Bells Batch 6000 Ale

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

Aged 1 year
Aroma: coco, dark fruits, carmel, burnt malts
Appearance: dark brown, cream colored head, little lacing
Flavor: big carmel bite, bittersweet chocolate/coco, burnt malts, slight alcholol flavor
Palate: slight graininess, bittersweet aftertaste, creamy beginnings leading to the graininess and bittersweet aftertaste

Pours an unclear dark brown body under a thick light brown head. Aroma is sweet malty and yeasty with tones of yoghourt, pineapple, light spices and some alcohol. Flavor starts sweet malty with plenty of flower and bitter hops kicking in. Full and heavy with notes of prunes and chocolate and a long lasting finish. Very smooth and warming.

Reddish amber color out of the bottle with a dissappearing beige head that faded into a lasting swirling galaxy of fine bubbles on the surface. Kraft Caramel Square and juniper pine nose. I didn’t pour this carefully enough and got a lot of floaties in it. Flavors of orange, pineapple, caramel candy, raisen, vanilla ice cream and oak wood. Strong pine hop bitterness that lingers long on the palate. I’ve had many of these and still find it hard to articulate this beer, other than to say it is very good.

Dark brown color. Medium sized head. Aroma is malty, caramel and earthy. A touch floral as well. A medium to full bodied barley wine. Malts are caramel, chocolate and earthy. Big citrusy and grapefruity hops, not a lot of bitterness. A big bad barley wine, but not over the top. It has an amazing balance between the sweet malts and the citrusy hops. Only a slightly trace of the 10.5 % alcohol. VERY nice beer. Mouthfeel is full and round. Finish is clean and smooth. Aftertaste is slightly bitter with a touch of alcohol bite.

The first time I had this beer it sure wasn’t at the top of my list but I have become a firm believer in aging of the Barley wines. I have not had a change to have one after it sits a few months. I am sure not going to give this a bad rating based off that though. Bells did good with with beer and you can really tell they put quality into it. Pick up a six pack and forget about it for a few months and I am sure you will not be disappointed.

Ugly brown. Mostly diminishing head. Impressive, hoppy (Pine needles, light herbs, apricot, possibly centennial) nose of caramel, red apples, wood and plums. Enormous, peppery, bitter hop profile along with notes of caramel, grapes and plums. Lacking in texture that most great barley wines possess. Fatally harsh and very unbalanced.

I’m a neophyte with this Kalamazoo place but I’m really liking it. This hoppy floral earthy citrusy plummy caramel-malty warming orange amber brown liquid nourished us immediately after the crazy Tennents palate cleanser experiment.Really I think it was too young to properly judge, but since I had already opened it I’ll just say that it was good.

Broad, Old Crustacean-like uberhoppiness tries to push around the creamy chocolate and deep earthy caramel malts...Citrusy spikes point towards the heavens and resinous sap flows languorously from the proud hopvines...Extremely warming and nourishing as with most of Bell’s big boys, but I get a feeling that this multitude of muscle-pumping flavors has not reached the age of wisdom yet...Still fabulously tasty and I wish I had a few to age...

At around 4 years old, this one already shows some signs of wear, as maderization has taken claim of the nose and diluted some of its caramel wealth...Hop bitterness is still apparent, and one can easily recall the intensity it once reached...The mouthfeel has been hurt by this age as well, being slimmed down considerably from its initial portliness...At this near-venerable age, it’s probably too withered for my tastes in barley wine...