Bells Batch 6000 Ale

Formerly brewed at Bells Brewery
Style: Barley Wine
Kalamazoo, Michigan USA

Tight silky beige head and dark mahogany body with big yeast chunks. Intense musty, hoppy aroma plus molasses, toffee, and alcohol. Very organic, funky flavor. Like swigging cologne. Big maple sweetness is counterbalanced by some serious floral hop bitterness. Flavors of sasparilla and vanilla also come through. Very full-bodied and chewy. Unique and quite unlike any other barley wine that I’ve encountered.

Bells is quickly becoming my favorite brewery. Cloudy brown pour with very little to no head. Malty sweetness and light hop bitterness. Mellow citrus and subtle molasses and toffees.

Bottled. Dark foggy brown with a thin lacy head. I think that it was poured a little quickly. Super generous malty flavour. Bitter kicker if you can wait long enough for he sugars to clear your palate. Luckily Silk and I are shooting the breeze at pace, so time is breezing by. It certainly is complex, revealing itself at different times, in different ways. Thanks to Nuffield for giving this beer to Silk, which I have eventually shared in.

Bottle. Heady pale malt aroma touched with fruit and mustiness edging into oxidisation like a vintage ale. Taste is pleasantly toffee sweet with some nice earthy hops mixing it like a prize fighter on meths. The juxtapositioning of the sprightly bitterness with the lanquid sweetness results in a thesis of some interest and consideration which does invite further investigation. The alcohol is well used to add body amd warmth without ever being rough or bullying. I wasn't expecting to be as impressed as the seductive beast made me. Gift from Nuffield. Gawd bless you guv'nor!

Pours an opaque dark brown with a minimal off-white head with decent lacing. The aromas are of raisins and dates along with a slight banana scent. Smooth mouthfeel with heavy bitterness on the tongue. Flavors of honey, sugar and a little sweetness. Great balance of hops and malt. A little syupy going down, but a smooth syrup.

It's a bit funny, but I managed to sample this twice in the same weekend while in Atlanta. Deep brown with a splash of ruby. It's very hoppy, but it's hoppy more on the bittering end than on the aroma end. There's a bit of barley wine fruit going on and I keep picking up something that makes me think of smoke. It's not strong smoke so if it was intentional, it's subtle. The finish is a lingering bitterness from the hops. It should age nicely.

Cloudy Brown, Nice tan head. Sweet ceral aroma - Capt'n Crunch, maybe? Nice hop bitterness, and a sizeable malt flavor. Earthy and woodsy through out. Oily, viscous mouthfeel. Sampled at Ratebeer Southeastern Gathering, Atlanta, 2004.

Sample glass, RateBeer Southeastern Gathering. Lovely brown sugar-ish malt with an assortment of light spices in the aroma. Medium brown body. Very sweet and bitter with a nice acidity. Medium body, oily texture, soft carbonation. The bottom line is: I wish I could see how this will taste in about 8 months from now; oh wait, I can; thanks Mike, you rock!