Bells Hopslam

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

Serve in Snifter, Tulip

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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.

UPDATED: FEB 3, 2011 Thanks to Beerman6686 for hooking me up with this in a trade. Pours an extremely clear amber with a small bubbly white head. Aroma is excellent; lots of sweet oranges, a bit of grapefruit, caramel malt, and some floral notes at the finish. Flavor is definitely even more impressive than the aroma. Thick, sugary start to the flavor, with lots of caramel. It then moves to an aggressive floral, pine, and citrus hop flavor, with lots of alcohol tinge mixing with well placed carbonation to fully encapsulate the tongue. Very very nice, but I feel that the overall flavor of the Alesmith IPA I just rated was more complex. The alcohol is awesome, but it portrays the difference between single and double IPAs very aptly. Still a top notch brew. Re-rate 1-11-11- On tap at ChurchKey in DC. More depth, complexity, and delightful citrus character than I remember. Up 0.2 from the first rating.

Cloudy, with an orange yellow hue. White small head that mostly diminished, poor lacing, visible carbonation. Nose was sweet, bitter, grapefruit, pineapple, and very hoppy. Flavour was thin, sweet, bitter, very hoppy and a somewhat lingering hoppy aftertaste. Mouthfeel was hoppy and thin. Medium body. Truly is a hopslam to the throat.

Firkin! at pub in Kzoo during RBSG tour. It was hard to pick this pint up as I was holding 3 other pints. Honey, citrus, spice, melon, caramel, mandarin, sweat, biscuity aroma. Huge flavours of melon, ruby red grapefruit, some resin follows. Honey... lots of honey, mandarin, caramel and light bready notes. So fruity and wonderful tasting. Light spice and light pine. Great thick and slick mouth feel. Very good job hiding the 10%. Chugged the last half cause the bus was leaving.

UPDATED: JAN 16, 2009 1-16-09. Bottle. Clear, light orange body. Next to no head. Nose of grapefruit, orange peel, resin. The flavor is moderately to heavily sweet and moderately bitter. The finish is moderatley to heavily bitter with a moderately sweet aftertaste. Chewy. Seems to get sweeter every year. If this gets any sweeter, I am going to reduce my rating. 1-20-08. Bottle. This year’s release presents a sweeter, orange citrus backbone that is much more noticeable than last year’s. The nose is still filled with juicy citrus fruit — orange, grapefruit, pineapple and tangerine. But the flavor is sweet grapefruit juice — still heavily bitter, but now moderately sweet. I like the balance better. 2-12-07. On cask at BWW, Indy. The bitterness is even more pronounced in this daft version, muting most of the edgy sweetness. 11-17-06. Bottle. When I think breweries that know their way around hops, I first think of Three Floyds and Stone and AleSmith — and Bells. So it didn’t surprise me that Hopslam was brimming with juicy citrus aroma and flavor. Cloudy golden pour with comfortable off-white head. The nose is strong and filled with sweet oranges, pineapple, grapefruit, tangerine and apricot. The flavor is 95 percent hops — bitter almost from the start and lasting well after you’ve swallowed. There is a little sweetness around the edges. Full body. Moderately thick, chewy texture with a raspy feel and resinous coating. Can’t help but think of a thicker, richer version of Two-Hearted. Nice dry finish. 9-3-8-4-17.

(12 oz. bottle). Pours an orange liquid with a nice chunky off-white head. Aroma is of honey sweetness and beautiful citrus. It doesn’t get better than this! Very bitter up front, but the honey smoothes things out pretty quickly to provide an incredible balance to such a hoppy beer. The finish is bitter, but pleasant and the alcohol is hidden quite well. This is about as good a beer as you’ll find. It saddens me that this is my last one until next season.

UPDATED: FEB 16, 2008 Draft at Issac Newtons. Bottle thanks to Stoutlover72, Thanks for this awesome beer. Holy F’n smell. Very grapefruit, star ruby grapefruit smell. Fantatsic!!! Very cloudy look with thin head and stays till the end. Great flavor that may not be as good as the smell makes it out to be but whatever. Good mouthfell and slightly sticky. One of the best IIPA’s I’ve ever had! Very smooth and it’s balance is spooky*

Whoa..Damn this is a hop lovers dream! My Euro friends would laugh at this, then I would exclaim that its for an American’s taste, and they don’t understand. Cloudy orange, head is gone quickly. Sticky on the lips, hop bomb that turns into a nice grapefruit flavor. it is a Hopslam, if you’re looking fo a balanced beer this isn’t it, but for a hophead like me, its great. Thanks to Duane for the bottle!

UPDATED: MAR 15, 2008 So I’m casually checking out what my local place with 16-20 taps (Isaac Newton’s) has and I realize they have this beauty on tap - one I’ve been trying to get my hands on for awhile. So I rush out with growler in hand. I hope a case of this happens to land in my local store, but in the mean time I’m psyched to try another highly rated beer from one of my top 4 or 5 favorite breweries (albeit, only about an hour after trying a great Pizza port IPA). Sounds like a challenge/treat for my hop lovin’ palate. Nice looking copper/caramel color with medium sized foamy head. Sweet floral hop aroma with substantial sugary malt goodness in the nose. Sweet and sticky hop flavor is wonderful! Tastes from bitter to sweet roll across the tongue in a fantastic tasting brew! Sweet malts mix with wonderful hop taste. This is probably the smoothest DIIPA I’ve had and I just want more. Bells Rules!

Bottle, thanks to beergodd1. It pours clear amber, with a thick white head. The nose is honey, pine,, leaf, floral, spice and grapefruit. The taste is pine, resin, leaf, green hop, underlying honey for balance, grapefruit, tangerine, citrus pith, manure/farmyard and pepper, with a long bitter-dry finish. Medium body, fine carbonation and slightly oily mouth-feel. Initially the alcohol feels well hidden, but the effect is quickly felt! Smooth, well balanced, flavoursome and very drinkable. A great DIPA.