Bells Batch 5000 Ale

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

12oz - thanks Dukefan - Very pungent aroma of hickory, smoke, and burnt malts. Pours muddy brown with no head or lacing. Flavor is dead on with aroma. The smoke lingers in the mouth for a long time. Palate is sticky. This has aged wonderfully and is still an excellent brew.

Bottle via trade with hoppymeal. Thanks Derek. Pours a muddy brown with no head. The aroma is very smokey, campfire, some hickory, toffee and caramel, light oxidation. The flavor is vinous, oxidation, cherry, mosquite. The mouthfeel is soft and smooth.

Bottle, thanks to walleye! Poured a deep, fiery reddish-brown with swirly haziness from the bottom of the bottle... head settled down quickly to a ring and a light pool. The nose was spot-on... round and rich smoked malts, cedar, toasty caramel, cured meat, and some darker roasted fruit. The fruit plays a greater role in the wonderful and palate-taxing flavor... along with pulled caramel, toasted wood, herbs, and an aire of smoked malts very well intertwined. The finish was a tad thick with smoky wood, caramel, and alcohol warmth. Body seemed to get thicker as the drink approached the throat... expertly smooth with low bitterness. Just felt phenominal on the palate. Excellent beer that I wish I had more of.

Wow! Apparently a smoked beer needs a few years on it... I popped the top on this and it gushed just a bit, no cause for concern. The aroma was fantasticlly rich and smokey with caramel and dark fruityness. The colour was a very dark brown with a bit of dark red. There was very littl ehead after being poured, but there was a persistant ring around the edges with some lacing in the middle. Incredibly meaty flavour with tons of finely tuned smoke and sweet malts. Caramel flavours are rampant, but subdued and not overpowering. The smoke flavours reminds me of hickory or oak chips smoking some salmon on the grill, there is a certian essence of wood present in the flavour, but not like a barrel aged version. This is truly fantastic, and certianly the best Batch X000 version I’ve had.

Very cloudy deep brown color with almost no head. Aroma is very smokey, hint of apple and caramel. Flavor is smokey, with caramel, vanilla, oak. Finish is rather sweet.

Bottle with a big thanks to Walleye: Dark brown, with a small tan head. Aroma had a smoky almost bacon, there was some sweetness to it as well. Flavor was very malty, with some spice that I really couldn’t place, there was some oxidation but really this was still quite good. Sweet on the finish. Glad I got to try it.

Courtesy of Monty. Poured a cloudy orangeish/brown body with a small, soapy, tan head. The aroma was sweet molasses and maple syrup. Not a lot of smoke present in the nose. The flavors are molasses, raisins, brown sugar, maple syrup, and smoked peat. A very nice surprise.

12 oz. bottle, courtesy of EyeDrinkAle - a great trader! Poured a gorgeous garnet-amber color, dark and clear with a small beigy head and spotty lace. Aroma is very sweet, cherry, apricot, hints of maple and a nice subtle smokiness as a lovely counterpoint to the fruit. Flavor is also sweet, maple, raisin, tart orange, smokey, tangy and more - quite complex and I’m at a loss to describe it all adequately. Rich, thick and full body, with gentle carbonation. Overall quite a treat and very enjoyable. Thanks Mike!