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Bells Wheat Love Ale

 (RETIRED)
Percentile
92
overall
Formerly brewed at Bells Brewery
Style: Barley Wine

Kalamazoo, Michigan USA

bottling
unknown

on tap
unknown

distribution
unknown

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RatingsAverageScoreSeasonalABVStyle PctlServe in
2703.62/5.03.6/5.0Special8%63.8Snifter
Commercial Description:
Bell’s Wheat Project (2005) is an experimental foray into the development of complex flavors in beer. The Project comprises five new ales, four in series and one specialty strong product. The first four, Wheat 2, Wheat 4, Wheat 6 and Wheat eight are all made using 55% Wheat (either wholly or mostly malted) and 45% Barley malt. The barley malt makeup is exactly the same in each of the four and consists of three different malts. The total amount of grain in each of the four is also exactly the same, so each of them should have a virtually identical original gravity. The type and amount of hops in each of the four is exactly the same. And the processing through the brewhouse and fermentation is also exactly the same. The changing factors between the ales are the composition of the 55% of wheat used and the type and number of yeast strains used. In Wheat 2 the 55% of wheat is made up of two different kinds of wheat malt, and this ale is made with two different yeasts. Wheat 4 is made with four different wheats and four yeasts. Wheat six and eight made with six and eight wheats and yeasts respectively. The final product, Bell’s Wheat Love Ale, is made with the eight yeasts of Wheat eight and is a strong, but relatively light colored, “wheatwine.” 2. Basic Content List for the Wheat Series Wheat Two Wheats: White, Dark Yeast: Bell’s house ale strain, WLP410 Belgian Wit II Wheat Four Wheats: White, Victory, Toasted sprouts, Torrefied Yeast: WLP550 Belgian, WLP570 Golden, Wheat Two blend Wheat Six Wheats: White, Dark, Toasted sprouts, Torrefied, Red, Caramel Yeast: WLP500 Trappist, WLP530 Abbey, Wheat Four blend Wheat Eight Wheats: White, Dark, Victory, Toasted sprouts, Torrefied, Red, Caramel, Chocolate Yeast: WLP4000 Belgian Wit I, WLP565 Saison, Wheat Six blend
 Most Recent Top Raters Highest Ratings Who's Rated This?  
 JCapriotti (1378), Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
3.8 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
7/104/58/104/515/20
Feb 11, 2006  
Medium coppery orange color. Frothy off-white head. Wheaty aroma... a bit of belgiany yeast component... brings some banana and trippel-like spice. Warm, creamy spicy wheat flavor with some sticky honey and some orange. Very rich, and sticky sweet. Good stuff.


 Metalhead (570), Lake Zurich, Illinois, USA
3.4 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
6/103/57/104/514/20
Feb 10, 2006  
Slightly hazy gold with a fairly short lived 1 finger head. Aroma of wheat,hints of freshly baked bread,faint citrus. Tasted kinda like a 60/40 mix of a Hefeweizen and Sprecher abbey tripel. ABV well masked. Not remarkable but pretty good. Kinda $ at $10 a six.


 MrBunn (1526), Western, Pennsylvania, USA
4.1 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
8/104/58/104/517/20
Feb 9, 2006    Updated: Aug 20, 2007
Aromas of bread, cloves and lemon, light colored body with a pretty big foamy white head. Wow! Banana and cloves are huge in the flavor with a nice bread-like flavor that comes through late. I had no idea that this was going to be anything like this and it totally took me by surprise. Very distinct and highly recommended! Re-rating: I came across a case of this recently and went out on a limb, hoping it would have aged nicely. I was rewarded. It seems from my previous rating that this has changed character quite a bit. Gone are a lot of the wheat and banana clove qualities, and what remains is sweet and sticky. The bottles are batch 7155 (from December, 2005). Aromas are fairly sweet, of honey, sweet apple juice and maybe a touch of banana. Body is a clear golden color and the head is fairly small and it dies down quickly. Flavor is heavy and sweet, almost like a barley wine that has aged well, but instead of having a dark fruit complex, it is light fruit like pear and apple with a honey malt backbone. The alcohol is slightly warming and blends well with the sweetness. It is strangely reminiscent of some of the ice wines I’ve sampled.


 Dogbrick (2855), Columbus, Ohio, USA
3.9 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
8/104/58/104/515/20
Feb 9, 2006  
So this is a "Wheat Wine" eh? Seems similar to Two Brothers Bare Tree Weiss Wine in that regard. Pours a bright and lightly hazy copper/orange color with lines of rising bubbles. Medium thin off-white head and rings of lacing that stick to the glass a long time. Pleasant aroma of cloves, wheat and banana. Medium-bodied and clean with sweet malt, fruit and spice flavors. Hops bitterness lingers throughout. The finish is tart fruit at first and hops and alcohol after. A pretty enjoyable experiment overall.


 SpringsLicker (2042), Tennessee, USA
3.5 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
6/104/56/104/515/20
Feb 8, 2006  
Thanks to CaptainCougar for this one! Just a touch of haze appear in this golden brew. Frothy, sticky white head on top. Faint yeast and honey in the aroma. Malt sweetness is a bit honey like with a mild spicyness. It’s not a wheat wine or barleywine, it’s truly experimental in it’s nature.


 Nuffield (2720), Roseville, Minnesota, USA
3.6 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
7/103/58/104/514/20
Feb 8, 2006  
Bright, hazy amber. Notes of clove, pepper, orange chewing gum, alcohol, and rich sweetness. Slightly lifted on the palate, keeps a fluffy quality there. Enjoyable, quite enjoyable. No one should mistake this as a barleywine in the common American tradition.


 MI2CA (1266), Noblesville, Indiana, USA
3.5 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
6/103/56/104/516/20
Feb 6, 2006    Updated: Jan 22, 2008
12oz - Aroma is sweet cotton candy, wheat, honey, and fresh malt. Pours clear yellow-brown with no head and little lacing. Not very inviting. Flavor is wheat and fresh malt followed by the honey sweetness and a touch of spice. Palate is clean and tart. Not as complex as I hoped, almost a mead.

01/22/2008 same batch as initial rating. Aroma of alcohol, orange peel, wheat and a touch of honey. Flavor matches aroma with a slight cardboard finish. Not sure why I held onto to this one as I didn’t really like it to begin with. If you got it, drink it. I can’t imagine it’s getting any better.


 DrnkMcDermott (1846), Downers Grove, Illinois, USA
3.4 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
6/103/57/103/515/20
Feb 5, 2006    Updated: Jun 25, 2006
Bottle, Batch 7155. Well, with no stake in the Super Bowl enough to make me seek out a Washington or west Pennsylvania beer, let’s just tote up this Michigan beer. Pours blond with a thick but transitive head. Yeasty smell as with others in the Wheat Series. Taste is mostly like an abbey tripel. Yeasty still, but with a touch of fruit and Belgian wheat. Otherwise, malts hard to pick out. Well, let’s save some for later and check em out.



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