Bells Batch 7000 Ale

Formerly brewed at Bells Brewery
Style: Imperial Stout
Kalamazoo, Michigan USA

Bottle thanks to...? don’t remember, but thank you! Okay, I must be in the minority here to think that this did not age wonderfully. Aroma is big dark chocolate, oily, with obvious smokey leather oxidation notes. Flavor is dark bitter chocolate with a soy notes and just a hint of coffee. Very oily feeling.

12 oz bottle. Pours a pitch black viscous body with a smallish brown head. Lots of sediment in the bottle. The nose is very intense, I can smell it a foot away! Crazy amounts of roast, coffee, earthy yeast, and some light oxidation at first. As it warmed some deep plum and dark fruit with chocolate and moderate alcohol vapors emerged. Heavy roast and dark fruits work in chorus with the coffee and yeast to provide a really layered complex Imperial Stout. Not dominated by any one aspect at all. Thick, soft, and chewy body with a nice mouth coating finish that lingers on for ever. A very nice beer, much smoother and softer around the edges than Expedition can be at times, even with a similar amount of age.

Bottle shared by Dickinsonbeer (?) Black with very dark brown head. Rich woody very dark roasted coffee chocolate eath aroma. Bitter dark roasted coffee dark fruit wood and chocolate with bitter roasted finish. Complex. Slightly oxidized. Very good.

Bottle thanks to the dark benefactor motortoddhead!!!...Thanks man!...Pours thick and almost black with a slowly apprearing head that starts orangey tan and slowly lightens in color...aroma is big and bold, chocolate syrup, molassas, port wine...coats the mouth like frosting, flavour is similar, bitter cocoa, coffee, vanilla, burnt wood and molassas...flavour does not let up, lingering bitterness that lasts close to a minute...a beautiful brew that still has plenty of legs...

Bottle. [thank you, madmitch76]
Pours utterly and completely black. Wonderful, creamy, beige-brown head that just stays for a looong time. Wonderful aroma of oak, sherry, dark chocolate, some cellar, bourbon, dust, prunes. Low carbonation, fat and just totally impressive creamy/oily mouthfeel. Flavour is equally impressve, vinious, chocolate, bourbon, sherry, prunes, raisins, coffee, cocoa. Very much still a brilliant beer. This is really a great experience!

12oz bottle. Huge thanks to Iowaherkeye for sending this amazing retired beer my way! Pours a deep flat black with a nice think chocolate head. Nose is just insane. Crazy malt profile. Very intense with deep roasted chocolate, wood and a little bourbon, I get alot of licorice. The body on this beer is just massive. To massive for a beer of 12%. This thing drinks like 15%. Deep rich mollasses and bourbon up front. Very sweet with out much bitterness. Stunning complexity in the malt. This has held up very well. No oxidization. There is some definite soy sauce as would be expected. Deep wood notes and alot of brown sugar and a rather substantial alcohol burn. Amazing but very tough to drink.

Bottle shared by heykevin. Thanks. Poured an opaque black color with an occasional solid chunk. The head was was light brown with an orange tint. There was a papery oxidized note in the nose and flavor, but this was still a decent beer. Black licorice, dark chocolate liqueur, raisin, fig, and tobacco in both the aroma and flavor. Full bodied sweet with a dash of dog food and a warming alcohol effect. Past its prime, perhaps, but still interesting.

#700. 12oz bottle thanks to Northernbrews. Pours black with thin dark tan head. Aroma is sweet molassas, roasted malt, dark fruits, bourbon, vanilla, and some booze. Flavor is roasted malt, bourbon, vanilla, chocolate, sweet fruit, and some booze. Mouthfeel is syrupy but smooth and creamy at same time. Stuff makes you just want to lick your lips after every sip. So nice to have a big impy that isn’t dry. This is extreamy complex and about a good as a RIS can get. I cannot even imagine what the BA version would taste like.