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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?  
core (19), Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA
4.2 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
8/104/59/104/517/20
Feb 4, 2006  
12 oz bottle. Pours a cloudy copper. Aroma is wheat with some citrus maybe a little orange. Flavor is sweet with more fruits and some alcohol. Very drinkable, another great beer from Bells.


 rajendra82 (700), Alpharetta, Georgia, USA
3.7 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
9/104/57/103/514/20
Feb 4, 2006  
My first ever wheat wine pour, from this 12 oz. brow bottle acquired from BA CRJMellor during a recent trade, started out clear and pale yellow, until the yeast came out and clouded up the whole beer and made it look opaque and orange-ish in color. The head was relatively modest to begin with, and was shortly reduced to a collar of bubbles. The smell was very intoxicating, with an abundance of cloves, bananas, and oranges. The taste was a cross between a hefeweizen and a barleywine. The sweet fruity phenols were typical of a hefeweizen in their bready and tropical profile. The hop bitterness lingering in the back and the hint of prickly alcohol were reminiscent of a mild barleywine. The two flavor profiles were a little disparate, and the clashing they created prevented from reaching harmonious balance. If there had been other flavors that occupied the middle ground between the sweetness and bitterness, this would have melded better. Mouthfeel was sticky, but not too thick. An enjoyable beer despite the little flaws, and makes me want to explore this style further, but there aren’t too many of these around.


 Styles (1653), Lincoln Park, Michigan, USA
3.5 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
7/104/57/103/514/20
Feb 4, 2006  
Murky-hazy golden copper with white head that fades to ring of bubbles. Will agree with some others in that it has a definate belgian ale-triple quality to it. Aroma is bready wheat, with some fruit, smoke and sugary sweet alcohol. Flavor begins all banana and quickly fades to a smoky astringent alcohol character. Finishes a little hot.


 frankenkitty (1900), Oak Lawn, Illinois, USA
3.5 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
7/103/57/103/515/20
Feb 4, 2006  
Enjoyed side-by-side in a horizontal with the other four of the Bell’s Wheat series.

Head was off-white and fleeting to nothingness over a deep-hazed golden/copper body with peppery bits of floating yeast particles (and sinking chunks as well). Aroma is smoky, Hefen and bold with mild vinegar notes but overall intensity and sharpness. Flavor finds fruit and spice with sourness and medicinal qualities with a high ABV apparent. Smoothness progresses from creaminess to near syrupy. I’d call this an "Imperial Hefeweizen"... but it’s too over the top. A ramped-up version of the Six.

<font size=-4>Purchased at <a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/Places/ShowPlace.asp? Liquors, Chicago, IL 60638<font size=-1>


 Lumpy (1802), Carrollton, Texas, USA
3.3 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
7/103/56/103/514/20
Feb 4, 2006  
Bottle. The best of the wheat series, but that isn’t hard. Tastes to me like a mild tripple, not a BW. Nose-lotion, clove, soapy, phenols. Hazy orange/yellow body with a thicl ring of bubbles. Taste-soapy, soft, orange zest, clove, medium spice, corriander. Not bad, fairly mild, mild spice.


 Ubiquibeer (140), Cleveland, USA
3.8 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
6/104/57/104/517/20
Feb 3, 2006  
Interesting. To me, it tastes like an imperial hefe with a slight bitterness at the end (I don’t think I need to break down the standard flavors of a German-style weitzen for you folks), although to be honest I was expecting a wheat bock. Nonetheless it is an enjoyable beer. One of the few American wheats to have that German wheat character.


 eve (240), Iowa City, Iowa, USA
4.2 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
8/104/58/104/518/20
Feb 2, 2006  
The best of the wheat series (naturally), this wheat wine has a rich fruity complex aroma. Pours deep clear gold with a light head. Taste is caramel, sweet malt, orchard fruits and oranges with nice layers of tangy wheat, subtle yeast, and smooth long fruity finish.


 beermatrix (1497), Twin Cities, Minnesota, USA
4 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
8/104/58/104/516/20
Feb 1, 2006  
Thickly fogged yellow peach color with a very slim topping of off-white foam proceeding quickly to a thin collar. Miniscule ghostly spotted lacing. Aroma is akin to a Belgian Pale with semi damp and tepid malts with a lightly citric fruity and bready sweetness. Tends to carry a pineapple and tangerine candy or gum with an airy wheatyness to it thats flour-esk and a bit of dry yeastyness. Taste is a malted bready crockpot of damp, old citrusy fruits. No one fruit tends to jump to mind other then a multitude of over ripe centers of tropical senses. Pineapple, apricot, melon, orange, and perhaps a scurry of others are super dulled out and blending into one weird jam-like flavor spread over some white bread and earthy dustyness in the finish. I wanted to like it more, but it just wasn’t pulling enough interest for me. Still good though. Feel is fairly full and well rounded with a malty satisfaction of big smoothness keeping a lower-ended carbonation. It sends warming tones in through the back end of the finish just after the dryness floats off leaving a bit of tropical malt backing coating the back of the throat. As with the 2, 4, 6, 8 Wheat series beers by Bell’s, this stuff is fully drinkable and takes on its own growth of acceptance as it goes.



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