Bells Batch 8000 Ale

Pours a hazy, deep gold color with thin white head. Aroma is of coriander, light pepper, alcohol, and orange peel. Taste is citrus and coriander upfront with the peppery notes coming thru the finish along with some alcohol and light toasted malt. This beer reminded me of La Fin Du Monde quite a bit. Good? Definitely. However these beer seems unoriginal.

This was a huge surprise. I was expecting a beer more like the previous batches. Rich. Malty. Almost a barley wine. This one is more like Bell’s Sparkling Ale. A Belgian style! After waiting for this one, I want to say, nice. You shocked me. Then I think: is this al that different from a beer you already make? Still, it is good; Bell’s does not let you down.

Bottle - Pours cloudy orange, white head. Much wheat malt notability. Aroma of wheat, citrus, grass, hops, spice. I liked the balance of malt and hops. Flavors of wheat malt, yeast, orange peel, spice, hops, grass, and hint of fruit. IMO it was different from the other BSAs I’ve had. Not any better or worse, but different. I liked it overall and would drink it again.

Pours cloudy orange with lots of floaties and a small fizzy head that peters out quickly. Resolves to no head, no lacing. Strong aroma of candy sugar, organe peel, banana, yeast, spices and flowery perfume. Full flavor is bitter and somewhat astringent...improves as my mouth adapts with successive sips, but is still rather unrefined and messy and not very pleasant. Finshes dry and bitter. A letdown after the promising aroma. Medium bodied, smooth, with good fine carbonation and nice warming. This one is kind of interesting, but not necessarily in a good way. Drinkable.

big thanks to dukefan for picking these up and holding onto to ’em for a while. pours hazy orange with small white head. nose is wheaty, orangy, and spicy. flavor is nicely balanced with sweet wheaty taste and hints of orange and light coriander. really tasty and very well done. not sure if there’s really any flaws in it. along the lines of the wheat series for sure. mouth feel is light. no alcohol noticed at all. part a me wishes the 1k batch would always be cellarable. solid but disappointing for this to be a batch 1k as it should just be a regular or seasonal offering.

It’s interesting that every rating here is not above 4, I would have thunk. Hypnotizing swirling pour. Gunk on the bottom of the bottle. Cloudy unfiltered american wheat beer pour. Cloudy orange brown opaque appearance. Smell is strong and sweet, like it’s going to kick an ass. Creamy thin froth for a head. taste reminds me of Redhook late season. Strong and alky like. Rather smooth but that don’t keep it from being in your face! Spicey and quite intimidating at times. Not really impressed by the unrefined coarseness of this beer. 800 should be more memorable. The high alky content is certainly very apparent and two of these will make you dizzy. During the session, the high alky personality shows thru. Finish is like an american trippel, rather unrefined. If you like alky offensive american beers like their trippels, barleywines and imp stouts. give this coarse beer a try. Way overdone and difficult to drink, you gotta sip this one.

Courtesy dsnowden. Hazy yellow/orange and a small white head. Fragrant aroma is a zesy and fruity combination of wheat and yeast with some malty sweetness and a bit of cotton candy. Flavor is the same only more mild. Alcohol completely masked. Body is medium, carbonation is balanced, real easy to drink. Very good, but expected more from a Bells special release.

A very interesting concoction from Bell’s. Spicy and wheaty like a Belgian white, but with a warm honey taste. The alcohol is very well covered. Many meadish characteristics. Thick and cloudy, a great special ale.