Bells Christmas Ale

Brewed by Bells Brewery
Style: Scotch Ale
Kalamazoo, Michigan USA

Pours a transparent copper amber with a thin, wispy-lacing light tan head. Aroma of sweet toasty caramel and some mild piny hops. Body starts with decent fullness and some earthy caramel sweetness with some drier hoppy notes before a bland finish. Doesn’t have of the smoky peaty notes I like in Scotch ales and seems more like an amber ale. Still, not that bad and pretty drinkable.

This bottled brew from JSquire at a rating party poured a medium sized head of foamy finely sized off-white colored bubbles that were mostly lasting and left behind a slightly hazy softly carbonated orange brown colored body and a good lacing. The weak aroma was malt with tanned leather notes. The crisp mouth feel was tingly at the start and at the finish with a mellow hoppy aftertaste. The flavor contained notes of malt hops and mild brown malt. A decent one that I would consider having again.

In bottle and on tap. Murky orange-brown body, cloudier on tap than in the bottle, puffy buff head. Sweet nose with berries, caramel, brown sugar, and toast. Malt-driven body with same notes and hints of dark fruit. Earthy. Finishes bitter, but the hops are subdued by sweet malts. A winter warmer session-style scotch ale that lacks the twigs-n-berries and peat notes that characterize my favorite examples of the style.

Poured a clear amber color with a medium sized, off white head that left nice lacing on the glass. Aroma of caramel, toast, nuts, citrus fruits, and piney hops. Taste of nuts, toffee malts, light roast, caramel, and a dry, lightly smokey finish.

On tap at El Bait Shop during the 2009 Crescent Moon Des Moines Trip. Pours a holiday reddish amber with amedium white head. This was a huge disappointment. Not much spice with a quick tart flavor. The maltiness is good, but the flavor is just too flat.

Bottle from Capone’s. Pours turbid coppery orange with 2-finger, uniform well-retained off-white head and some noted floaties. Nose is caramel malt, bitter hops, earthy and slightly spicy notes. Tastes hoppy, caramel malty, slightly spicy, peppery, and spicy, yet I noted no X-mas spice, rather the spice emanated from the yeast. Not super complex from these guys, and more hopped than may scotch ales.

Pours a deep hazy orange amber with a medium creamy/bubbly off white head that left some lacing. Aroma of toasted malt, cereal grains, caramel, light citrus and nuts. Flavor of toasted malt, caramel, light banana, citrus, light hops, nuts, cereal grains. Interesting choice for a Christmas Ale from Bells. Not sure they are really calling this a Scotch Ale and I could see how some folks are say this is more like a pale ale. Sure the hops are there but not present enough to really be a pale ale. If you don’t worry about trying to plug this beer into a style I think in the end you come away with a solid session beer to share with friends.

A well made, interesting take on the holiday style. Pours a ruddy brown with a frothy head. The nose offers a sugary sweetness that is hard to pin down, layered with some more recoginizable caramel notes. The body is medium, not too heavy, and opens up with some esthery fruits, followed by a firm biscuit and bread base. Finishes with a whisper of yeast spiciness and is really easy to drink. A sessioniable Chrismas beer? Sure, why not?