Bells Kalamazoo Stout

Brewed by Bells Brewery
Style: Stout
Kalamazoo, Michigan USA

Comes out of the bottle a deep, opaque sable with a thick beige head. Aroma is strong and oily, mainly of burnt coffee. Mouth-filling flavor is strongly smoky with a coffee undertone and hints of molasses. There is just a hint of sweetness and just a hint of hop bitterness. Texture is thick and smooth with a tingly edge, and it leaves a coffee-ish aftertaste.

The bottle I had poured a nice dark brown color, not as dark as some of the stouts I have tried recently. It had a nice caramel light brown colored head that left nice lacing in the glass. It had a great aroma, not too much of coffee, but a heavy scent of chocolate and molasses. When I tasted it, I noticed right off the bat that this stout was not quite as strong as others - didn’t quite have the bitter coffee flavor. It was balanced very well. I like this beer and will be having this again.

This is a batch 8606 bottle. Appearance – Pours a dark brown, almost black with light brown edges when held up to the light. A nice dense mocha colored head forms about 1 finger in size. The head retention is wonderful, sticks around for a while. After a little while it subsides to a thin layering of large bubbles. Smell – This smells slightly astringent. Lots of hops, burnt chocolate, coffee, and the tiniest bit of figs. Taste – This has a chalky bitter bakers chocolate feel and taste to it. Like a mocha made with 72% cacao chocolate. Bits of coffee and hops. Mouthfeel – Like in the taste, this feels chalky. Also it feels a lot thicker than I expected, but not too thick. The higher carbonation makes it a prickly stout. Drinkability – This isn’t the best of stouts, but it certainly is a good one. One will do just fine.

Dark pour with off white head. Creamy, sweet, smooth and rich. Aroma is slightly roasty with nice malt presence. Taste is sweet and semi roasty. Really solid.

Pours dark black but has ruby hints in the light, a very dense brown head that fades to a low patchy film. Aroma is of prune, molasses, dark chocolate, coffee and some sweet caramel notes. Flavor starts off with some chocolate, fruity prune which fade to the background for a light caramel and finishes with a nice molasses and bitter coffee ending. Beer has a very nice density and an odd combo of an oily and creamy mouth feel. Overall a great stout that is just a good, basic form (non-imperial) of this style.

Pours a dark brown with a light brown head. Great aroma of roasted malts, caramel, coffee, and chocolate. Very roasty tasting stout with great balance. Definitely worth trying...it is what it is...

Aroma of coffee. Flavors of coffee, chocolate, molasses, and booze. Thick and kind of chewy.

Tap @ Eccentric Cafe. Pitch black colour, firm beige head. Aroma of roasted malts, coffee and chocolate. Flavour of roasted malts, coffee cream and a decent amount of hops. Bitter and dry. Epic stout.