Bells Batch 7000 Ale

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

Sample at O-town throwdown ’09 Last sample of this amazing tasting and what a way to end it. Pours deep black with beige head and nice viscous golden lacing. Aroma lots and lots of dark fruits with a good boozy scent that dissipates together with roasted malts and chocolate. Taste, boozy boozy, this is one juggernaut beer goodness. Plenty of dark fruits, malty with touch of sweet licorice and chocolate.

Bottle. Aroma of huge anise, quickly backed up by sweet coffee, sweet and bitter chocolate, ranging from tootsie roll to 85% cacao, big toffee, very earthy, woodsy nuttiness. Flavor quite decadent with a notable but perfectly delectable level of booze, highlighted by molasses, the toffee and those nutty, earthy notes (I very viscerally feel like I’m outside as I drink and smell this) and really comes full circle to a very minty, liccorice-y anise. Despite all the decadence, finishes medium-sweet, medium-dry with a big burst of chocolate, and with a notable level of bitterness even at this late date. Such a monster, yet I would still ascribe to it the words intricate and delicate. Best of all worlds for me. I wish this was called, well, anything that didn’t indicate it was brewed 2000 batches ago never to be brewed again.

Bottle thanks to mreusch. Pours black with a teensy tiny tan head. Aroma of alcohol, chocolate, and roasted malt. Definitely on the boozy side. Flavor of more rich sweet malt and molasses. It wasn’t so boozy at first, but then it did start to get a bit heavy. Very rich and thick, not really syrupy though. Not my kind of imperial stout, as it is a little too alcohol-rich for my tastes. 7/4/7/4/15 (3.7/5)

Had this awesome beer a couple years ago. Poured really dark with a very smooth, creamy tan head. Smells of coffee, anise, chocolate, and toffee. Tastes of a syrupy thick roasted toffee, cocoa, irish cream, alcohol, some fruity sweetness, and roasted malts. Some wood and nuts are present. Some malty sweetness that is a little out of balnace by any hops is the only reason i didnt rate it any higher.

One of the best beers I have ever tried. Pours midnight black, very little tan head. Massive taste of black licorice, chocolate, and coffee. Thick, but not syrupy. I’m a lucky man to be able to have tried this truly unique brew.

Received this randomly on DLD 08 for a Peche Mortel and didn’t actually realize what it was until I finally moved some things around at home and low and behold...tastiness from Bell’s. Poured beautifully with a creamy brown head and a malty chocolate aroma. The palate wasn’t quite as well balanced as expedition but still exceptional nonetheless. Wish I had a case of these to age rather then just the one but happy to have been able to partake.

Blind Tasting Malty chocolate aroma, with some scottish ale malts. Boozy with tons of hazelnut, chocolate, with an anise background. Great stout.....and now that I know what it was, I wonder what it would have been like with a little more time under it’s belt.

This poured black in color with a thin moderate brown head of fine bubbles. The nose showed off dark fruit (plum/fig), chocolate, caramel along with sweet and rich citrus. In the mouth it was concentrated, rich and smooth. Though the flavors were of the sweet and sour variety. The palate was great but the flavors were a bit odd. In general I believe that the Expedition Stout ages better so will be interested to find out what the difference is between this one and Expedition.