Bells Batch 3000 Ale

Formerly brewed at Bells Brewery
Style: Stout
Kalamazoo, Michigan USA

Pours a barely transparent dark mahogany with a thin, wispy ring of light tan head. Aroma of lightly sweet earthy, aged dark caramel malt with some mild dark fruitiness and light roast. Body starts with a sticky earthy dark caramel malty sweetness with lots of molten dark chocolate and slightly roasty bitter finish. Seems to have aged really well.

Hissed upon opening. Poured a slightly hazed deep chestnut color with a small creamy tan head. Mildly sweet malt with a medium amount of roast. Hint of raisins. The flavor is mildly fruity and sweet to start. Then quickly dries out with a moderately bitter dry finish. Medium bodied with a dull carbonation.

quite nice of a brew....courtesy of silphium...pours a ton of yeast, and is amber to reddish brown in color...this is simply a basic barley wine....there are no stout characteristics here...aroma is of caramels, sugars, soy....flavor is very sweet, and is quite the same with an alcohol bite...very similar to an old ale...good stuff

An amazing find just in time for the end of 2005 and the beginning of 2006. I had to open a bottle right away to make sure this beer isn’t pickled. The first "pffft" upon opening the cap was a relief. No noxious aromas on the pour. Beautiful. Success. The body is a bit light for a stout, a deep yet translucent garnet red-brown with dark yeast sediment taking gravity’s cue to the bottom of the glass. There’s even a thin ring of off-white carbonation clinging to the glass. The aroma is similar to a barleywine, with raisins, prune, and caramels backed by soy and toasty malts. A bit "aged" smelling and yeasty, but still pleasant. The body is nicely carbonated for a circa-1998 beer. Opens with the same prunes, raisin, and caramel, leading to faded esters and alcohol, leaving a somewhat charred, bitter aftertaste. I’m not sure how this beer changed over the years but it is more like a barleywine right now than a stout. I suspect this was well taken care of over the past seven years. I thought this was a real long-shot to find, but everybody’s capable of making an improbable shot.

Moderate brown in color and hazy. Aroma is very malty(similiar to a barleywine) and a little burnt. Flavor is big malt, light smokeness with a little tartness. It was well carbonated, expecially for its age. Finish was lip smacking sweet up front with an alcohol dryness that crept in toward the end. Provided by and shared with PsychProf, thanks old friend.

Wonderful! New to the market in August 1998, this is a real gem. The aroma is all plummy maltiness, soy sauce and salt. Hops are essentially gone as far as I can tell except for some thinning, cutting of the body. Alcohol is melded to the body perfectly although it’s a bit thin. Great raisiny flavors! Very effervescent even this many years out! Great beer, but seems barleywineish, winey, not so stoutlike. Shared with hopsrus. Thanks to the Motor City BBB provider.

Bottled, thanks Dr.Bill! Dark brown. Restrained malty nose. Caramelly and very malty with soft, velvetty texture. Toffee and salty bitterness in the finish. Well balanced and flavourful.

Dr. Bill is the Man for breaking out this brew for us. It pours with a dark reddish-brown body topped by a thin head with some lacing. The aroma is sweet and malty with a little caramel and anice bitter notes and alcohol esters. The flavor is sweet and malty with notes of candy sugar and caramel, as well as, a little bitterneasss and some alcohol. Full bodied, smooth and slightly dry.