Bells Best Brown Ale

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

This brown ale poured with a thin beige head and a toffee aroma. The flavor is raisins and nuts with a bit of chocolate. There is a slightly bitter dry finish.

Batch 8759. Pours a clear, dark, reddish-brown hue with a small, lasting, foamy blanket of cream colored foam. Jagged splotches of foamy lace coat the glass well. The nose shows brown sugar, caramel, and figgy dark fruit in the malt base, along with hints of hazelnut and vanilla maple. Flavors show more of the same, nice and malty with big caramel and brown sugar notes, with a little bit of cocoa roast and bready yeast. Hazelnut and perhaps some almond come through, along with mild, earthen hop notes. Medium bodied and smooth, the palate is perhaps just a bit on the syrupy side. Overall, a very fine brown ale.

Brewed in the USA........ Pours a brown / amber color with some nice carbonation and a foamy white head. Aroma of malts, caramel, and nuts. Taste is of roasted malts, caramel and some mild hops. The mouthfeel is malty with some lingering dryness. Overall, not bad, but not the best brown ale.

Bottle., batch # 8749.A brownish amber color with a thick off-white head that slowly dissipates and leaves behind some excellent lacing. Aroma of roasted nuts and caramel malt with a touch of citrus and grassy hops. Taste is smooth, medium bodied, light carbonated with flavors of light caramel malt, some citrus zest and a touch of pecans.maybe a hint of grass. Finish is smooth, creamy with a more malty aftertaste than any bitterness.Very quaffable,and quite enjoyable.

12 ounce bottle. Subtle aroma, pours brown in color, about what you would expect from an iced tea. A thick head that settles and leaves just a slight foam at the top. Tastes ’roasted’, and leaves a somewhat dry feeling aftertaste.

12 ounce bottle. Poured a deep mahogany color with a beautiful 1.5 finger width white head. The head disappeared quickly though. The aroma was very bland with subtle malty hints and nuts. The taste was along the same lines with a bit more nut coming out than the smell would suggest. It had a very light mouthfeel and was pretty refreshing. Overall a good brew by Bells but far from their best.

Just finished my keg, and it was great. Malty ale with just enough bite. Got better with age, 2 1/2 months, and I wished it never ended.

Bottle of batch number 8856 shared by Dogbrick. Pours a cloudy light brown with a medium tan head. Malty caramel aroma with a bit of hop. Flavor is pretty much the same. Decent, but not quite as robust as I like my brown ales.