Bells Hopslam

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

Aroma of large amount of hops and potent grapefruit and citrus. Similar flavor with the addition of a slight caramel flavor. Very well balanced complex character and very good, but I don’t have any other Double IPA’s to compare it to.

Bottle at Akkurat, Stockholm
Golden color; big solid head, leaving a nice lace behind. The aroma is original, like fresh cream, then the hops of course, extremely fruity, grapefruit overall. It has a strong toffee flavor, with just some required sweetness; the most interesting side here is an original cookie flavor; as in the aroma, the hop shows a very good grapefruit presence. Strong final, well balanced, still with some residual sweetness to complement the fruity hops; there is also a light cheese character.
This beer has many interesting sides, more original than the average Double IPA. Excellent.

2009 Bottle @ Cracked Kettle. Amber/Orange with white head. Hoppy hoppy hoppy sweet fruity grapefruit citrus nice balance.

Original review date 3/1/2008...12 oz. bottle poured into Hess truck glass at parents’ house... Single-finger head with average lacing. Perfect honey-orange body. Flowery hop bitterness with sweet honey aroma and perfumy alcohol burn on back of nostrils. Taste brings a little grapefruit but primarily a nice blend of flowers, alcohol, honey and apple. This is nice stuff. Slightly syrupy but clean on the mouth - tough to gauge if served a little cold. This is easily drinkable for 1-2 - gets a little heavy on the back end. Overall, extremely well-made.

Batch 8907 so the bottle is a few months old. Pours a deep orange with a nice head that has thick oily bubbles resting atop. They hang around a while. Nose is predominantly of honey, grapefruit oils, and toasted caramel malt. Pretty complex for a hop bomb. The hops are still nice in the taste despite running jokes about this beer fading the instant it is bottled. I think the balance between the malt and hops are nice, but the odd toasted palette linger I get perplex me every time I drink this. I really like this beer, but how it lingers on the palette is a flaw to me. Overall a very good DIPA. No alcohol in this one is detectable at all.

bottle thanks to thirdeye11. batch 8907 light yellow with a thick cream head. nose is florally grapefruit and fresh hops. very nice on the palate with a sweet grapefruity flavor that doesn’t even show a hint of alcohol.

600th rating. Bottle. Pours a hazy copper orange with a small frothy white head that leaves behind good sticky lacing along the glass. The aroma is floral hops with light fruit and grass. Medium mouthfeel with a piney hop taste and not as bitter as i was expecting. Hides the alcohol very well making it very easy to drink. So smooth, one of the best IIPA i have ever tried.

Twelve oz bottle form Chuck’s in Bowling green - kept in their back refrigerator since January. Thick & rich malts meld real nicely with the sweet and flowery intense hops. Aroma is mild, but the beer leaves your tongue tickled. Even makes your sinuses clear. Had this on tap in Chicago back in February, and it was quite different: much more bitter then, and also more carbonated. After a quick 10% ABV bottle, you definitely feel like the person on the label, bowled over by hops. A wonderful Imperial IPA that just keeps getting better with age.