Bells Batch 7000 Ale

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

12 bottle shared with willblake and Dickinsonbeer. Wow this is some fantastic stuff. Poured pitch black and thick as oil with a light tan head that quickly faded, a little more head would of bumped this up to a 5. Palate was incredible, super thick yet so drinkable aroma was lots of chocolate, cherries, rum, molasses and more. Flavor was even better, hard to believe, very sweet overall with notes of dark chocolate, tar, dark fruit and more. I love Bells and can’t stand the fact that they aren’t available in NJ. If you see this beer buy ALL OF IT.

Bottle through trade with Sephiroth, thanks Hans! Pours a very silky black with mohogany edges and thin lacing with minimal beige head. Great aroma that is sweeter than most other impy’s Ive had, lots of sugary molasses, licorice, mixed with charred oak wood and smoke. Flavor is exquisite; very well balanced between the sweet roasted malts, vanilla and molasses, contrasted with a good hop profile. Very nice. Smooth and velvety palate that coats the mouth, with long lasting tastes of espresso, licorice, wood and earth. Great stuff!

12 oz bottle. Pours black with a little dark brown head. Dark roasted malt, coffee, liqourice and bourbon like aroma. Clear alcohol presence. Lovely blend of liqourice and chocolate in thick oily blend. Minor citric fruit note. Alcohol does shine through. Very strong bitterness. Very strong brew.

I was looking for the right occasion to open this brew, it just seemed right to open this sucker after a line up of rather decent Belgians for the sake of contrast. Didn’t disappoint (I just wish I had more bottles!). Dark like motor oil, with a nice light brown head. Not as impenetrable as some imperial stouts, but still looks damn fine with a razor thin silky smooth head forming later on. Roast and alcohol at the fore. Some sweetness. Prunes, plums, raisins. A little oxidation (cardboard). Dry chocolate and a hint of wood. Thick healthy viscosity. This is like a milkshake and is the absolute ideal of what every imperial stout should strive to feel like (In my humble opinion). Low carbonation. Big ass sweet malt. Cut by roast and alcohol. Chocolatier than the Expedition Stout, creamier too. The prune sweetness and chewy sticky dark fruit are great. Big chocolate and roast almost overwhelm the sweet malt, but instead find lovely balance. Lingering strong roast. Bitterness lingers with perhaps some floral hops and definitely some alcohol. I wish I could get more of this puppy. Almost reminds me of some old Rogue Imperial Stout. No sign of there being too much heat.

Mega thanks to Styles for giving up a few of these in our trade. It has been quite a while since I have rated anything over a 4 so I needed to bring out something I thought would be a no brainer. Pours a thick black with a dark brown head. Nice initial carbonation. Stunning pour. Aroma is beautiful. Rich malts and fermented boozy fruits along with cocoa, molasses and licorice. Flavor is same as the aroma with hints of sourish malts and light smoke. Mouthfeel is rich and creamy and I can feel my belly start to warm up a bit now. An overall awesome beer. Thanks again Chris.

(Bottle via trade with <A HREF=http://www.ratebeer.com/ViewUser.asp?UserID=7 target=blank>BBB63, thanks Mike!, cellared for 1 yr. after trade) This one delivers!...Pours very, very dark mahogany brown, appears opaque. Thin plum-tinted head turns tan and recedes to a very thin but persistent layer. Rich sweet aroma of coffee, chocolate and dark fruits. Mouthfeel very smooth, surprisingly more creamy than oily, lightly fizzy. Thin fine weepy lacing. Taste is quite awesome and complex - rich molasses, char, coffee, chocolate and grape. A great beer. Finishes with some chocolate and coffee bitterness. So many beers seem to have great aromas that just don’t carry through into taste - not the case with this one!

Coffee and chocolate aroma, with some vanilla and cream. Pours thick black, dark, seems like little carbonation like used motor oil with a thin tan head. Intense dark malt and roasted barley flavor, big flavor, coffee, vanilla, chocolate, burnt sugars, intense yet drinkable very complex. Feels oily and thick (awesome!). mmm, so tasty. This is a great beer! Someone gave me this bottle, but i forget who! Thanks to you, you know who you are.

Bottle courtesy Slob. Pour was deep dark black with a chocolate brown colored head, slow developing, thinning to a brownish ring around the glass, leaving behind quite nice splotchy lacing for a beer of this strength. The aroma was tons of piney hops, chocolate, sticky maple, dark fruits. The flavor was sticky maple, pine hops (strong), citrus hops, roasted malts, chocolate, brandy, cherries, assorted dark fruits. A darned bitter finish. The mouthfeel was sticky but not really that thick for the style and reported ABV, somewhat grainy thin in some ways. Odd. A nice Impy Stout, but I’ve had better. The flavors, while complex, didn’t blend together to win me over. Thanks, Bert, for this great and generous opportunity. This was rather enjoyable even if not a stand-out like last night’s Batch 6000 that I drooled into. Seems like others liked this way more than I anyway.