Bells Expedition Stout

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

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.

Batch 7740, thanks to northernbrews. Strong aroma, dark chocolate, cherries, and the dust before the rain. Pour is darkest brown, completely opaque except at the very edge, with a finger of coffee-brown head even in a fairly broad snifter. Intense roast malt flavor on the front, with all the dark fruit that implies, cherries, raisins, but also very bitter, unsweetened licorice, unripe melons. Transition to the finish, the sweeter chocolate elements emerge, and in a brew this thick, the long finish is like drinking chocolate milk, even a bit buttery. It’s all full of flavor, but the combination of bitter and dairy elements disagreed with me. Palate is defined by its thickness, mouthcoating, just toeing the line before it becomes palate clogging.

I would say this beer sets the standard for what an imperial stout should be...then make it interesting. Oak aged Yeti was a little more interesting but if they were both aged..I don’t know which one I would like more. Currently in my top two Imperial Stouts. I loved it.

Yeah. It looks like a stout, smells great. Big coffee smell and taste with some chocolate and dark fruits thrown in for good measure. Believe the hype.