Bells Lager Beer

Brewed by Bells Brewery
Style: Premium Lager
Kalamazoo, Michigan USA

Serve in Lager glass

On tap at Finch’s as "Lager of the Lakes". Pours a clear, honey golden body with a frothy white head. Sweet pils malt in the nose and spicy Saaz hops. Slightly grassy. Herbal, spicy hop flavor with some bread and light grain. Light-medium body with prickly carbonation. Sweet up front with a moderately bitter finish and definitely on the drier side. Overall a tasty, mild, well-crafted summer session beer!

Most American craft brewers tend toward slightly citric Americanized renditions of continental lager styles but this is, at least as far as hop character, spot on its European cousins. Pours glowing yellow with a head of evenly-sized medium bubbles that leaves behind lace in nice thick sheets. Nose is grassy hops and bready malts. Dry and bracingly bitter. Vigorous carb keeps it lively w/o making the mouthfeel watery. I would say, despite the Czech hops this is closer stylistically to a Northern German pils than a Bohemian one. Good beer and somewhat unexpected.

Bottle. Pours a light golden with a small white head. Aroma and flavor is bready malt, a little citrus, very yeasty (perhaps too much), spicy hops. Good, not great. Good with food.

Bottle. Pours mostly clear, pale gold with a small, fizzy white head that quickly dissipates. Aroma is lightly sweet Pils malt, grainy with low DMS notes. Slightly spicy hops. Flavor is medium sweet malt with a good balance of spicy hops. Light bodied, medium carbonation.

nose is floral, grainy malts. lightly sweetened but nearing balance. hint of saltiness. appearance is hazy golden with wispy film and moderate legs. flavor is floral grassy, grainy yet clean malt enters the picture then refreshes the palate and disappears.

Nothing special here... except the odd slightly doughy aroma. Could be almost any big label lager.

Bottle. Aroma of sugary, pale malts, maybe corn or at least some similar sort of vegetable. Flavor sweet and bland, maybe a hint of bready malt. I really can’t find anything to like about this, and I love pilseners. This tastes a lot more like a macro to me than other craft pils I can recall. I guess it’s a good thing it says Bells on the label. I’ll take a Stella though myself.

It is what it is. A pretty decent lager, but not too exciting. Keg was new, so very lively. Malts, pepper, bitter start to finish. Clean, crisp and simple.