Bells Expedition Stout

Bottle: Pours a dark chocolate with a thin golden tan head. Minimal lacing. Smells like a malts and hops, but sweet hints of baked bread. Tastes of dark chocolate, malts, and hops. A great brew!

This is an excellent stout in terms of body and presentation, but ultimately lacks some complexity. It starts out sweet and chocolatey, but then desists in an unexpected way. It seems to be on the road to something like a Lost Abbey "Serpent Stout", but it falls short, with the flavor getting caught up in its sweetness, and not going anywhere much further from there.

12oz bottle. Pours dark black (with a very slight highlight of dark ruby at the extremities of the glass when held up to the light). The foam pours thick and dark tan in color. It leaves thin tendrils of lace on the glass and is short-lived (though it takes awhile before it fades completely). The aroma is strong and inviting: espresso, dark chocolate, soft woody mustiness, and a lot of fruit - cherry, hints of wine. The flavor starts strongly fruity and chocolatey with notes of prune, currants, cherry, and sweetened espresso. So far: wow! The beer gets roasty at mid-palate with a strong fruity hop bitterness, dark malts, and strong coffee. The finish is really big with bitter chocolate melted into sweetened espresso. There are a lot of fruity esters, too, all leading to a long and somewhat dry finish. The aftertaste is roasty and very dry with subtle qualities of aromatic spices. The mouthfeel is full and almost syrupy but held in check by vibrant but not harsh carbonation. Overall: I understand the hype about this one: abso-freakin-lutely amazing!

Bottle. Pours black with a small dark brown head, very nice lacing. Aroma is of roasted malt, fruit, and smoke. Full bodied, great carbonation. Flavor is complex, at first a big malt hit then the sweet chocolate, smoke, plum, cherry and coffee notes come thru all balanced with a mild bitterness. Somewhat bitter sticky finish. Superior quality! (Re-rate 03/18/2009) Had to re-rate this one. I had it on draft last night and it deserves the higher rating. It’s awesome!

Pours dense black wth very thin ruby highlights when held to light and a 2 finger creamy brown head that has great retention and leaves decent lacing. Aroma is roast, chocolate, autumn maple leaves, a hint of leather, burnt sugar, toffeed nuts, dark roast coffee, fig, fruit cake, char, raisin, some musty wood/earth notes and an odd hint of grass. Flavor is huge roast ups front with some espresso, dark chocolate, leather, tobacco, grilled fruit, char, chocolate covered toffee, lots of toasted wood character, hazelnut syrup, herbal hops, licorice and walnut. Finish is lots of earthy, herbal and bitter hops riding out the huge wave of roast, coffe beans, licorice, toffee and charred fruit. Palate is thick and sticky with a little slickness on the tongue and a slightly acidic feel on the teeth. Overall this is a great beer, incredibly drinkable for its huge flavor profile.

Nice aroma of coffee, dark chocolate, dark fruit, licorice, and tobacco. It pours very black with a towering pillowy dark brown head that lasts forever. This really smells great, sweet and rich. Big complex flavor of prunes, plums, raisins, smoky tobacco with a coffee like acidic bitterness in the end. Very strong and very good. Big flavors all around.

Bottle from batch number 8944 at Mellow Mushroom. Black pour with a medium light brown head. Malty coffee nose with touches of alcohol, chocolate and dark fruit. Boozy malt flavor up front, giving way to chocolate and dark fruit with a dry and creamy coffee finish. Sublime.