Bells Wheat Love Ale

Formerly brewed at Bells Brewery
Style: Barley Wine
Kalamazoo, Michigan USA

Bottle. Pours hazy orange gold with white head. Lots of sediment floating around. Aroma is banana, clove, malt and vanilla. Flavor is citrus, banana, olive, malt, yeast, pear, apple. Quite interesting.

Bottle courtesy of ross. Batch ID #7155. Packaged on: December 1, 2005. Pours a murky light-orange/rust color with a smallish light-tan head. A unique aroma that strikes me as a mix between a saison and a barley wine. Lots of sweet oranges, lemons, wheatiness, yeasty tang and a hint of vanilla extract. Tastes like a mix between the two styles too. Full body. Starts off with some sweet/sour flavors. A good bit of oranges and lemons on top of the caramel. Plenty of tanginess. A floral finish with some dry wheatiness and a nice bit of warming alcohol that lingers. Very tasty.

30.04.06 Someone shared this with me at the HWOH and I have no idea who that was, but I could guess, but I won’t. The stuff really reminded me of a dark wit beer, nothing more. It’s cool to read here that so much effort went into the beer that was in the bottle, but it was little more than a crazy mess to me. Yeasts and wheat were all over the place in this foamy golden wheat beer. Strong aromas of the usual wheat beer yeast variety with clove, lemon, and banana, and there’s an oddly nagging sweetness of dark caramel. I want to love it like I do most Bell’s beers, but I just can’t figure it out. I’m impressed that they pulled this off without getting too sweet.

Pours a pretty clear peach orange yellow with a foamy bubbly medium head. Aroma is sweet, banana, coriander - like a typical wit beer. Flavor is sweet and bananaey, dough, clove and some alcohol warmth. Overall, pretty decent.

Bottle. Poured a very ugly murky rust color with a bunch of sediment, that would eventually dissolve. Would leave good lacing. Very doughy scent, with sweet sour aroma of clove and spice. A potently rich clove and banana flavor subsides to a hoppy bitter end. Thick and foamy in the mouth with a lingering flavor.

Bottle drunk on 8/12/06.
Moderately dense white head tops the lightly-hazed straw/gold colored body, with a good deal of carbonated activity in the liquid. Not as much head and without the caramelish-tint, but still similar to a German Hefe in appearance, with fairly strong retention, though not as much lacing as expected. Sediment left behind in the bottle.
Sweet fruits wrap around the nose, with rich honey and caramel drenched white bread. But a lightly-to-moderately acidic wheat note, some grassy hops and quite a distinct Belgian yeast dry things nicely and balance the aroma. I love the softness the blend of yeasts provides, adding light fruits, soft dough and, in general, a more fluffy nature. Most wheat wines are so heavily dry, sharp, acidic and alcoholic. Other than a touch of warming/esterization, I get almost no alcohol from the aroma. Furthermore, while one can expect and appreciate some sweet, chewy malts at this strength, I don’t find them overdone. Boisterous nectarines, smooth wheat and some definite clove/banana/bubble gum, though again, not overdone.
Initially sweet in flavor, the heavy honey/light-caramelized malts add a thick, chewy nature, that when taken with the low, natural carbonation, seem to spell cloying. But before I can even imagine this, the delightful yeast adds light phenol/ester activity and the lighter wheats cut an even path of dryness/nuttiness through the malts. Soft hoppiness is well-received and as the beer warms, I really am reminded of a Double Hefe Weizen. The malt sweetness is certainly a little more dominant than the balancing dry aspects, but a careful acidity helps mitigate. The low carbonation could use some tightening, to clear some of the syrupiness, but this is an adventurous beer and still quite drinkable for its strength. Some spicy phenols and alcohols on the finish, but not too much a problem. Another Bells beer that should continue to surprise and delight as it ages.

Pours a very cloudy yellow/copper with a foamy white head and tons of floaters. Aroma is mostly of wheat, grains and yeast with a hint of sour fruitty tartness. Flavor matches aroma nicely with a bit of spice I didn’t get in the aroma as much.

A very smooth drinking medium-fuller mouthfeel. Aroma of yeast, barnyard, malt and wheat. Slightly dark colour, very attractive Belgian style head. Some spiciness, a bit acidic. Must get more.