer doesn’t discern if this beer was bottle conditioned or not. This is another reason to suspect quality control issues.

Along with the lager, their variety six pack also comes with Aviation Red and Barnstormer Pale Ale, both of which were very nice. I want to go back and revisit those brews again, but it was the lager that stood out and I give it 4 on the unofficial Hop-Talk rating system. Yet, I worry that my next purchase will yield something completely different.