Bells Expedition Stout

Bottle. Very dark brown body, small to no head, lightly carbonated, light coffee nose. Citric hops, moderate bitterness, not particularly sweet, coffee/chocolate roastiness, slight sourness, not really much different than the much-lower-rated Victory Storm King.

2007 Version Poured from a 12oz bottle, Pitch Black with ¼ inch dark tan/light brown head. Smell of carmel/toffee malts, coffee with hops in the background. Totally black with no light able to show thru. Heavy, heavy lacing. Strong coffee taste of espresso along with a lot of hop bitterness. Mouthfeel is creamy. Not my favorite of this style. The hop bitterness does not balance well with the rich malts and coffee. It’s a clash, like an unhappy marriage. Why can’t they get along? This beer is not very complex.

Pour was black and thick with thick brown head aromas of heavy malts and hops,from the first taste you know you were drinking something special a world class imperial stout, taste were of heavy malts a shit load of hops coffee undertones,molasses and honey

From bottle. Part of January Dayton Beer Tasting event. Pours black full brown foamy head. Aromas of coffee, hops and chocolate. Sweet complex flavors include smoke, vanilla, coffee and licorice. Outstanding effort.

12 oz. bottle. Poured a nice black, semi-opaque color with a very nice fluffy tan head. The lacing was predominant as well, and clung quite well. The typical roasted and toasted aromas were there, but were sort of muted for this style. The mouth feel was sort of heavy, almost chewy, but still worked well. The flavors were full of roasted malt, raisins, dark chocolate, and hints of vanilla and smoke. The hops blended in nicely, as it stood up to the backbone of the malt. The alcohol was nicely covered up, and helped the beer reach it’s complexity. Very well made.

(11.20.08) 12 oz bottle. Black pour with a large, fluffy brown head. Some lacing. Dark coffee & chocolate in the nose, along with some citrusy hops. Sweet, round flavor, starting out malty and moving on to the hops. Finish is hours long, though a tiny bit burnt. Overall, outstanding.

Pours a beautiful deep mahogany-prune, almost black, with a nice developing deep brown head that leaves sudsy lace down the glass. Lots of wood, vanilla, maple and esters in the bouquet. These transfer perfectly into the flavors, with a bit of diacetyl butter following the initial roasted malt. This is followed by some smoke and some licorice in the finish, which also has a nice earthy bitter. Nice oily, but chewy-syrup mouthfeel, and a wonderfully complex impy stout from Bell’s.

For my first sample, I did a vertical testing of my two bottles - one from three years ago (purchased August 2005 - Batch 6811) and the other from some time after that... Deep pitch black coloured body with a brownish tint to the side when tilted and no head at all - not perfect. Aroma of oak, vanilla, bourbon, pit fruits and the obvious quintessential coffee, roasted malt and licorice. Full-bodied; Strong roasty flavours with coffee and licorice very noticeable - the newer batch definitely shows a lot of alcohol, vanilla and potent roasted malt. Without a doubt, the flavours are much more subtle on the older batch - with a definite pleasing warmness from the old batch. Aftertaste is pleasant, albeit different. The new batch (young) shows a lot of licorice, oak and bourbon, while the old (aged) batch has a more nutty and refined finish. Overall, a nice beer - still not absolutely perfect, but showing good character new and old. Without a doubt, I definitely preferred the batch with 3+ years on it. The new batch was good, but showed perhaps a bit too much alcohol. Overall - really nice to sample this good beer in this style, I’ve been saving it for some time :-) I sampled these two twelve ounce bottles purchased from Merchant’s in Dearborn, Michigan on two separate occasions, drunk in partial celebration of the completion of my first marathon on 26-October-2008.