3.3 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 13/20
Bottle, thanks to Marinaro500 for this one. Pours dark brown, opaque and with a small tan head. Aroma is rich and full, dark roasted malts, soured grains and bitter coffee. Flavor is malts, bitter chocolate, espresso and a puckeringly sour finish. Medium full body and little carbonation. A nice brew but the rye is not my favorite style.
3.8 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 16/20
Dark pour with dark mahogany edges, with little head and spotty lacing. Caramel, mocha, and roast malts are most prevelant in the nose. Very nice nose. Mocha flavors, what I guess is rye (I don't like rye,) and some more happy roastiness. Medium bodied with an alcohol finish. Interesting stout.
2.7 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 2/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 2/5 OVERALL 10/20
Poured and inky black with some reddish-brown on the edges when held to light. Very fizzy light brown head. Very thin looking. Robust and grainy aroma. No hops. Chocolate with some spice from the rye. The rye character is evident in the flavor. Blended with bitter chocolate and coffee. Thin and fizzy on the palate. Watered down. Not very impressive. My least favorite of the Bell’s stouts.
3.4 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 15/20
12 oz bottle
Poured ver dark with a thin tan head, Scents of rye, grain, oak and smoke wafted from the glass. On my first sip, the grains were obvious - rye and what with a slight smoky flavor not unlike cured ham. A creamy coffee taste soon followed and then it faded away leaving almost no taste behind. Towards the end of the glass I began to detect the taste of club soda. Overall, a fairly nice stout from Bells but I doubt this is one to actively seek out again.
3.7 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 15/20
Batch 7235 Feb. 2006 Consumed 4.14.09. Dark with an off white head. Aroma is nice, smooth and a bit light. Taste is sweet, creamy, peppery, A bit spicy in the back of the throat. Very good.
3.4 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 14/20
On draft at RFD in D.C. Normally I am huge fan of Bell’s. A very solid brewery who rarely does something that I don’t like. Unfortunately I didn’t care for this one. It poured very dark brown with a tall, tan head and it left decent lacing. Off to a good start. It has a potent nose full of coffee, malt, rye, and licorice. The flavor closely follows the nose. After the first few sips, I feel like I’ve been eating licorice chews all day. Sweet and with lots of coffee, there is a lot going on here. The flavors all seem strong fighting each other for dominance instead of playing together nicely. That palate didn’t detract but it didn’t seem to help things out either. A valiant effort at something different, but not one I will be indulging in again.
3.7 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 5/5 OVERALL 14/20
Dark with alot of sediment. Raisiny and a bit sour. Nice stron hoppy bite in the end.
2.8 AROMA 4/10 APPEARANCE 5/5 TASTE 5/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 11/20
My 2nd consecutive rye rating, following the New Glarus Unplugged Smoked Rye Bock. Hadn’t seen or heard of this Bells brew before; I see it’s been around for about 4 1/2 years. Where was I? Bottle. I’m not digging the aroma. Has a rauchbier thing going on. Opaque body with a light tan head that is very large and mostly lasts. Excellent lace. Thin and weak. This brew was available in the singles section at Steve’s Wine in Madison. I’m guessing it was in that section because it is old and needed to be moved. This brew just doesn’t have much character. For a beer with 6.7% ABV, I would have expected a stronger alcohol profile and certainly more flavor. This tastes more like a German Dunkel, and not a good one. Very disappointing.
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