Bells Expedition Stout

Poured black with a tan head. Aroma of roasted coffee with hints of chocolate and fruit. Flavor was much of the same. Very good.

A Great stout! I think it loses some of its luster because it is a widely available stout. Put a year on this and you have an incrediable beer. Thick creamy and roasty. Mkaking my mouth water thinking about it.

Bottle thanks to miketd. The look is dark , black in color, with a tan colored head. The smell is coffee, chocolate, roasty, dark fruits. Pretty good. The taste is dark, roasted malts, coffee, chocolate, and dark fruits.

12 oz. bottle from Grape & Gourmet (Batch 8728 bottled September 16, 2008). Pours dark black with a brown head. Aroma of roasted malt, dark fruit, and smoke. Excellent smoky flavor; also hints of nuts, dark cocoa, and coffee. An excellent Imperial Stout.

So maybe this rating is bit high, but this beer is truly extraordinary. Unlike other stouts that lack a good aroma or thick, almost syrupy body that these RIS were originally made like, the Expedition Stout masters these two areas. The taste is of chocholates and strokes of dark fruits, like taking a chocolate covered plum and throwing it ito some beer. Though at times the alocohol was present. One of, if not the most full bodied beer I’ve had to date. Just an exquisite example of this style. Maybe a 4.4 isn’t so radical afterall.

I find it ironic that as I sit here typing this review for my 2008 Bells Expedition Stout, I am also sitting her savoring a glass of 2008 Bells Expedition Stout. With each heavenly embrace and decadent quaff, I shall try not to lose myself while translating my tasting notes into this review.

An unfortunate stigma of the commercialized “fresh beer” hype is that the stalwart sturdy legacy of quality beer has been lost, nay, oppressed by certain brewing factions. Good craft beer, both American and Import is brewed with longevity and more often than not, cellaring in mind. Fresh is good, but older is better. Like a fine wine, fine beers only improve with a few months to a few years under their corks, or bottle caps. The end results are as much a joyful tribute to their deep, rich, and complex palate as it is to the excitement of cellaring beers and seeing how they change with time and proper care. What will my Expedition taste like 6 months from now? One year? Three years? 5 years, or more? It makes my heart tremble and my eyes twinkle. Holding my bottle up to the light, through her dark brown glassy confines I admire the centimeter thick layer of luscious imperial stout dregs which have settled firmly onto the bottom. They may not know it yet, but they are in for a rude awakening when I swirl my bottle near the end to get as much of her thick, creamy, and maybe even chunky bounty. Now that, my friend, is a beautiful sight. As thick and black as an oceanic abyss, my Expedition crawls from her bottle into my glass most begrudgingly, pillowing into a huge, dark tan head resembling chocolate cream. Globules of her soft bounty which I coaxed from the bottle stare at me from the bottom of my glass, teasing me with her decadence. Ah fate, she can be a cruel brew. As her head recedes ever so slowly leaving a blanket of lace all along the sides of my glass and on top of my brew, velvety smooth milk chocolate, cream, vanilla, espresso crema, and wood woos my senses. Her sirens call is bewitching and I am as helpless as those poor sailors of yore who, though their submission was tragic, was also heavenly bliss. Full bodied, thick and mouth-coating like nobody’s business. I could almost be drinking melted milk chocolate with just a smidgen of cream. Fresh espresso crema kisses in the background, hinting of caramel, vanilla, and coffee. Her body is deep and robust, cushioned by wood and light smoke. Visions of fresh cream, milk chocolate, dark chocolate, licorice, and espresso dance across my tastebuds and into my heart. Expedition does not dry like some stouts; instead she is sweet, creamy, mouth-coating goodness with only a whisper of dryness working her way into the finish about halfway through. If this is my Expedition with only a few months under her cap, I can’t wait to see what my 3 bottles will be like with a few years under their caps. Way too quickly, our moment or nirvana is over, my body exuding her tender warmth.

When I wax prose or espouse about a beer, I never really know how much I have to say until I say it. Apparently, my 2008 Expedition Stout from Bells Brewing had quite a bit to say. I would like to think that I am not just speaking for myself when tasting and reviewing a beer, but I am also speaking for the beer itself. Giving her a voice beyond the liquid contents of her bottle. In my opinion, the Expedition Stout is not expensive or over-hyped. In fact, she doesn’t receive nearly enough praise and attention as the divine sensory indulgence she is, proving once again that I would rather cellar a bottle of beer over a bottle of wine any day.

Batch 8864, served in a snifter. Pours black with a medium-sized light-brown head that is slowly but mostly diminishing. Lacing is thin but sticky, formed of many tiny, similarly shaped bubbles. Interesting nose: smoke, tree bark, baker’s chocolate, tobacco, charred brownies, leather and dried plums. Moderately bitter, mild-to-moderately sweet flavor turns more sweet as you hold it in your mouth. The key word here is "roast" - there’s a lot of it. Finish is dry, initially lightly bitter with leather and smoke notes, turning more and more bitter as the time progresses. Only in the immediate aftertaste is the alcohol noticeable. A very nicely (low) carbonated stout. My 1200th rating.

Rating 400. Bottle from daknole. Thanks man. Batch number 8311, packaged February 7, 2008, so it’s got a little bit of age on it. Pours a deep dark black with a thin dark tan head that falls away rather quickly. Beautiful. Plums and prunes, chocolate, roast, thick black malt, molasses, and a hint of leather. Thick, but still light. Amazingly nice body. Starts a tad sweet, but nothing cloying or syrupy. Ample chocolate, roast, and a touch of bitter coffee. Finishes up with a slow smooth smoky roast bitterness. The abv is hidden pretty well on here, but this is still a very slow sipping beer. I have an even older one of these from BFC, and am very much looking forward to that one now.