Bells Batch 6000 Ale

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

Deep brown in color, nose is sweet but not as much as a year ago. Still huge in your mouth, sweet but not cloying with a decent amount of hops on the finish, ageing nicely.

(Bottle courtesy Brennan from Kahn’s Keystone, Indy tasting 12/10/05) Aroma is strong alcohol, carmel, plum, and black cherry. Pours a muddy brown with little head. Flavor is raisin, plum, carmel, black cherry, and just a touch of hops. The alcohol is not present as it is in the aroma. Palate is extremely smooth and sticky. This one has aged well as it is a very easy drinking 10.5%.

04/07/06 (kicking up the overall 1 pt) Rewarding myself after a raise with my only bottle of this. Reading my rating from the tasting, there isn’t much difference except I don’t detect any hops anymore. Still some tartness leftover but the flavor is overpowered. Thick and luscious carmel with a great warming sensation. Super smooth palate. Awesome. If you still have some, drink it.

I was fortunate enough for Todd, my non-rating beer friend to let me drink most of a bottle. It pours to a dense and creamy beige head with a beautiful lacing. Very active carbonation. The aroma has raisins and floor malts. Deep roasted malts with smooth barleywine characteristics. Nice. There’s also hints of English walnuts. The flavor is very similar to the aroma but also has light hints of creamy chocolate. Huge maltiness. The palate is so rich and creamy with a nice texture. Thanks a million Todd!

Bottle. Pours a hefty hazy ruby black color. Tan lasting head. Aroma of chocolate and very strong malts. Flavor is sweet with a very oil type feel, sticky, yet thin. Smooth on the palate. Worth the wait.

Mahogany, very hazy, nice floaties. Tan foamy head. Lots of malt in the aroma along with some alcohol. Very very malty, perhaps the hops have died out. Lots of chewy caramel malt along with some light apple flavors, maybe some citrus here and there. Very wonderfully silky in the mouth. A bit past its prime perhaps to some, but I think time has done this one well.

Many thanks to Al (Pigfoot) at the Blue Nile in Minneapolis for this scrumptious drop. It’s the finest of 10 beers that returned with me on the plane to New Zealand - as my hand luggage. Talk about instant popularity! I shared this with my good friend Sam. Firstly, this beer rolls from the bottle as a murky, syrupy dark chocolate oil slick with a thin tan head. It’s murky like the Ganges with sediment suspended in the brew like gold flecks. Smokey aromas of burnt toast and whisky underscore the sweeter elements of caramel, chocolate, strawberry jam and raisins raisins raisins! This beer has been lovingly aged a year or so by Al, and damn you can tell: In the mouth this elixir is thick’n’syrupy with alcohol warmth strongly present but well integrated. This is a liquid chocolate truffle experience with rum, whisky and choc coming to the fore over its’ big musky roasted fruit character. Has a slightly tart end with a firm growing bitterness that is well blended with the alcohol notes and fruits. Sam’s partner said it tasted like Zantac without the mint flavouring (I believe this is a drug for babies who are teething1?) A well travelled and superbly crafted beer. Truely fine sipping with dessert (like Xmas pudding) or for a Minnesota winter by the fire!

bottle. thanks for sharing, Jeff. murky brown-mahogany with a small tan head. sweet caramel, alcohol, and yeast are the prominent aroma characteristics. this is powerful stuff - yeasty, sweet malt, caramel sweetness, fruits, and alcohol. pretty good.

Bottle from a trade with TAR (thanks Jeff!) Very deep ruby brown color, thinner tan head that lasted for the most part. Awesome aroma, fat chewy malts, molasses, caramel, dates, and prunes. Nice flavor, not as bold but holds up very well. Full bodied, alcohol is present but I’d imagine it was much hotter when it was brewed a few years ago. Great stuff.