Bells Batch 9000 Ale

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

Serve in Snifter

Bottle, 02/02/2012. Pours dark brown, thin tan head is not long for this world, slight haze left over. Sweet nose with dark fruit, brown sugar and molasses, smooth chocolate and licorice, medium roast doesn’t overpower, some alcohol. Taste not as complex, with big licorice molasses notes, roast bitterness, spicy, and boozy heat in the finish. Still, full and round in the mouth, nice sipper. This is still holding up great and drinking well.

36cl, no mention of ABV, new exclusive American brew Anno 2010, thx to Jan from De Bierkoning Amsterdam!, very complex brew, spicy/sweet and slightly roasted/fruity, not too heavy, very balanced, hazy, good head, top class!, "Nothing better to celebrate my 3000th Beer Rating with a beer from one of the best breweries in the World! Starting my life as a wine taster I didn’t think I would get so far with craft beer... I still pursue all bottled Belgian beers I havn’t rated yet, except low alcohol. I’m also interested in some good American craft beer. Many thanks to those fellow Beergeeks who helped me out in this never ending venture..."

Bottle. Had this once right after release and then again14 months later. Pours black with a thin, tan head. Weak aroma of roasted malt, dark fruits and alcohol. Strange, unbalanced flavor of caramel, salt, old chocolate, salt, licorice, salt and sweet caramel. Very strong alcohol flavor. Interesting beer I guess but I’m not a fan.

Nice beer. The nose was really nice with a bit of smoke, licorice, and coffee. Very complex nose. The taste just didn’t quite live up. It was overly sweet and the licorice was a bit strong. The molasses and the licorice really took center stage and the malts and "beer" faded into the background. It was still really nice, but just terribly out of balance. This after over 2 years in the cellar. I wonder if it was aged too long and mellowed out too much, leaving the sweetness to dominate.

Thanks to dcschiller and daknole for this one Pours dark brown with a small tanned head leaing some lace. Aroma is to sweet, fruity, dried fruits, malty, alcohol and slightly yeasty. Fantastic flavor; sweet, fruity, malty, bitter apricots and raisins. Finishes with a great longlived sweet fruity bitter aftertaste

Brown, red edges, loose tan foam. Aroma is dark berries, some roast and cocoa. Taste is hugely sweet, soy sauce, more dark berries.

I’m not much for anise. All in all a rich malty ale with thick white head. I sat on some for a year and the flavors mellowed and came around nicely. Still, i’m not an anise fan.

I had this on tap in late 2009...hard to rate something without notes from that long ago, but I just remember that this was just a huge blast of everything on earth, way huge. There was an unfortunate soy sauce quality to it though...a lot of dark sweetness, hot alcohol, and soy sauce. It was fresh when I had it, and probably would be much better after about three years in the cellar so anyone who has a bottle sitting around might see better results sometime later this year with it.