Bells Rye Stout

Brewed by Bells Brewery
Style: Stout
Kalamazoo, Michigan USA

Serve in English pint

This was just o.k. Medium body, some roasty malts at first. This seemed nice and dry with some spices thrown in, but it also had some sourness at the end.

Batch 9370

10/26/2009: Bell’s Rye Stout... Aroma: Earthy, rich, dusty chocolate; coffee grounds; the fruity rye malt definitely comes through. Appearance: Dull, dark brown color; mostly opaque; small, foamy tan-colored head. Flavor: Roasted malts and chocolate; rye malt is evident; tastes a bit like New Glarus Black Wheat with a spicy and dry rye twist; finishes a bit thin/watery; alcohol comes through more than expected. Palate: Medium-bodied; thick, filling texture; faily smooth. Overall: Quite good, but not worth the elevated price tag of $12.99/6-pack ($2.17/bottle).

12 fl. oz. bottle from Hyde Park Wine & Spirits in Cincinnati, Ohio. Rating #383 for this beer.

Bottle. Batch 7235. Pours respectable stout color with a thin eggshell brown head. Smell is yeasty at first (bottle-conditioned), then turns into cocoa-coffee stout smell. Rye gave it a passing rememberance of wheat malt smell. Taste is a bit odd to start, still a touch of yeast. The foam at the top somehow has the oily texture of Expedition. Then some stout sourness, and finally the spicy twist from the rye. Perhaps a hint of licorice. Interesting to find complex texture in a beer, not just complex taste. Seems to be the basic English hop profile, amped up just a wee bit. Alcohol seems cooling rather than warming. Thanks to Bell’s "Bootlegger’s Special" for us deprived Illinoisians driving to Kzoo for my chance to try this.

This poured a dark brown with a beige head. Aroma was light chocolate, toffee, roasted malts and rye. Flavor was nice toasty malts sweet cholate and a bittering rye flavor. Nice stout just a bit thin.

Bottle. A chocolate, nutty, milky, and coffee aroma. The rye is a very nice twist on the stout and is evident in the flavor and aftertaste. Fairly thin body.

(Bottle) Pours dark, dark brown. Dark sour bread and coffee beans in aroma with some cocoa. Roasted with rye-ish tones. Sour, dark rye bread in flavour with some coffee. Pretty round and a bit buttery mouthfeel. Rather thin body.

12 oz bottle from mix a six purchased at Lukas in Kansas City Missouri. Batch 9370 printed on the label. Pour is hazed deep brown and ruby with nice settling building up a 2 inch khaki head. Head falls with loud crackling, and very large carbonation bubbles. Aroma is roasty, earthy maltiness and the rye - which presents as a very soft leafy, almost tobacco like smell. Nice soft and engaging nose. Taste is the roast malt up front, followed close behind by the earthy leafy straw of the rye, leading to a burnt, almost charred finish. Transitions of flavors are good, though the charred element seemed disjointed from the rest - ultimately did not detract from my enjoyment much. Palate is medium bodied, though certainly on the light side of medium. Carbonation is fairly low, and the body is a bit on the oily side. After the char calmed down on my taste buds, this was nicely easy to drink. Nice one.

UPDATED: NOV 24, 2009 12oz bottle. Batch 7235. I’m glad that this one didn’t completely slip past me! DarkPitch Elegantly balck! Ring of tan head. Nose is of toasted rye bread. No big surprise there. Sweet malt undertones with a slight hop aroma. Medium to full with a definite sweet malt dominance. Palate is oily and slick, yet grainy and fruity. Slight vanilla and caramel, baked flavor (if that makes any sense). Good! TASTED 11/24/09. 12oz BOTTLE. BATCH #9399. Similar, pitch and finger width of tan head. Similar nose. Hints of toast, caramel and berries. Touch vanilla and candy. Full bodied and a very familiar and distinct Bells flavor. Damn, they make good stouts! The rye really adds a great addition to the complexity of the palate. Bitterness to coincide with the coffee astringency. Roasty toasty and delicious. Dry with a new dimension to my past rating. Sticky lingering finish. Coating and cloying. Money.