Bells Hopslam

12oz bottle batch 8907. Thanks a ton to 17thfloor for this! Pours golden orange with a thick creamy white head. Aroma is very fresh pungent herbal hops and hop oils. Lots of pineapple and citrus zest with a nice creamy caramel malt backbone. Flavor starts with a soft sweet pineapple mellowness and lays soft on the tongue. But as soon as you start to swallow you get hit by a huge rush of hop oil bitterness that stays all the way down the throat. The alcohol is well hidden but you can detect that it is a heavier beer. Medium to full body and lively carbonation. This is very nice, much like Two Hearted and a great example of good balance with high hop and alcohol.

12oz bottle, batch 8907. Mostly clear deep gold-orange color with a small white head that leaves some spotty lace. Citrus, melon rind, alcohol, sweet honey, and spicy herbal hop aroma. Quite sweet, with a touch of honey and bread. Some fruity, citrucy hop flavor and a finish that almost gets dry and bitter until the sweetness comes back in and sticks to the back of the tongue. Medium bodied and rather light feel overall, which helps to partially mitigate the sweetness. This could use either a ton more hops, or a much dryer finish. I’ll stick to two hearted. (7,4,6,4,13=3.4) Rerate: Same batch, a couple more bottles have been mused over. Impressions: The aroma is a nice citric-fruity hop and sweet honey malt combo, though it’s a bit light for a double IPA. The flavor, while still falling more on the sweet side, is dryer than I had previously thought. It’s not the residual sugar so much as the lack of stronger bittering hops that set the balance this way. I think that the fruity hop flavor and more modest bitterness combine to give a sweet, fruity overall impression. It is growing on me. A balanced and very drinkable IIPA. The body is about as light as I can imagine a 10%abv beer being. If it weren’t for the alcohol presence, this could be almost a regular IPA. While I more intense and complex overall hop character could transform this beer into something amazing, it is still enjoyable and deserves a couple more points. (7,4,7,4,14=3.6) Rerate: on tap at Brickskeller. More bitterness and assertive hop flavors, still very drinkable. Freshness seems to be the world in this beer. Hopslam has beer my learning experience with balanced IIPAs, and I like it more every time I have it. (7,4,8,4,15=3.8) More Random Indecisiveness: had it again, and, eh,.

Can Larry Bell live up to the hype again? 12oz. bottle purchased from Top Shelf Liquor in Allen Park. As soon as I pop the cap, the excellent aroma lets me know I’m in for something special. Appearance: Pours a nice golden orange hue. This is slightly hazy due to the yeast that I poured into my Bell’s snifter. Nice off-white head with nice lacing. Very inviting... Smell: What an excellent aroma. Starts with a slight hop burn follow by grapefruit, pine, and citrus. You can almost taste the hops...My fricking mouth is watering. Taste: Tastes just like the aroma. Nice hops up front with grapefruit, pine and citrus notes. Malts come to the party later on to add a beautiful balance to this masterpiece. Mouthfeel: Nice smooth mouthfeel. The hops hang around for a bit and coat the tongue and roof of my mouth. Drinkability: I could definitely put back a sixer of these, but I’d rather savor this bad ass Double IPA with one or two. Hoppy, malty, and exceptionally balanced. The first time I tried this, I had it next to Rouge I2PA and DFH 90 min. IPA. This was exceptional compared to the other two. The Rouge wasn’t too bad, but the 90 tasted like a malty barleywine. I used to think the 90 was a hop-bomb....not anymore. I would love to try this next to Dreadnaught...from memory, they are similar except for the fact the a 22oz of Dreadnaught was $9 and a sixer of Hopslam came out to be about $12. Once again, Larry and the Bell’s crew put out an excellent beer. If it’s not the best double IPA, then it’s definitely in the top five. This should be the new benchmark for the style. Hopefully Bell’s decide to make this a more regular offering. Pick this up if you see it...you will not be disappointed.

Pour is an orange with a average white head. Aroma is lots of grapefruit and pine so much so that i don’t even have to bring the glass to my nose. Flavor is again over the top with the hops. Finish is bitter but smooth all at the same time. The 10% is no where to be found. This is an outstanding hop bomb of a beer. A little pricy at $16 a six but this is one to have at least once.

Aroma: This DIPA is freakishly fragrant. Pineapple and grapefruit (mostly pineapple for me) immediately hit you in the face before you can get your nose to the glass. Pineapple Express baby! Five of us passed this one around and each person gave an immediate “WOW” upon smelling. Appearance: The beer is a warm early evening sunshine orange and is mostly clear. I was surprised that it wasn’t a little more opaque due to the amount of hops. Flavor: WOW! This is an insanely tasty beverage. It tastes just like it smells. Considering its name and bottle label, it is surprisingly easier on the palate than you would think. The Flying Saucer has it here on draught, and I had no problem kicking back three of them. Palate: Again, this one goes down very well and has great mouth feel. It stood up to the spicy nachos I was eating, so I imagine it will stand up to just about anything. Overall Impression: This is my new favorite beer.

Huge pineapple/hop aroma. Deceptively low alchohol presence. Excellent lingering finish. Extremely well balanced.

Light and beautiful./ Pineapple, hops and citrus./ End review haiku ./ Okay. This beer inspired me to write poetry. It’s wonderful. Slightly boozy, perfect amounts of carbonation, and perhaps the best blend of hops I’ve had in a long while.

bottle, batch 8913, honey colored pour with decent off white fading head, aromas of grapefruit and girl scout cookies, flavors of bitter resiny, sour grapefuit with a sweetly pineapple finish, well done