Bells Batch 6000 Ale

Formerly brewed at Bells Brewery
Style: Barley Wine
Kalamazoo, Michigan USA

TAP @ The Happy Gnome, 11.14.09 (retained from a recent Bell’s food-beer pairing). Mahogany/copper pour, khaki head. Monster aroma - caramel, fig, hops. Taste is caramel, brown sugar, fig, toffee, molasses, and coffee. I feel fortunate to try this very rare (at this point) beer, and I can tell it’s a great barleywine, but it’s just not my style.

Never had this fresh but it seemed to have aged beautifully. Sweet aroma, caramel, fruit and a faint hop bitterness. A bit of molasses and alcohol too. Flavor is sweet and smooth, dark fruit, brown sugar, honey, molasses, a little woodyness and bourbony syrup. Delicious.

Bottle shared by yobdog. Pours brown with a small white head. Has a caramel, vanilla smell to it. Has a caramel brown sugar and malt in the taste. Great BW

12 oz bottle shared by yobdoog at Moosetoberfest, thanks Trevor(yet another new rating for me to keep me ahead of you!!). Poured a thick syrupy brown with a super small foamy beige head. Aroma is nice with notes of caramel, vanilla, toffee, waxy honey and a hint of cloves as well. Medium bodied that was syrupy and sticky with soft carbonation. Flavor of caramel, wax, amber malts, toffee, raisin and slight cardboard from some oxidation. This is one very very nice beer that is aging gracefully unlike the corpse of Anna Nichole Smith.

Bottle, courtesy northernbrews. The pour yields an extremely dark, coppery-mauve colored body, lightly hazy in consistency, with a small, frothy, khaki colored head. Dense sheeting stains the glass a bit, leaving behind some slow micro-spot drips. The aroma is ultra rich and malty, yet equally earthen and roasty. Notes of burnt caramel and singed toffee play off of deep, smoky molasses and stewed figs, with a good amount of bitter barley roast and hints of raw cacao. Flavors are just as deep and complex, torched caramel and toffee backed up with sweet fig, all colliding head on with bitter, earthy hops and staunch roast. Shades of molasses and marzipan come through, as do hints of just-burnt toast and even some torched marshmallow. The palate is full, coating the mouth substantially, finishing a little hot from the booze and massively bitter, despite it’s advanced age. Even at six years of age, this beer is rocking. Great barleywine.

Awesome flavor. Lots of caramel with a perfect balance. Knowing how old this is made me appreciate it even more

Mike, BBB63, saw this on my wants list so he gave it to me. An unbelievably generous guy he is. Shared with Kylie 9/21/09. Pours a mahagony brown with a small tan head. Wow! Aroma is heavenly. Plums, figs, caramel, candied sugar, rum. Flavor is Dates, sweet caramelly malts, some pleasant warming booze, brown sugar. The booze is mellow though, a great compliment to the fruit. Nice smooth, big body, with a Slightly sticky mouthfeel. Very well rounded, complex, balanced and tasty beer. Never had it fresh, but it appears as though it’s aged gracefully. A real treat. Mike amazes me again!

Pours a deep mahogany color, almost opaque, with a small tan head that disappears fairly quickly. Aroma is of sweet malt, sweet fruit, caramel, molasses. Flavor has rounded out a lot, but still quite sweet, with some sweet nectar flavors, dark fruit. Not hoppy at all. Very sugary/syrupy, rumcake. Medium to heavy viscosity. Perhaps this beer is getting a little old, would’ve liked to have tried it a little earlier. Overall, good.