Bells Batch 6000 Ale

sampled from a bottle at Paul’s barleywine tasting. Copper in color with a small off white head. Aroma of alot of molasses, dark fruit, mild hops, and vanilla. Taste is smooth molasses/caramel, some raisins, maple sugar, and lightly hoppy. Full bodied, coating on the palate, very well rounded. Finish is moderatelty bitter with a bit of alcohol, but not too much. This was one of my favorites of the tasting.

Bottle at Paul’s Gathering: Pours a deep muddy brown with an amber hue. The aroma is toasted/sweet and rich. Has notes of maple, ginger bread, vanilla and dried dates. Rich and creamy palate. Dense flavor, both huge bodied and hoppy (surprised the hops have held up) Has an overall toasted vanilla character in the flavor along with raisin, honey, adte and a hint of tobacco. There’s a minty note in there as well (from the hops?) and some toffee-ish notes. The finish is toasted with a gritty earthy bitterness to balance. This is a cohesive giant, nice stuff.

Big thanks to WeeHeavySD for sharing this one with me. Dark black beer with a thick tan/white head. Aroma is lovely. Rich sweet malts, dried cherry, plums and dates and a very prominent raspberry/cherry estery flavour across the back. Soft and peppery with a great balance of dried fruit, leather, peach and lightly toasted barley. A bit of minty hoppiness on the back. Great balance, very rich and very tasty. Awesome brew.

<b>7/28/2007</b>: Bell’s 6000 is a fantastic beer. It has a wonderful aroma of sugary, caramelized malt and just tons of great maltiness in the flavor. This is my kind of barleywine - very sweet and malty with little to no hops! It has a nice sticky mouthfeel as well. Yum! Unfortunately this was sampled towards the end of a long night and it definitely needs and deserves to be revisisted! Hopefully I will get the privilege of doing just that one day...

<i>Sample from 12 fl. oz. bottle shared at the "Columbus Tasting: Ate, now with gramatical errors" event. Thanks! Rating #367 for this beer...</i>

Pours copper with a thin white head. Smells of sweet malt, dark fruit, some spice. Tastes resiny and tarte with some nice fruity elements. Excellent!

12oz via trade with sephiroth and krame, shared with JoeMcphee at my place after hitting ballast point. I’ve been wanting to pop this for a while so why not share it with a new yorker in for a visit. Pours orange brown with a tan head. Nose is immense, with lots of dried fruit, and sweet toffee, malty notes. Big rich fantastic nose. Taste is sweet and malty and warming and overall damn awesome, really robust and insanely tasty. Great mouth feel. Excellent.

A dark hazed brown amber ale with a very creamy tan head. A fig and fruity malt aroma, vinous and caramel malt aroma, light chocolate, very smooth, In mouth a very pleasing barley wine, with dirty caramel malt, crisp hops, earthy woody notes, and warming alcohol. Rich and distinguished. Tasted April 2007.

Great Taste of the Midwest 2008
OK. This had to be the highlight of the Great Taste event. My buddies and I are walking by the Bells tent, and notice a guy with a Bells t-shirt on uncorking a 3 liter bottle. My friend says, "Who is that", and someone quickly answers, "It’s Larry Bell". Well duh. He then proceeds to open the bottle and pours each willing participant a sample of the long awaited Batch 6000. Tasters then eagerly placed their cups (like pigs coming for the teat) below while Larry poured each a sample. When tasting, I noticed that the hops were still alive here. A wonderful concoction that I’d love to have any day.