Bells Expedition Stout

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

From a bottle poured balck with a fair amount of head. Nice dark malty flavor with a lasting finish.

Pours black as night, almost no head. Lacing slight but clingy. Smells strong, malty, alcohol not the least bit concealed. Sharp yet smooth, rough and full of alcohol. I realize it’s 10.5% abv, but others I’ve had in this abv range didn’t have quite the pungency. Complex taste, but that doesn’t mean it’s a good one. Not crazy about this beer. Perhaps cellaring would improve this one; I drank a 8864 date-coded bottle on 4/5/09 so it’s young still. Just not my cup of tea I guess.

Bottle. Poured a very dark brown with a very small brown head. Little carbonation. Aroma seemed light. A hint of malt and chocolate. Flavor was fantastic! Smooth. Nice bitter chocolate flavor with an easy to take roasted malt finish. As it warmed I did notice a slight alcohol burn. Great stout though. I look forward to cracking another one open after some aging.

This is a great stout and I have had this beer several times on many different serving types. I’ve had this on draft,in a bottle, and on cask pulled with a hand engine. I must say that this is one incredible stout that hides the alc content to a dangerous level of drink ability. This is also one that ages to an incredible smoothness. Smooth and creamy chocolate with a nice malt sweetness..worth the effort!

Poured from 12 oz bottle courtesy of SamGamgee. Batch #8729. Dark brown with very minimal dark tan head. Nose of bittersweet chocolate at first with a hint of vanilla. A bit hot, probably the 10% alcohol. Tastes were varied; chocolate, raisins, figs and a hint of coffee. Dry aftertaste and finish. Oh how I wish this was available on the left coast.

Wow! what a beer! on draft at fiddlers hearth. thick- great flavor. a classic. will rerate soon.

Bottle from Batch 8864 at Akkurat. Black with a rather dark brown, small head. Spicy, hops, rosted malts and some sweetness. Huge body and nice complexity!

A: The perfect pouring stout. Nice large 3 finger espresso colored head that settles down nicely to a small pillow atop the brew. There is also very nice lacing down the glass. This one could make People’ Magazines 100 most beautiful list. S: Lacking. There is not much really coming from the glass. I like big bold smells when it comes to beer and this one just don’t have it. There is some sweetness that I can detect along with some char of the malt. I wanted nice strong tones of coffee and chocolate, none were found here. T: The taste is good, but not great. The taste of charred malt is in there, which gives you a sense of coffee. The chocolate taste is of bitter chocolate. To be honest I expected more. M: This one is thick like a milkshake. The coating is wonderful on your mouth. Had the taste been great this would have helped to put the beer over the top. D: If this is your cup of tea you could drink several despite the ABV. It goes down rather smooth and hides the alcohol nicely.