Bells Hopslam

Brewed by Bells Brewery
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Kalamazoo, Michigan USA

Serve in Snifter, Tulip

12 oz. bottle (batch 10115), 2011, Steve’s Madison Ar: Aroma is obviously hop dominated with big tropical fruit, peach, and citrus. Very nice. Ap: Pours a clear light copper with a frothy 1 1/2" white head. Good retention, good lace. T: A bit of caramel malt, but this is unsurprisingly dominated by an assault of hops. Hugely bitter piney finish with a bit of an alcohol burn and a somewhat metallic note. P: Thick body with soft-medium carbonation. I find this to be a bit too thick for a IIPA. O: Perhaps I’m just a bit sick of this style, but I’m not completely crazy about this. It’s darn good, but definitely not my favorite IIPA.

Been waiting for quite some time for this one to hit the shelves. It’s a good day in ATL. Beautiful, super clear golden pour with a tight white head, left some good lace. Aroma was wonderfully hop crazy, pine, citrus, tropical fruit, peach, just about everything you would expect. Quite appealing. Flavors were right on point here. Hopped to the max without being overly bitter. Smooth as can be and as tasty as I have ever seen. Booze in nowhere to be found making this SO drinkable it’s unfair. Mouthfeel was oily and big, carbonation soft. The drinkability of this is just nuts... Fantastic stuff.

Bottle. Pours with a finger of white foam that doesn’t hold, but leaves some thinner spidery lacing; lightly hazy yellow orange with almost a hint of amber. Grapefruit, dank, almost cat piss-like hops, pine burst as well with some light vanilla notes, but nowhere near sweet. Juicy comes to mind for the hop presence in this one, and grapefruit, pine, and some popping hop bursts hit the palate at every point. Lingering hop burn, that’s not too intense. Warming, and not really that dry, but nowhere lingering around with some sweetness or anything close. Touch sticky on the palate, and a thinner body for the style but it works because I hate when overly malted DIPAs end up almost barleywine-like. Yep, I’m a hophead, and that might skew my rating. But this is damn good shit fresh, and it teeters on going over the edge, but stops just right. Great stuff.

Pours golden with a very light head. Aroma is all hops. Taste is just about the same as the aroma, but with hints of orange peel and citrus. One of my favorite DIPAs. Goes down smooth with little hint of alcohol.

On tap at Proof, great frothy head, wow, this is dangerously delicious beer, great hoppiness, a touch of honey, amazing.

There are some serious hops in the aroma. While fascinating in itself, it leads you to brace yourself against the onslaught of bitterness that you are sure is to come. Very light head in the snifter, which takes a bit to settle. The brew is an alluring gold, similar to an apricot juice. The belt of bitterness that you saw coming is averted by the sweetness of the honey and fruit juices within. That being said, it is extremely hoppy, but pleasantly so. It is light on the palate, though a bit heavy on the carbonization. This brew is a fantastic concoction of a multitude of sensations. IPA lovers dare not miss this one.

This Imperial IPAs is one of my favorites. Lots of grapefruit and peach flavors and aromas from this one. I highly recommend this to anybody who enjoys IPAs.

12 oz bottle, Batch 10101 obtained in a trade with CarlyRaes. Drank from a snifter where the bottle poured a heavy golden color with a nice head. (1/3” or so) The aroma is full of pine and some pineapple/citrus. The initial taste is of hops but not nearly as hoppy as I thought with the reputation of this beer. The honey taste comes out and just as I thought that the hops were underwhelming…..there it comes! The finish is extremely hoppy/bitter which is arguably the best finish of a beer that I have ever tried. I’d probably still rank this just behind both Plinys but I’m extremely excited over this beer and will be trading internal organs for this beer next January and many more to come.