Bells Batch 7000 Ale

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

Pours a perfect black liquid with a two finger dark tan head. Loads of lacing down the glass. Rich dark chocolate aroma with creamy coffee. An expected alcohol spicyness as this beer is 12%. There’s a roasted nuts smell in the back. This beer explodes as soon as it hits the tongue. It’s unbelievably rich. I really love this style. Milky coffee taste that turns into a nice coffee flavor. Spicy alcohol and the same nutty taste fill out the taste. Finishes dry with a warming sensation from the amply amounts of alcohol. This is a wonderful beer. I wish I could get my hands on some more.

(Bottle 35,5 cl) Pours completely black and opaque with a creamy, light brown head. Fat, vinous and very rich aroma of dried fruit and some alcohol. Very full-bodied with plenty of roasted malt, roasted and not really burned. Fruity and quite alcoholic with a malty bitter dry finish. A big beer indeed, to be enjoyed in very small quantities. 030606

A pitch black beer with a brown head. The aroma is sweet malty with notes of roasted whole coffee beans with this oily sensation you can find, but also with notes from the brewed coffee with a slight acidity. The flavor is sweet malty and again I find this oily sensation from well roasted coffee beans, combined with alcohol, leading to a dry roasted end. Nice one.

pitch black. smelled wonderful but tasted totally alcoholic. really short flavor profile, but a lasting alcohol finish. sucked.

12 oz bottle, pre-Noog fest. Hue is nearly opaque and devastatingly black which looks great alongside the short brown and immensely creamy head. The aroma simply drips in rum and raisin notes (mmm…rum-raizin oliebollen) along with dark and rich chocolate, dark roast coffee, anise, molasses, brown sugar and soft floral hints. The flavor brings out a pleasant and welcomed dark (more than I was expecting) dried fruitiness of black cherries, raisins and red grapes. Extraordinarily sweet flavor is balanced by a significant roasty bitterness. The mouthfeel is simply amazing and is, quite literally, chewy. Sticky, viscous and oily to the nth degree. The soft carbonation does nothing to interrupt. Divine.

Bottle from TAR (Thanks Jeff!) After a little wait and finding out that I am going to be able to trade for more of these, I had to indulge and drink this one. Pours out like old motor oil with a thick tan head. Smells sweet, roasted, malty, slightly hoppy, and a little bit of alcohol. Taste is similar with there being a large dose of hops in it making the beer slightly more bitter than I am used to for an Imp Stout. This one is not as good as expedition stout, but it is up there, and with some age this could be as good if not better than expedition stout. It needs some age though, quite a bit of it. Awesome stout though.

Pours dark brown, purple-ish color with thin dark tan head. Dark fruits, almost a wine aroma, some apricot, grape, perfume, milk chocolate, marshmellow, almond, molasses, syrup, and coffee in the aroma, which was amazing. seriously, the best smelling beer. Flavor is astringent with burnt nuts, black coffee, and baking chocolate. Not as smooth as expected, but not a disappointment. With some age, this should be fantastic.

Bottle courtesy of Silphium. Pours a deep dark black with a huge lasting foamy light-brown head -- it looks great! Wonderful aroma of roasted malt, chocolate, molasses, dark fruit, coffee, nuts, hops and more -- quite complex and smells amazing. Upon my first sip I think I orgasmed, my god that’s delicious! Roasted malt, lots of chocolate and hops, coffee, molasses and alcohol with a dry roasty/hoppy finish -- all perfectly balanced. Full bodied with a thick syrupy mouthfeel. What a surprise this was, I knew it was going to be good but not this good, this is a tremendous Imperial Stout and another fantastic Bells beer.