Bells Expedition Stout

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

Cellaring a few of them, but couldn’t help but give one a taste. Big in every way, with a finish that lingers and lingers, and every aspect seems to change and evolve with each sip. Remarkable beer. Challenges the Dark Lord. I’d like to try them back to back.

The beer pours a dark black with a thick tan head. There is a nice streak or film of head residue left along the sides of the glass. The nose is a extreamly intense chocolate and roasted expresso with mocha. The flavor is so robust and has a malted milk ball smoothness on the palate. It also leaves a nice bitter hop finish that sticks on your tounge. The finsih is so creamy and full of rich coffee and dark chocolate.

This beer offers as very enticing, dark chocolate, coffee aroma. It pours very, very thick - almost like syrup. The head is almost non-existent and there really is no noticable carbonation. This negatively impacted my experience, but only moderately. The taste is diverse and explosive. A strong coffee/caramel foundation with significant hints of raisin, plum pummeled the palate as a nice shot of hops helped finish off this robust beer at the finish. My stomach’s capacity for additional consumption was limited after just one of these. I can’t imagine sticking with this one throughout a festive evening. Overall, a very good stout...

Batch number 8145. This beer pours pitch black with a very small of white head that fades quickly. The aroma is not as powerful as I expected it to be. There was some hops lots of malt an little bit of chocolate and coffee. The flavor is very complex. I can taste chocolate, coffee some dark fruits and some bittering hops. The taste lingers in the mouth and there is hardly any alcohol. The Beer is much better at almost room temperature as opposed to right out of the fridge.

bottle thanks to mar. I mean really, thank you mar. This beer was incredible. Pours brownish black with caramel head. Aroma of chocolate, dark fruits (specifically dates or prunes), roasty, smells like something that needs to be consumed, immediately. Flavor is complex, coffee, burnt malts, smooth and creamy. Has to be my favorite stout.

12 oz bottle. This is a beautiful beer of a deep deep brown with a lasting double layered caramel head with a fine cream crown. Deep fruity notes in the nose including plum, fig, cherries, peach, coffee, and alcohol. As it warms, i get more smoked wood and nut flavours in the nose. In the mouth, this is a thick, oily, beer. The body is full--very, very full. The long finish is bitter and draws out the burnt malts and fruits. Sticky on the lips. Smoked flavours take you to the point of being overwhelmed but do not push you over. Complex and tumultuous. Certainly a meal replacer.

12 oz. bottle. Pours a dark brown/black color with a very light brown head. Aroma explodes with the scent of dark chocolate and espresso with a hint of cherry on the end. Heavily bodied, almost liking drinking a meal. Finishes bitter like an espresso. An extraordinarily intense and delicious beer.

Bottle. Pours very near black with a tan head. Roasted aroma with loads of coffee, wood and a bit of cherry like fruit. Flavor starts sweet with caramel, cherry, and dark chocolate, then moves to coffee and wood, and finished on the roasted coffee that is present throughout with some additional hoppy bitterness. Incredible.