Bells Batch 7000 Ale

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=7443 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.

Bouteille de 12 oz, par HogTownHarry. Brune très foncée, mice collet beige. Arome de café expresso avec un peu de malte caramelisé. Bon goût de café mocha, avec un soupson de caramel anglais, légèrement amère.

What evil pours from this bottle, dense as unrefined petroleum and dark as the deepest reaches of space. Black is not a fitting color descriptor. Thick is an insult. A true Russian Style Imperial stout, definitive and turbulent. Another world class stout from Bells? You bet. Larry Bell is a genius. Thin, deep tan head rises from the depths and sinks slowly back underneath. Oily sheen glistens under all too bright lamplight. Lacing forms from sloshing first sips, dense and dark and sticky. The aroma is as dense as the body. Roasted malt that seems like it was rescued from a towering conflagration ignites the senses. The malt is smoky, vinous, rich and exacting in its drive forward. Chocolate follows, bitter and succulent. Coffee is delicate and fully roasty, and a full black cup dumped in doesn’t even begin to stand up to the onslaught of roasted grains. Hops are brisk and citric and floral, copious. Dark fruits such as prunes, plums and black cherries squeeze into the melee. Molasses, brown sugar, anise and alcohol are noted. Juniper berry nuances provide a swift kick on the back side of every inhalation. Nosing this beer takes me far away, I feel lost in the Siberian night, cold and ready to bring my blood to the boiling point with a sip so anticipated I can’t wait any longer. Rewarding is the taste, voluminous in flavor and complexity. Heavy bitterness shreds through like a diamond encrusted drill bit. Sweetness extinguishes the heat that so quickly set my tongue afire. Brash chocolate notes clash wildly with raw anise. This beer is so unbalanced it’s ludicrous. I love it. It’s a bitter dessert espresso with Godiva liqueur and plums. The fruity notes are nearly lost among the heady malts and blasts of roast. The mouthfeel is exceedingly full, bittersweet and amply carbonated. With every sip my mouth is punished, a rare case study develops; with each ounce passing, the desire for more increases twofold. The finish is glamorous and punishing at once. Heavy bitterness lingers for what seems an eternity. What would seem at first like a challenging quaff is one of the most rewarding beer experiences I’ve ever had. Unbelievable.

Rating three hundy. Opaque black color that sits below a thin, even expanse of dark tan head. Swirling the liquid around in the glass, the beer’s heft is apparent. The aroma is primarily chocolate chip and alcohol, with some roasted smells stuggling to get through the fumes. The palate isn’t as thick as I anticipated, but I was anticipating something milkshake-like. The taste is the real feature here. At first, the alcohol takes over, but as the brew warms, some real deep dark roast flavors take over and provide a glowing roast finish.