Bells Batch 7000 Ale

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

Courtesy SoLan. Thanks for sharing this gem! Deep, dark mahogany body with a black center. Small off-white rim with a thin film at the head. Sudsy lace tries its best to stick to the glass, but it slowly loses its grip and rejoins the body. The aroma is complex and lovely, showing waves of chocolate, anise, oak, faint bourbon, raisons, and roasted caramel. The equally impressive flavor hits you with choco-bourbon, ample amounts of anise, vanilla, and oak. It starts out sweet and malty, moving to a mildly sour yeast note that quickly reverts right back to sweet chocolate and caramel. The medium-full body is very rich and luxurious. Similar in style to the Expedition, though not as refined. Just an awesome beer. I LOVE BELLS!

Bottle. Pours pitch black with a thin dense mocha head that slowly recedes to a thin ring of foam around the top. Lacing is extremely good. Huge roasted malt aroma up front with very sweet licorice, molasses and dark fruit undertones. Bakers chocolate and espresso are also present in the nose along with a hint of alcohol burn in the nostrils. The taste is massive on this beer with a huge bakers chocolate sweetness up front on top of molasses and dark fruits. This gives way to a heavy roasted malt backbone which gives way to the bitter roasted espresso that lingers into the dry finish. Mouthfeel is absolutely luxuriant - silky smooth and just coats your mouth with all the complexity of the taste. The finish is slightly dry and bitter, but in a balanced way on top of the chewiness of the tastes. This is a wonderful beer and can be treated as a dessert due to its decadent taste and mouthfeel.

Thanks for this one wj94!! This is what I look for in a stout. It’s pretty sweet with a complex blend of molasses, raisins and maybe some vanilla? Palate is super clean, and near perfect. Loved this brew, even more than expedition stout.

veryy dark with a thick creamy head and nice lacing burnt roasted malt flavor pine hops slightly alchoholic coffe pruune molasses flavors warming very nice

Special thanks to Northernbrews for hooking up the Bell’s 4000-8000 tasting. All great brews. This was my favorite of the tasting. I wish I could have gotten to try the barrel aged version. Black, chocolaty, malty with a thick mouthfeel. Full of burnt toast and other dark malt character. Great stout.

Jet black with a huge, frothy chocolate brown head. Roasty, chocolate malt aroma, sweet dates, alcohol and a fair amount of smoke at the end that slightly drowns some of the subtle fruity nuances out. Crisp hoppiness to the flavor initially, citric zest battles with toasty, roasty malt. By the finish, the malt has won with its molasses and brown sugar one-two punch, but just barely, as the piney, resinous hops linger in the background. I am greatly looking forward to aging a bottle or two and seeing these flavors meld a bit more.

Dark black with a big creamy brown head. Aroma of milk chocolate and cocoa. Flavor of bitter chocolate and strong hops. Very warming with a long bitter finish.

Out of the 12 oz bottle. Dark beer with a thin, brown head that shrunk to a lasting ring. Very complex brew. Raisen, other dried fruits and hot hops in the nose. This beer tastes young, and I bet will improve for the next year or two. Very hot on the tongue. Lots of dark fruit, hair spray, caramel, orange rind, chocolate, and an almost grassy finish. Very nice beer, that will only get better.