Abbeydale Hells Bells / Hells Belles Abbeydale Brewery Sheffield, South Yorkshire
Beer style: Strong Ale - English Ref: ratebeer.com Jun2024
Common descriptors are Cask; Seasonal - Winter. Same beer, two labels. Rather one beer with the official label for respectable establishments such as the one you drink in, and the limited-edition biker "let’s all vomit on each other and pretend we’re enjoying ourselves ’cos we’re hard" party special for weirdos, degenerates and mid-life delinquents. The Belles alternative was insisted on by the brewery’s fine but temperamental* artist whose preferred mode of transport is either motorcycle or one of those special ambulances with a nicely padded interior and no handles on the inside of the doors. OK, what can we say about the beer? Hells Bells is a winter-warmer special that’s not quite as seasonal as White Christmas, so we can sell more of it over a longer period and try and recoup some of the cost of the fantastically-expensive label design. It’s a dark beer. It has that "cough-cure" puddingy flavour that tastes like you’re wrapped-up in a heavy warm coat with a big thick woolly scarf and mittens sipping mulled wine by a bonfire. Mulled wine? Oh yes. Trust us on this.
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