Bells Eccentric Ale

Brewed by Bells Brewery
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
Kalamazoo, Michigan USA

Serve in Lager glass, Shaker, Tumbler

send corrections   |   shelftag   |   edit barcodes   |   update pic

2011 version, with persimmons. Thick mouthfeel of black thick looking rich liquid with some white head. Chocolate and spice aroma. Taste is deep chocolate, spicy all the way through, and an edgy bitter American Strong finish. Good drinkability despite high unnoticed abv. Thanks for hooking me up, Chris.

UPDATED: SEP 13, 2008 2004 version, sampled at the Larry Bell dinner at Brickskellar. Weird beer. One of the weirdest I’ve ever had. Looks like a porter, dark brown with some burgundy red light seeping through the bottom of the glass. Peppery ginger and mint nose, almost like a bad ginger cola or something. I was not drawn to the smell at all, and the more I drank the less I liked it. The spicy mint/ginger almost resembles horseradish and wasabi at times. Has the body of an imperial stout, quite thick, low carbonation, but that doesn’t make up for the mess of flavors that this beer has (I know that’s the point, but it just doesn’t taste good). Has some smoked meat notes as well, with some cloying molasses on the back end. 3.2

Blind rating. 2004 bottle, batch 6714. Thick, viscous body, dark brown cola colored body. Intense nose of cardamom bread and maple syrup scented bourbon. Seedy tree bark and green cardamom, thick maple throughout, viscous, full, spicy and sage-like, some tingly pepperiness, weird, overdone chewiness. Ginger, too. Not sure what’s going on in this one. I don’t really like it, seems like juniper/gin. Oxidized and stale, some cardboard, some old ale-like wateriness and staleness. Boozy nose is too much to handle.
6/4/6/3/14 = 3.3

UPDATED: FEB 18, 2007 Cloying honey sweetness courted by sedate Thai basil and plentiful dried fruit...Butterscotch contributes to the oily body and is strangely overcome by green hop bitterness...A respectable alcohol burn paints the end of the tongue, as entertainment oscillates from thoughtless delirium to cultivated imagination...

A 3-year-old 2004 vintage presented tons of honeyed sweetness leaking onto alcohol heat and green hop bitterness...This is soooo sweet, it doesn’t seem to have changed that much with the years...I didn’t know what to make of it when I first had it, but now I’m sure this is really not my thing...

2009 Edition. A: The pour is a dark chestnut sort of color with a finger’s worth of khaki colored head. S: A very surprising amount of oxidation to this beer. Lots of stale brown sugar notes and stale hop character. Some mild cardboard to go with it. There’s still some decent sweetness from some toffee and molasses and a fair amount of roast. T: There’s a surprising level of bitterness to this beer, with a bit of an earthy hop character. Mostly molasses, in terms of the sugars, with a fair amount of licorice. There’s quite a bit of alcohol to it, especially as it warms up. M: The body is medium with a moderate carbonation and alcohol heat on the finish. D: My first beer of the Eccentric series, but this wasn’t really for me.

Thanks to BBB63 for this one. First of all, I cannot believe this was 11% alcohol? The pour was turbid deep brown, with a minimal off-white head. The aroma created a multitude of olfactory perceptions....malt, hops, spices, fruit, including melon and prune, cabernet, cognac, and even scotch (definitely some peaty aroma). The taste was malty, hoppy, nice mouthfeel, with a spicy, fruity, hard-spirit element at the finish. Very nice complexity. I noticed many flavors and aromas in this one.

2005 batch on tap at the Great Taste of the Midwest. Poured a murky iced tea brown with virtually no head. Sticky and spicy all-around.. with caramel, molasses, and brilliant spices in the nose. Spiced up and crazy in the flavor department, but I dug it... coriander, clove, and allspice on the front and middle, with molasses and light chocolate coming after... and warm alcoholley mulling spices at the finish. The high levels of sweetness and spiciness did make it a bit harder to drink the full pour of, but I suppose it carried itself as well as could be expected considering the components. Warm, boozy finish. Very solid overall.

UPDATED: DEC 26, 2010 2008 vintage opened at the RBSG Grand Tasting. Pours a dark brown color with a medium head. Fair head retention and lacing. Aroma of dark malts, caramel, toffee, apples and burnt sugar. The taste is toffee, brown sugar, caramel, faint fruity notes and faint herbal notes. Medium-full bodied. 8/3/8/4/15

12 ounce bottle. Pours a hazy brown-orange color with nearly no head. A few hints of a tan head around the edges. Toffeeish aroma with notes of spicy cinnamon notes, chocolate and a bt of dust. The taste is fairly sweet with notes of caramel, toffee, spices, vanilla and raisin. Smooth and creamy texture with soft carbonation. Medium-full bodied. Nice beer. 8/3/8/4/17

Bottle @ Cole’s Christmas Tasting 2007. 2006 Vintage. Courtesy of Bill Metzger. Very very dark brown, mostly headless body. Vegetal aroma like dry vegetable soup mix, some pine needles and spruce. (7+) Sweet flavour at first but with an omnipresent bitterness that smacks you to attention, More bizarre vegetal fruit melange, sugars, tangy fruit, tiny brief honey and licorice, blink and you’ll miss it hint of marmite, very slight hint at possible oxidation? Coats the tongue and lingers a long time. Smooth full palate is heavenly at times, very lightly carbonated. It is both fabulous and awful, it has some great cameos but ultimately it is just right friggin weird! Makes you want to try it again, but mostly so you can figure it all out rather than the flavour itself. Many thanks to Bill for sharing!

Sample at the Bell’s tasting at Brews Cafe on 3/6/08 (2007 version): The beer is a murky dark brown color with a thin and foamy light beige head that diminishes quickly. Thin rings of lacing. Interesting aroma of resiny hops and sweet spices, plus some caramel and malt. Medium-bodied and smooth with flavors of caramel, anise, earthy malt and chocolate. The finish is moderately spiced with a mild alcohol and malt aftertaste. Pretty good overall.

Very dirty brown, totally opaque and wearing a light off-white ring. Aroma is weird and powerful. Biscuity basil, very earthy thailand spices mixture, grassy cherries, cinnamon, rhubarb.... Rather complex and quite well blended in the funky spicy beer category. Sucre d’orge and caramelic malts are also of the fest. Spicy palate, but never agressive, coffee, molasses and caramelic sweet malt profile are easily countered by the hard to believe grassy spices (ginger, basil, cinnamon). It remains very sweet overall, with candyish vinous peaks, but expertly hidden alcohol. Low carbonation, medium to full bodied. As experimental as expected and worth a try or 2, but not a particularly spectacular beer. Thanks to raindog once again.