Bells Batch 8000 Ale

Formerly brewed at Bells Brewery
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Kalamazoo, Michigan USA

Serve in Trappist glass, Tulip, Tumbler

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UPDATED: AUG 1, 2009 Bottle at Rustico in Alexandria, VA. Pours hazy gold with a white head. Medium bodied with a very soft texture and tickly carbonation. Great mouthfeel. Aroma of orange peel and coriander. Flavor of belgian pale wheat malts and yeast that has a evenly blended balance of spices- coriander, and orange zest. paradise. More paradise seed comes forward on the refreshing and semi-dry finish, with the alcohol VERY WELL HIDDEN. I could drink a few of these in a sitting. Looks like a wit, tastes like a wit, so why not call it wit with an asterisk of "high alcohol"? Despite what others think, I am fairly confident that this will NOT improve with age, regardless of the ABV. Drink them now and enjoy.
Bottle opened on 1-6-07. Larry was right, this beer is much better fresh. Some of the balancing sweetness is gone and the finish is more phenolic. Ignore the ABV, these are not cellar worthy. CELLAR CHECK 8-01-09: I forgot about one of these and accidentally cellared it. .I figured I would open it for shits and giggles. Let me tell you, it’s a shadow of it’s former self. While not horrible, it’s way too sweet and malty, with a sour dairy finish and some staleness. If I counted my rating today, it would be a 3.4. But fresh rating stands.

35,5 cl bottle. Rated on 05.01.2011
Aroma is sweet with malt and some raisins – feels like an aged American Barley Wine. Flavour is also sweet with malt, raisins, some sugar and ripe fruits. Good and well aged, although a bit too sweet for me still.

Old notes, no date. Pours an amber orange with thick white head, minimal lacing. Aroma of wheat, yeast, citrus, and bubble gum. Aroma matches well, but just doesn’t have the complexity I was hoping for.

355 ml bottle @ Timo A.
Rated on 20110105.
Pours amber color with medium head. Aroma of caramel malts, ripe fruits and some sugar. Flavor of candy sugar, yeast, caramel malts and ripe fruits.

The beer is hazy orange in color with a small white head. Strong aromas of orange peel and coriander come through. It’s decently bready, but also fairly stale. Really not much left to the aroma. The same can be said of the flavor. Stale sugar and bread with a hint of toast. The orange peel and coriander are really the only saving graces to this beer. Sort of lifeless in terms of the mouthfeel as well.

Bottle @ home, courtesy of Ughsmash. Thanks! Cloudy, brownish-orange appearance with no head and little carbonation. Sweet caramel malty, dull fruity, lightly spicy aroma. Somewhat spicy, caramel, Belgian yeasty, light citrusy, lightly tart, dull spicy flavor with some oxidation. This baby’s peaked but I’m still glad I got to try it...

UPDATED: SEP 3, 2011 A fun and very enjoyable but not great, beer. Pours golden yellow with an off-white head. There’s bread, toffee, spices, belgian yeast and malt on the nose. Taste is sweet, but also with a lot of sourness. It actually starts off with sweet caramel, then turns into a balanced bitterness before again turning sweet in the fairly long finish. Body was medium with quite a bit of carbonation.

12 oz. bottle via trade with dbsdelight a while back- thanks, Dan! Pours a cloudy orange-amber color with a small white head. Aroma of paper, wheat, citrus, peppery spices, and sweet malts. Flavor of butterscotch, sweet malts, spices, and citrus peel. Medium-bodied, with moderate carbonation and a spicy, sweet mouthfeel. Some oxidation has set in and I imagine this would be better in its original form, but it’s still all right.

Bottle shared by phaleslu. Thanks Peter! Pours Amber with a thin white head. Aroma is malty with hints of belgium yeast. Flavor is spices, malts and hints of wheat. Overall a decent beer.

Hefiger, etwas süßer Geruch. Vollmunidger Antrunk, alkoholisch, nur leicht hefig. Das Bier ist in Teilen mild, wirkt aber dennoch ausreichend aromatisch, was auch durch den Hopfen erreicht wird. Dieser blüht im Mittelteil auf und ist im Nachgeschmack zusammen mit leichter Herbe führend. Einuntertöniger Gewürzton tut sein Übriges. Minimal brennend. Danke an den Doppelbock für die Besorgung des Bieres. -/11/10/11/-/11

Bottle. darker orange color. The orange come through in both smell and taste. After that there’s not much left in this beer. Old wheat flavor, spices, and slight bitterness from the old hops. Gotta say this has turned into a novelty beer.