Bells Hopslam

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

Serve in Snifter, Tulip

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UPDATED: APR 16, 2011
Date: January 12, 2007
Mode: Bottle
Source: Trade
Appearance: hazy golden, wispy white head
Aroma: slightly sweet citrus aroma
Body: creamy body
Flavor: good hop flavor with nice sweetness, mellow bitter finish, touch of pine sap

Date: March 09, 2007
Mode: bottle
Score: 3.3 to 3.5
picking up more pine sweetness in the aroma but it quickly fades or saturates, adding a bit of sedement adds a nice bready yeast character the balances the sweetness and improves the overall complexity, I still don’t love this beer like a lot of people but it is starting to grow on me

Date: June 07, 2007
Mode: bottle
Source: Ale Atlanta
Score: 3.5 to 3.9
picking up a ton of fruity orange and tangerine, still nice balancing hops but the fruity malt has taken over making this a great beer, a year of age is the key on this one

Date: January 22, 2010
Mode: bottle
Source: sherlocks
Aroma: big sweet honeyed grapefruit aroma
Flavor: sweet malt flavor, citrus hops, plenty of bitterness
Overall: too much bitterness for the sweet aroma

Date: January 28, 2011
Mode: bottle
Source: hop city
a bit more balanced with the honey sweetness balancing the bitterness, still plenty of citrus but not over the top,

Date: February 05, 2011
Mode: firkin
Source: bsp
Appearance: muddy orange, creamy beige head, solid lace
Body: creamy body
Flavor: sweet flavor, honey and malt, lots of hops, touch of citrus, light peppery spicyness
Overall: the creamy body of the cask combined with the subdued hops make this way to dangerous

Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 8/10; Palate: 7/10; Overall: 17/20
Rating: 4/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: ***+ /4

Date: February 09, 2008
Mode: bottle
Vintage: 2008
Score: 3.9 to 4.0
Aroma: sweet crystal malt aroma with nice fruity hops
Flavor: strong orange and tangerine flavor from the first bottle of the batch, bitterness is just enough to add balance but stay out of the way
Overall: now this is the vintage worth raving about

Date: April 25, 2008
Mode: bottle
Source: bruisin ales
Vintage: 2008
the honey sweetness in the aroma balances and complements the citrus hops,

From Feb. Pours an orangish gold with a nice white bubbly head. Smells like glorious hops with a little honey..taste with a grapefruity flavor and few other citrus notes with a touch of honey on the finish. An excellent beer, very enjoyable.

Bottle. Pours a slightly hazy amber, with a big creamy head. A fantastic tropical aroma, with good, nice notes of sweet citrus and peach. A full, thick body with average carbonation. Flavour has a nice hoppy bitterness with notes of orange peel, and has a long nice finish.

Bottled from Bierkoning, Amsterdam. Clear golden colored, tiny particles floating around, small white head. Very impressive hoppy nose, pine, grapefruit, absolutely fantastic. Strong hopbitter flavor, lots of fruity notes, more sweet towards the end, and finishing in a lasting bitter and quite alcoholic way. Although massive hops are used the brew still feels quite balanced. The alcohol could have been more suppressed, but it’s still dangerously drinkable for 10%. I’m generally not really in to DIPA’s, but it’s beers like this make me keep trying new examples every once and awhile. Good beer.

(From notes) On draft at Flanny’s, poured into a tulip. A honey golden color with a two-finger frothy head. Slight citrus aroma (almost like spoiled grapefruit). The taste starts off with a piney, alfalfa hop punch to the mouth and then the sweetness kicks in.  It finishes with a pleasant hop characteristic without being overly bitter. Perfectly balanced between the hops and sweetness. 

Well made beer. Golden color and extreme floral, pine and citrus hop aroma and taste that is mellowed by the honey sweetness. Pretty friggin’ awesome and easy to drink for being such high abv. little over hyped though.

A pretty much clear, golden body and white fine bubbly head. Rich hoppy aroma, but fairly delicate still. Pine and blossom. Big bitterness, unwieldy hops, foaming astringency. This beer speaks only one language and message received! Surprisingly drinkable though, if you?re not afraid of the American hop flower. Don?t get the honey, but I suppose there?s some balancing sweetness. Not to drink all day or night though. Alcohol is also clearly there. Nomnom. (33cl bottle)

Nice orange color with a thick white head. Very nice citrus aromas (grapefruit, mango) floral notes hit the nose too. Hint of malty sweetness. Nice body and an excellent bitterness to match the citrus flavors. Hell of a DIPA.

Hopslam is an amazing, one of a kind beer. There’s nothing out there that has such a great little unobtrusive sweetness to take the edge off so much hopiness. That said, I swear the batch from year end 2011 was a stinker. Was not up to par with past years, or with the March ’12 batch. I could be crazy but I’ve tested this 3 times now and come out the same way (yeah, I buy cases of hopslam when it’s out). The biggest shame with this beer is that it’s a winter seasonal. It’s actually most appropriate served incredibly cold (it’s thick , doesn’t freeze too easily) on a hot day. Just don’t plan anything requiring too much responsibility for the ensuing hours. I think you have to say it has a unique and strong buzz to it.

Holy hops, this beer is well balanced. No malty aftertaste, dry finish. Poured amber haze with decent head. Did not know the beer was an imperial @ 10 ABV until after "sampling" 4 fairly quick.

A - pours nice rich orange amber with high white head that dissipates quickly. S - aromas of mellow pine and citrus hops. Tropical fruit notes, honey, and a hint of apple. M - nice drier well balanced beer. More mellow earthy bitter than sweet or hoppy. T - pine and citrus hops up front. Quickly transitions to a smoother earthy bitter malt back bone. Strong tones of an earthy leaf, tobacco perhaps. Lingering dry bitter end with soapy notes. O - quite good ipa. Not to hoppy or malty. 8-