Bells Batch 6000 Ale

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

Sampled at the RB Philly Gathering. I actually felt a bit guilty drinking this barley wine so early in it's life. Nice mahogany body with small long lasting head. Flavor was complex sweet malt and a strong hop finish. Excellent example of an American style barleywine.

Smells like oaky, big malts, restrained but big hops, clobbering malts in the mouth with a finish like burnt grapes and a little dry soot. Like Old Foghorn on steroids. Superb. Had at RB Philly gathering February 2004.

Head is initially small, frothy, brown, fully diminishing. Body is dark orange-brown. Aroma is moderately malty (molasses, caramel), moderately hoppy (flowers, resin/pine, apricot), with notes of alcohol, cask wood, plum, candy/brown sugar, toffee, whisky, port, etc. Flavor is heavily sweet, moderately acidic, moderately bitter. Finish is moderately sweet, moderately acidic, heavily bitter. Full body, velvety/creamy texture, lively carbonation, moderately alcoholic. A bit more fun to sniff than drink, thanks to its slightly biting citric character, but overall a very nice barleywine...plenty of character and style. More American than British style, but kind of a hybrid of the two and ultimately balanced well (neither too hoppy nor malty). Probably a good candidate for aging a year or three, as it is a little rough and edgy at present. Reminds me a bit of North Coast Old Stock.

Deep copper color with a creamy tan head. Raisins and chocolate in the nose. Creamy fruit flavor. Great barley wine. Drink some and store some.

one heck of a barleywine, a decent malty backbone, with a strong dose of hops.

My first barley wine. Wow.... So thick, brown with a tinge of red. No head. The amount of junk in this is crazy. All I can say is that this is awesome. I'll leave the descriptive stuff to the other guys. 7/16/04: Found really dusty sixer, three bottles of which I'll be aging for a few months.

Appearance: fully opaque, dark violet hue, with a lush, cocoa-colored ring of foam,like the head on a shot of espresso. Aroma: sweet, dark fruit, cherries, grapes, plums, mixed with brandyish, boozy tinges, powerful and lovely at once, arousing. Taste:Big hops, a blast of bitterness, smoothly sliding off the palate, paired with a barrage of fierce dark fruit,spices, and alcohol. Strength is easily apparent in this one, and the booze keeps time with the flavor. Malt is large, too, let us not forget, and the finish is outsized, sticks on the palate like an all-day sucker, lounges in the mouth, teases the tongue, and stretches around to lick the frontal lobes. Sure, it does, I ain't lying! One utterly amazing, downright delcious barleywine, a great guardian against the insane below-zero temps here in Minnesota. Sampled on tab, in a snifter, where it's more mellow and mature than bottles I've tasted prior.

Very dark, nearly opaque mahogany body. Small light brown head, that leaves nice lacing. Malty, toast almost salty aroma with hints of toffe raisins and hops as well. Malty bread dough flavors with plenty of plum and raisin notes. Finish is rather hoppy with a lingering warming bitterness. A bit on the hoppy side for a barleywine, but delicous none the less.