Bells Batch 8000 Ale

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

Bottled at Oliver Twist, Stockholm. Clear golden, average head. Heavy coriander and banana aroma. Sweet, dense and full bodied. Notes of candy sugar and lemon grass, but most of all a concentrated flavour of orange marmelade. Powerful, but a bit sticky. Never quite figured why to make a fat ass witbier, but I quite like the beer.

12oz bottle. Pour is an opaque melon orange color with only the faintest swirls of white film on top. Aroma is pretty heavy on the spices with the coriander taking front stage. I’m not sure what the paradise seed smells like but the other thing I smell isn’t the orange peel so that must be it. The flavor is also overwhelmed by the spices. I guess I like belgian wits because of their subtle creamy flavor. This beer is intended to be a double wit and it appears as though the spices are what was doubles. I love Bells but this one just isn’t my taste. 5/2/6/3/11

RERATE: 12oz bottle almost one year old. The aroma is still citric, and orange, but also honey and spices. The flavor brings out even more spices and grain character. Still disappointing and unpolished. The beer is raw and needs some tweaking and finishing. Although it doesn’t see old at all, this will continue to age. 6/3/7/3/16

RERATE: 12oz bottle about a year and a half old. Aroma is mildly spicy and creamy. More mild than I remember. The body is very creamy seems to have mellowed sufficiently to be pleasant. 7/3/7/4/15

Pours a moslty clear with a slight haze golden blond with lively carbonation and a moslty lasting white head. Aroma is traditional belgian wit spices- coriander and orange peel, phenolicy yeasty notes and some lemony sweetness. flavor is lots of sweet bready malts backed with lots of spice and floral hops- more corianter and orange citrus with some lemongrass hints in the end. Tacky and lightly soapy finish. Meh- I wasnt expecting much, but decent for a double wit.

This one is a heavily hazed orange amber with very little head. The aroma is rich like biscuit toast, bubble gum and orange. The grains of paradise come through as a mild spicing the flavor. Honestly, this does well to cover it’s strength. It’s a little too meaty for a regular Belgian wit, but it doesn’t taste like 9%, either.

Bottle courtesy of Naka. Mild funky sweet notes, honey and orange blossom, mild spicy notes. Profile of a tripel in the nose, sweet and musky, but not as wild as some of the ones from Belgium. Cloudy orange-amber, with thin off-white head and minimal lacing. Medium body with medium carbonation, light fizz and some alcohol warming. Starts sweet, with honey and orange peel, orange frangrance, light spicy character, and candi sugar. Sweetness lasts throughout, with some decent bittering and spicy character coming in to finish. The hops are still not enough to diminish the sweetness of this beer, and you’re left with a sticky sweet but chalky bitter after that remains. Ends up just a bit watery-thin. Nice beer, though.

Bottle... Hazy golden ale with a small, frothy, white head. Cereal grains, light smoke, overripe banana, vanilla and clove are all components of the aroma. The flavor is sweet and yeasty up front; perfectly bittered, lightly grainy and mildly spicy on the backside with a pinch of salt. Full-bodied with a slick, oily mouthfeel and lively carbonation. Lengthy, lightly bitter, abrasive finish. Thanks go out to dsnowden for his generosity!

GABF 2007. An unclear yellow beer with a thin orangey head. The aroma is sweet and acidic with light notes of brettanomyces and farmhouse. The flavor is sweet, but also with a slight acidic edge and a light alcohol burn. The mouthfeel is smoothe and milk like.

This is one of the best beers ive had in a while. Pours a golden yellow with a cream head and nice lacing. The aroma of orange and corriander pertrude from the bottle and explode once poured. The taste is as stated orange and corriander hit the toung and the finish is of the seed. Excellent!