Bells Dagger Stout

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

Serve in Snifter

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Draft at the source. Very dark brown color, small beige head. Aroma of dark cocoa and espresso. Taste is burnt espresso and 70% cacao. Rich and complex.

On tap at the eccentric... Pours a deeper cola blackish brown hue with reddish brown edges and topped with a thin to medium, somewhat flimsy medium khaki head...Aroma of medium roast and chocolate. Predominantly sweet with molasses and subdued dark fruit... Flavors are more of the same. Semi-sweet with bittersweet chocolate. Boozy with alcohol strength. Just above medium bodied with a semi-fluffy mouthfeel. Bitterness prolongs into the finish. Prob prefer expedition over this which reminds me to revisit that soon.

Sample at the brewpub. Pours matte black with a thin light beige head that disappears quickly. Spotty lacing on the glass. Aroma of roasted coffee, anise and malt. Full-bodied with flavors of bitter espresso, black licorice, roasted malt and piney hops. The finish is black licorice coffee with a lingering bitterness left behind. Good Stout all around.

tap at the eccentric cafe. black with minimal head. aroma of spicy hops and some charred malt. bitter and piney hops. flavor of bitter, dry, and grassy hops. seems like a fresh batch of 7000...big roasted malt in the end

Sample at Bells. Black and thick with little head and aromas of chocolate, soy, burnt malt and a little herbal hops. Flavor is heavy of soy and chocolate with dark fruit and a heavy motor oil mouthfeel.

On tap at bells 12/10/11. Pours a dark brown... Smells like lots of things. Burnt malt... Copper, licorice and smoke. Taste is comparable with pale coffee and chocolate but a little weakish. Compares to 7000 but 7000 it is not. At least not to me anyway.

This poured a straight black color with a tan head. Aroma was lots of herbal and grassy hops, melded on top of chocolate, smoke and roast. Flavor was very bitter between the hops and the roast. Lots of dark chocolate and smoke too. Another great stout from Bells

Draft at the Eccentric Cafe. Deep, opaque charcoal body, thin tan to ochre head. Nose of molasses, charred, roasted malts, and berries; sweet. Heavy, plummy body, rich and silky, with roasted malts, molasses, and burnt sugars, sticky plums, hints of licorice and bitter piny, leafy hops. Brash and aggressive but very satisfying.

Finally get to rate this. On tap at Bells a couple days after "All Stouts Day." All the stouts were still there, though, and this one, along with the Black Note was just knock-out awesome. It’s a recreation of Bells Batch 7000, but with a lower ABV (10.4%) than previously. A dry-hopped impy stout, and a damn fine one. A smoky aroma and like velvet on the tongue. Plenty sweet, strong, and ballsy. They have my permission to bottle it, but if not, head up to K-zoo and get some.

Tap @ Bells. 10.4% abv. Black appearance with a brown head. Very roasty, dark chocolate, light piney hoppy, light molasses aroma. Fairly thick mouth feel. Piney hoppy, rich chocolate malty, slight black licorice (which I seem to get in a lot of their stouts), coffee flavor. Not bad.