Bells Rye Stout

Brewed by Bells Brewery
Style: Stout
Kalamazoo, Michigan USA

Serve in English pint

Minimal head and thinnish body. Had a slight fruitish taste and a little sourness. Decent light-bodied stout.

Very pleasant aroma of sweet chocolate, toffee, rasberries and cherries. . . Great roasted malt flavour, good balance of bitter coffee and chocolate with cherries and subtle campfire.

Black, almost no head. Wheat and rye aroma, malty and with some chocolate. Malty, hoppy flavor, some vegetables, some grapes. Quite mild, some bitternss in the finish.

Batch 7235, February 2006; Sampled August 2008
Quite the viscous appearing brew, it definitely pours with a certain thickness to it. I easily rouse a full three fingers of a light brown colored head that fills my 25cl tulip glass to the top. The beer is a deep, almost black, concentrated brown color that shows just a hint of light in its depth when held up directly to the light. The aroma has quite a bit of spicy grain character to it, though this is not the most prominent note. Instead a nice, mellow roasted character is most notable; aromas of dark chocolate, toasted whole grain bread, smooth espresso, an earthy burnt note. A touch of fruitiness (almost a bit of prune juice) and a sweet malt note are just noticed in the nose towards the finish. While the aroma is mellow, smooth and well integrated, I would never have guessed this was two years old from the nose.

A fullness to the body does not keep this beer from having a quaffable character; this definitely has a viscous rye character to it though. A smooth roast character delivers flavors of roasted prunes, blackened raisins and a rich, deep, darkly toasted grain character that comes off with quite a bit of a biscuit / cracker character. Up front, there is a nice cocoa quality to this beer that doesn’t quite become lush chocolate flavors before a touch of roasted grain acidity kicks in. This last is quite light and the acidity actually helps to counter-balance the viscous body of this brew. This really has a nice fruitiness to it as it warms up and it definitely reminds me of a dark, sweet dried fruit (like those mentioned previously plus some fig). A significant nutty note (almost toasted hazelnut really) is in the finish and adds quite a bit of another dimension to this brew. This nutty note is likely a touch of oxidation showing through, but it adds a really nice touch here.

This has held up quite well and I am quite enjoying the cocoa notes and the bright, concentrated fruit flavors that are offset by the smooth roast character.

I always jump at the chance to try a new Bells, especially a stout. Had this on tap at the Map Room. Pretty full of chocolate flavor, more than I was expecting. Medium bodied. On the palate this is a pretty solid tasting stout, though probably the least good of all Bell’s stouts. The rye definitely kicks in on the finish and I don’t really dig it. Definitely worth checking out, though.

not pitch black, but pretty darn close with pretty cool small dark brown head. classy. aroma’s a little weak but pretty much dominated by smoke and a tiny bit of hops. rye too, actually, now that i think about it. this has a lot of smoke flavor without being bitter, strangely enough. it’s really quite drinkable if a little simple. surprising amount of hops in the flavor. not much coffee or chocolate, but no worries. better than a 3.55 i think, but nothing spectacular.

04 Bottle. Poured an opaque black body with a brown foam that disappears quickly. Doughy aroma with roasted malts present. Flavor is rye and roasted malts, dark chocolate, and a slightly sour finish. Aftertaste is subtle but quite nice. A very interesting and enjoyable stout.

Bottle. Deep pitch black, small tan’ish head. Interesting aroma of grains, malt, smoke and rich dark chocolate. Mouthfeel is thick but at the same time tingly. Taste is nice - rich stout, rye like grains, sweetness, some smokiness, maybe some hops at the end. A rich tasty stout and another winner from Bells.