Bells Hopslam

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

Serve in Snifter, Tulip

Location: 12 oz bottles from Norm’s, 1/16/10 and 1/17/10

Aroma: Wow, that is a wonderful nose. This one has lots of fruit: orange, peach, apricot, and others, along with with some honey, earth, and flowers. Wonderful start to this beer.
Appearance: This beer pours a clear orange color with a big fluffy white head that lasts for a while and leaves a lot of lace on the glass.
Flavor: The taste is lots of fruity hops with some honey and some caramel malt character, too.
Palate: The mouthfeel is sticky and resiny with a medium body, and a nice duration.
Overall Impression: I’ve been meaning to try this beer for years, but I kept missing its release. Well not this year, and man am I glad I finally got to try it. I drank one of these yesterday, but I held off a day on rating it to make sure I wasn’t imaging how good it is. Well, I wasn’t imagining anything, I am absolutely loving this beer. You might say the price is too high, but I thought it was well worth the $20 I paid for the 6 pack. Awesome stuff, this beer is clearly world class. Should I have gotten a second 6 pack? Yes, I should have. Is this beer better then the Pliny, Ruination, or Yulesmith? Hard to say, but I’d be glad to drink any of them anytime (and many times) to try and figure it out. I need to end this rating here, because otherwise I could probably rant about this beer for hours, it is just wonderful.

Thanks to Rusty Diamond for this puppy! Poured a bright orange-amber with a small sudsy whitish head. Lots of grainy, resinous and sweet notes. Like many big hoppy beers, but strangely balanced by the honey and bland of malts and hops. Still quite bitter, but a nice imperial IPA. Much love!

Brown bottle, 355 ml, batch 7806, via Philippe Boutin, savoured on November 13 2007; eye: burnt orange, lightly hazy, slight effervescence, creamy almond head, good lacing; nose: fresh hops, light pine, spices, light caramel, light soap; mouth: slight presence of the bubble gum that tasted like soap, lots of hops, grapefruit, good presence of caramelized malt, alcohol, some spices (including pepper and a bit of salt), finale in hops with a good presence of caramel, mild astringency, alcohol becomes more present as the beer warms up, lightly sweet, mildly bitter, slightly salty, medium to full body, slightly harsh texture, average carbonation; overall: fine FRANÇAIS Bouteille brune, 355 ml, lot 7806, via Philippe Boutin, savourée le 13 novembre 2007; œil : orangé brûlé, légèrement voilée, très légère effervescence, mousse crémeuse amande, bonne dentelle; nez : houblon frais, léger pin, épices, léger caramel, léger savon; bouche : ptite présence de gomme au savon, beaucoup de houblon, pamplemousse, bonne présence de malt caramélisé, alcool, quelques épices (dont le poivre et un peu de sel), finale en houblon avec une bonne présence de caramel, astringence moyenne, alcool devient plus présent lorsque le bière se réchauffe, légèrement sucrée, moyennement amère, très légèrement salée, corps moyen-corsé, texture légèrement rugueuse, carbonatation moyenne; en résumé : bien

Bottle: Clear orange in color with a medium white head. Aroma, pine, some pine needles, some resinous notes, and then some more pine with a splash of citrus. Basically my dream come true for the aroma. Flavor, some light maltiness, and then the resinous piney notes, with some fruits to it as well. Nice bitterness on the finish, but the flavor isn’t as bright as the aroma would lead you to believe. Still it’s damn good.

UPDATED: SEP 7, 2008 Everybody’s talking about grapefruit, but I get mango, mango, mango on this one, which is what really makes it stand out for me. Grapefruit and pine and all that, too. Definitely more sweet than bitter to me. Way too easy to drink for the 10% it’s packing. Great beer.

Very good, but it’s no 90 Minute. The aroma is amazing. Very citrusy as well as herbal. Definitly worth a try.

Pours a hazy yellow, orange color with a fluffy white head. Aroma is floral citrus hops with some malt background. Flavor is real bitter, spicy, grapefruit hops.

UPDATED: MAR 4, 2009 Bottle courtesy of jsquire. Thanks for the awesome bonus!!
Pours a gorgeous cloudy glowing thick orange with an offwhite head that stuck around for a bit. Bottle is a year old at least, so not sure how much hops have faded, but the smell is more caramelly and of orange with lighter hop backing in the nose, but still nice. Sweet hopped flavor, and the bitterness is somewhat restrained. The flavor is fruity, orange, caramel and a touch of alcohol, and the body is rich and thick, but with prickly carbonation, making for an outstanding mouthfeel. Extremely drinkable DIPA, and one I look forward to trying fresh. Great beer!

Rerate of fresh bottle. Much more vibrant hop character, obviously, along with big fruity bittersweet apricot and floral flavors. Still very drinkable, and brimming with flavor, but alcohol is a bit noticeable.