Bells Hopslam

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

Serve in Snifter, Tulip

12oz bottle from Artusory. This orange-colored ale poured with a decent white head, eliciting a floral hoppy aroma. One can taste all 70 IBUs, yet the bitterness is not overwhelming due to just the right mix of maltiness.

Bottle. Thanx to Marsiblursi. Hazy orange colour. Concentrated juicy aroma, with tropical fruits like lychee. It’s loaded with it! Flavour is a little more beery, with sweet malt, but a grapey backbone from loads of hops. Flavour and mouthfeel are both very, very juicy but as stated above, 70 IBU is not that much at 9,5% abv. Tasty beer.

UPDATED: APR 11, 2009 Appearance: Pours a translucent, orangey body with a full, foamy white head. Smell: Wow, they ain’t kidding. Redolent scent stinking of fresh grapefruit, pineapple, and passion fruit. Taste: Malts are obscured, perhaps rightly so, by the extreme hoppiness. Tons of intense, juicy fruit hop flavors with a moderate kick of bitterness. The 10% abv is very well hidden. Bittersweet finish with a lingering tropical fruitiness. Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied. Medium carbonation. Distinct oily juiciness to the mouthfeel. Drinkability: Extremely hoppy, but it still displays a relatively good balance.

Bottle (35 cl) from the Cracked Kettle. Clear deep golden, brief white head. Perfumy and piney hop aroma with tropical fruits, some honey, and a light touch of alcohol. Medium bodied and smooth. Dry with a light touch of sweetness, bitter finish. Very good, and without that alcoholic touch it could be my no 1 DIPA.

Thanks to moejuck for this - hazy straw color, with fizzy, quickly fading head - juicy fresh hop aroma, with loads of orange, mango - quite assertive bitterness, but it doesn’t overpower the beer like in many other examples of the style - pineapple, apricot, oranges and other citrus/tropical fruits - just mildly sweet, just enough to balance the high bitterness - I suspect that this will get much lower marks as more people try it, if only for the fact that it isn’t as "in your face" as many will expect, but it is nicely balanced and well done - I like.

Bottle. Thanks to Jamvin23 and Daknole, both of whom bonused me a bottle, one batch 8913, one batch 8908. Pours clear golden orange with an off white head. Citric hoppy and floral aroma. Exceptionally easy to drink, with a perfect balance of sweetness and bitterness. Citrus and pine dominate. Very good.

In the bottle (#9502) from Total Wine Tampa. Pours dark gold to light amber with a thick and creamy white head of a concrete consistency. Simply a beautiful pour in the glass. Low carbonation. Oranges and butterscotch aroma. Now I see what all the hubbub is all about. It’s like peppering down a taste of honey. Very thick with a very smoothly blended use of hops. Remarkably, not all out of whack. I taste lemon grass. A bolus of lavender. The finish is hugely sweet. The honey flavors just get stronger as the beer warms. I’d call this beer a braggot if I did not know any better.

2006 bottles drunk on numerous occasions in November ’06
Typical bells appearance, with light sediment on the bottom, and tiny bottle conditioned bubbles producing a lightly creamy, white head that is medium in height and retained very well, leaving clumps of lacing as it recedes. High clarity leaving the sediment behind with just a slight touch of haziness. Soft peach and honey colored body has a bit of tangerine and very light strawberry tones.
Vibrantly fruity is the nose, with luscious lychee, strawberries, sweet cherries and guavas. It tapers off teasingly in a modestly bitter, grapefruity finish that calls upon light base malt sweetness and an even more reserved caramel-like hint. The aroma smells creamy, if that’s possible. Of abundant strength and just fantastically fresh and fuzzy are the hops. Tremendous care with dry-hopping is apparent. The malt sweetness and fruitiness do not come off overbearing, though they are definitely a factor in the nose. Clean as always from Bells, but still distinctly Bells. No alcohol noted. Other things that arent noted: overdone bittering, leafy/vegetal notes, obnoxious pine resin, astringent/hard crystal malts, sourish munich malts.
Malt and hop immediately vie for power at first sip. Sweet, honey-caramel malt notes are balanced by fruity, fuzzy, fresh, green, juicy hops. Bitterness through the middle is quite reserved for a double IPA. Some dry citric notes (white grapefruit, oranges, mild lemons) consider acidifying things, but a resurgence of malt sugars right before the finish wipe them out and you’re left with more succulent hop flavors of watermelon, guava, cherry and strawberry.
To be honest, my first impression was that this wasnt bitter enough, probably the first time I’ve ever said that about an DIPA. But the extra malt sugars that come through combine nicely with the hop notes to produce all of the softer, sweeter fruit notes mentioned, so it’s not so much of a bad thing in that aspect. Just maybe a touch too sweet to drink too many of them, though DIPAs are hardly a session beer. Still, I’d be intrigued to see what a little more attenuation would produce. Soft texture with a medium-low amount of carbonation that is reasonably tight. Some hop acids and light phenolic dryness do eventually build-up and linger on the palate, with just an ever-so-slight touch of alcohol warming toward the end of the bottle, giving almost a bittersweet edge to the beer.