Bells Batch 5000 Ale

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

Pours murky plum red. Short brownish head. Big syruppy body still very well carbonated. Nose is heavily smoked but hovers nicely over the boozy rich barleywine woody spiced beer. Hops must have dropped out a little but are still hot. Molases, caramel, toffee and sweet cookie dough malts shortly overtake the hops. Pleasantly unbalanced. Sea water, smoke, cocoa, and vanilla. Once you get used to the smoke, the lighter flavours really show off the complexity of the beer. Excellent. Thanks mr_k.

Bottle. Brown colored with not much head. Slightly malty aroma with lots of residual smoke still in the nose. Sharp and a bit bitter. Some maltiness balances this fairly well. Pretty darn good.

12 oz. bottle. Hazy brown and a creamy tan head with nice lacing. Great smoked malt aroma. Full bodied with a superb smokey flavor. Somewhat heavy texture with a sweet finish. I love this beer!!! Would love to have another to cellar for a year or two!!!

Bottle: Courtesy of wolhfs. Real quick chocolate and caramel aromas are quickly covered up with an nice smoke aroma. Pours a reddish-brown with barely any transparency. Head is more of an off-white ring. Really sweet up front. Light chocolate and caramel with a nice smokey finish. Sweet aftertaste lingers more than the smoke.

Bottle courtesy Slikwily. Red amber colour with a thin layer of off-white foam. Toffee, fruity, and lightly smoked aroma, with everything blending together nicely. Toffee, light sherry, and dark fruit flavours with a pleasant fruity hop finish. Not much sign of smoke left in the flavour. Full bodied, thick but smooth.

Sweet caramel malt and smoke aroma - even a little fruityness that reminds me of wine. Dark cherry red body, it’s not hazy, but it really looks thick. Taste is thick and malty - if not for the smoke flavors, I’d call it a barleywine (oh, I see now that it’s 9% - that explains the warming sensations). Smoke flavor gains with every sip. This is a nice counterpoint to the very hoppy Rogue Smoke.

Bottle... This beer rocks! Opaque orange/brown ale. Tons of wonderful smoked malt and a touch of caramel in the nose. Smokey flavor as well with some sweet toffee and caramel notes. Medium-bodied and well-bittered with an oily mouthfeel and lively carbonation. Lengthy, smokey, bittersweet finish. One of my favorite styles and aged a few years to boot. Terrific! Thanks go out to jtw for the bottle.

03.05.05 12oz bottle (2002) via trade with Eyedrinkale. Muddy mahoganey color with small, light brown head. Woody smoke dances with dark fruits, charred apple, and dried figs, cherries and nuts in the beer’s mellow and complex nose. The body feels thicker at first, then the medium bodied, caramel dominated texture starts to level things out and plays into the mellow aromas. There is no bitterness at any time. Flavors are thickly malty and lightly smokey, plenty of apple, spice, wood, some peat, and dates. In many ways it seems a smoked barleywine. Very complex and age, I’m guessing, has done it some great service. It’s an odd combination and takes more than a few sips to get into it, but once I let go it is all goodness. Thanks for this one, Mike!