Bells Best Brown Ale

Brewed by Bells Brewery
Style: Brown Ale
Kalamazoo, Michigan USA

Rated 12/28/06: Good brownie by Bell’s. Aroma is of delicate caramel and toasted dark malt. Lighter brown pour with a sizeable light tan head and spotty lacing. Rich medium bodied mouthfeel, slightly creamy and oh so smooth. This is a pleasant easy drink. Good malt flavor, lightly hopped. Sweet malts with a nutty affect. Good dose of caramel with a sprinkling of coffee. Recommended for everybody this beer should easily appeal to all.

Brown body with no head. Watery nose with sweet malt and faint hops. Watery with a little caramel and toffee malt followed by floral hops.

Color was nothing extraordinary... translucent brown with a creamy white head. Nose has more flowers and perfume than I would have guessed with hints of malt. Flavor is lacking... grainy and yeasty with not a whole lot else. Finish is flat and a little musty. Definitely a Euro brown and not an American brown.

Pours clear brown in color with a small beige head. Aroma is of sweet malts and nuts. The taste is caramel and toffee. Definetely sweet to the mouth, but drinkable.

12 oz. bottle. Sweet, malty aroma of chocolate-covered raisins, plums, and banana bread. Smells like a stronger/bigger beer than a typical brown ale, but now that I know that this weighs in at 6.6% abv, I’m not surprised. No hops scent noticeable. Pours a slightly hazy but mostly clear red-tinted brown color with a large amount of thick, light-tan/cream-colored head. Small amount of bubbling. Produces surprisingly extensive lacing. Very good looking beer. When it comes to the flavors, there are signs that this could have been a very good malt-oriented brew, but, ultimately, it comes up short. Roasted malt taste with a touch of hops bitterness. It’s hard for me to identify specific flavors because all of them are so weak. The taste is light and subdued, and, overall, Bell’s Best Brown Ale is simplistic. It does have the characteristic Bell’s taste that is found throughout the Bell’s line, but it comes in a neutered form. There’s just not much to this beer. Light roasted malt aftertaste. Light bodied. Lively and soft in the palate. Easy to drink and refreshing. This really is not a bad beer despite the sub-3 rating that I have given it. It simply is too insubstantial to rate highly, but it is perfectly drinkable nonetheless.

Poured murky amber brown from a bottle with a few off-white bubbles, brown sugar, caramel, and roast malt aromas, faint almond nut fragrance, roasted malt taste with some sweet, faint rye bread and molasses flavors, has a small to medium hop bitterness, I found this to be very easy drinking.

Pours a murky deep brown with a frothy light brown head. The aroma is a sweet, nutty caramel. Medium-bodied, creamy and soft with a lightly astringent finish, it tastes even better than it smells. A nice, sweet, nutty beer with a slightly dry finish, this one gave me "warm fuzzies". It would be an awesome cool-weather brew, unfortunately it’s in the 80’s right now, so I’ll probably be waiting until this fall to pick up some more. Bell’s makes some truly tasty beers.

Sweet malty aroma with woody notes.Light brown in color with a small but persistant white head. Nutty malty flavor on a thick body.