Bells Best Brown Ale

Brewed by Bells Brewery
Style: Brown Ale
Kalamazoo, Michigan USA

Serve in Dimpled mug, Shaker

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One word: phenolic. Do you like the taste of Band-Aids in your beer? I don’t. C’mon Bell’s you can do much better than this. Re-rate: I’ve upped the numbers a bit because I think this bottle was just off, because I’ve had this before and it wasn’t as bad as this one. I’ll get another bottle later and adjust the numbers accordingly then.

Dark brown color with a sweet taste. It was good, but not all that impressive.

Not much head from the tap, but some yeast floaties, which seemed a bit odd. Light aroma of sweet malt, but nothing too spectacular. Sweet, watery, slightly caramel front with a dry end. Not at all as rich as I expected, but a nice Fall thirst quencher.

Re-rate 9/24/02:What a fresh six-pack. Man. Good stuff. The date on the case was 9/3/02. Nutty, slightly spicy, with that slight smell of that famous Bell’s yeast. This is by far the best batch of the Brown Ale I’ve had from Bell’. Recommended.
Original Rating: What a nice beer. Malty and hoppy without either taking over. Very slightly sweet but overly so. Nice cloudy, brown appearance in the glass. Yet another winner from Bell’s.

Very nutty and happy tasting brown ale. A little dry. Good though. Nice appearance.

sourness in nose but a dry nutty flavor. The beer is medium bodied and has a pleasant palette.

Large, creamy head, slightly off-white, atop a fairly opaque waltnut-colored body. Hazelnut/caramel aroma. Flavor somewhat of a disappointment; nuttiness and malt there, as well as a little bit of wine, but it seems a little poorly balanced to me; just a tad over-sweet at the front and then edging to sour at the end. Average finish. Certainly worth trying, above average brown ale; just a downer compared to the best from this brewery.

UPDATED: JAN 16, 2004 Pours a beautiful garnet/brown color with a nice full and fluffy head. Fruit, nuts, and flowers in aroma. Serious nuts and hoppy bitterness in the mouth. Sort of slippery mouthfeel. Very nice and quite tasty.

UPDATED: MAY 4, 2005 Dark amber color, big beige head. Caramel aroma. Flavor of caramel and nuts. Long nutty finish.

This beer poured a reddish brown color and formed a nice light tan head that left some nice lace. Heavy amount of carbonation. A slight aroma of hops and caramel. A flavor of hops and caramel. Light finish. A good beer.