Bells Dagger Stout

Brewed by Bells Brewery
Style: Imperial Stout
Kalamazoo, Michigan USA

Serve in Snifter

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Tap sample. Poured black color with a moderate creamy light brown head that mostly lasted with good lacing. Medium to heavy toasted sweet chocolate malt with a small alcohol aroma. Medium to full body with a creamy texture and flat carbonation. Medium to heavy toasted dark chocolate malt flavor with a medium to heavy dark sweet finish of moderate to long duration. This is a solid beer.

Draft at brewery. Nice stout. A little smoother an less astringent than expedition. Good stuff.

Deep black with a bubbly dark beige head. Creamy dark aroma with something like bitter cacao and lactose sugar...weird. Flavor was rich and over sweet with a lot of chocolaty bitterness and some sort of herbal tone. Very odd.

On tap at Bells 1/26/13. I made the mistake of having this right after the black note. A great impy stout to be sure, with a wonderful hop presence that played well with the roasted malts, but it took a back seat to the impressive black note that preceded it.

4 ounce pour at the Bell’s Eccentric Cafe. Each component mentioned above is abundantly and equally present in the taste package: the juicy hops, roasted notes, and smooth and creamy malts. The appearance is a midnight black, no surprise there, and the aroma wafts in like milled, toasted grains. Crisp delivery and a medium bodied mouthfeel. It hid the abv nicely, and it was none too filling. Delicious overall and much much much more approachable than most imperial stouts out there, including Bell’s own Expedition Stout. Hopefully it will make its way into some bottles that cross the Illinois border some day.

These boys sure know how to pump out the quality stouts. This has a potent spice mixture. Like Mexican chocolate chiles or something. Aroma has robust roast malt, cacao and vanilla. Taste is spicy ad bitter. Burns on the tongue for a while after drinking. Tap at Bells.

Bottle. Pours opaque black with a medium, frothy tan head, medium retention with good lacing. Aroma is dark chocolate, coffee and roast malt with earthy hops, prunes, raisins and figs. Flavor is malt dominant with dark fruity esters, light hops and bitterness with a dry finish. Full body and medium carbonation.

At bells cafe. 12 oz pour in giant snifter. Black pour. One finger of tan head. Not much aroma. First sip was lots of coffe and a lot of bitter hops. Finish was smooth easy malt. No lingering bitterness. Easy drinking delicious stout. Similar to expedition. Not as dark on the malt but more hops and a touch more coffee.

Poured into 12 oz snifter at Eccentric Cafe. Malty aroma in nose but extremely impressed with the balance of the maltyness. A complaint I have about some imp stouts is that oily, greasy malt, which can also leave an after taste . Not with this beer. Its hoppy, but finishes ultra smooth with no bitterness. Quite frankly, I wish Expedition was a little bit more like this. Great Beer.

Sampled from the tap at the brewpub. Pours black with a brown head that dissipates completely. Aroma has a good amount of roasted malts, raisins and dark chocolate with a hint of coconut underlying. Flavor starts with rich dark chocolate and roasted malts with a hint of sweetness coming out in the finish.