Bells Hopslam

Wow. Perfect pour. Sweet, balanced nose with a touch of fruit and honey. It’s very crisp but full tasting and very drinkable.

Batch 8911 from CK. Clear amber, firm creamy white head. Huge exotic fruity nose, honey melon, passion fruit and some resin, sweetish and nectar like. Beautiful, very balanced flavor with exotic fruits, faint pine and lingering grapefruit & fresh cut grass bitterness, hint of toffee and pepper in the finish. Maltiness shows on the chewy palate; quite low carbonation, runs down real easy. Not a hint of the 10% ABV. Amazing, balanced and fresh fruitbomb, a real summer DIPA.

Pours a toasty copper with a one-finger head that has a slight tinge of tan. I have been waiting for this for awhile. PIcked it up at Bruisin’ Ales. Nose is pronounced strongly with pine sap, grapefruit pith, and some floral spring flower / marijuana notes. Swirl it around and froth up the head a little to give it an extra bump in aroma. It brings out some of the caramel / vanilla sweetness from the malts and jacks up the herbal notes some. I am having some trouble pulling out the honey though. Very fresh. Flavor is not terribly bitter. Sugared Ruby Red Grapefruit, lemon, pine and herbs. A little bitterness up front that is quickly checked by a toasty, caramel malt sweetness. This stuff flows damn fine from beginning to end. Starts out a little bitter then into a sweet and wonderful, full bodied elixir that finishes with a fleeting bitterness. Damn fine stuff !!! Very tasty and very fresh.

12 oz. bottle purchased from Archer Liquor in Chicago. Appearance is orange with light lacing. Subtle aromas. Flavor is more pronounced. For me, palate was the strongest feature of the beer - wonderful, heavy feel, wish I could give it more than a 5. Pleased to have finally experienced this beer.

finally we meet. a clear orange beer under a medium sized creamy white head. aroma has floral notes with citrus notes and tropical pineapple notes. an excellent mix of floral and citrus in aroma and flavor. somehow its light bodied and really smooth for the abv. perfect palate-wise.

So much flavor and aroma from this beer. For such a heavy beer it doesn’t drink as you would think. It’s like heaven in a bottle.

Bottle in CT. Pours clear orange-amber with a good sized green-yellow head. Flowery aroma with some lemon zest citrusy notes. Flavor starts of mellow hops, juicy sugary grapefruits, and resiny notes. Body is surprisingly light for the amount of flavor packed into this beer. Mid-palate forwards hops and a nice smooth honey profile. Finish is phenomenal: it is smooth and creamy – reminiscent of vanilla – and very grapefruity. Just a delicious drink, and definitely one of the best beers I’ve had.

As usual, Bells produces one of the best beers in the style. I’m sick to death of Imperial this, Double that, blah blah blah, but this one seemed somewhat complex and even a little different in a crowd of overdone, unbalanced, and generally pointless experiments into the world of "more is better", which is rarely the case. At any rate, this one poured a big golden haze with a huge Kool Whip-like head on top. Aroma is fairly predictable but good nonetheless. Big notes of pine, almost overwhelming cascade goodness, and hint of caramel. Flavor is more of the same, big fat cascades dominate and dry the tongue, with an underlying honey sweetness. This creates some semblance of balance, and there is some malty breadiness present towards the end. 4 years ago, I would have rated this a perfect 5, but I’m sick to death of these ridiculous beers. Whatever happened to balance and subtlety? If you like them big, this won’t disappoint.