Bells Christmas Ale

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

12 oz bottle. Poured most of it but left some sediment in the bottle- still tons of tiny yeasty chunks floating through a dull amber with low carb, and a thinning head- and very spoty lace. Aroma is a flatt dull caramel malt,ligth toffee, slight earth, low fruity esters, and some ligth citrus and herbal hops with a light spruce character. Flavor is a dull caramel malt, toffee, light paper oxidation, dry medium burnt toast, and a dry papery finish. ok.

Nice dry beer, not as full bodied as other Scotch ales i have tried. Small fruit and nutmeg.

Hazy amber/nut-brown, small beige head. Sweet, candyish caramel malt rules the nose. Same in the flavor, a little more malt and less candy. Moderate, oddly carbonated body, short finish. Pretty bland stuff.

Batch 8803 ~ Packaged on October 27, 2008

12/10/2008 and 12/21/2008: Bell’s Christmas Ale pours a cloudy, orange/copper color (similar to caramelized sugar) with an average off-white to ivory-colored head forming. There really isn’t much aroma at all at first, but as it warms some toast, soft caramel malt, brown sugar, and citrus around the edge starts to come out. The flavor is grainy with some toasty/roasty malt and slight coffee (think cheap and nutty) becoming noticeable. This beer is quite DRY throughout along with some clementine peel bitterness. It has a medium-light body, dry mouthfeel, and is somewhat difficult to get down. Overall the flavor is very weak and disapponting. This beer is nowhere near being a Scotch Ale in any way. It may be able to pass as a Dark Lager or mediocre Amber Ale at best. This is one of the most disappointing Bell’s beers that I have ever had to this point!

12 fl. oz. bottles. Rating #167 for this beer. Score: 5/3/5/2/8 = 2.3
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Batch 8803 ~ Packaged on October 27, 2008

11/17/2009: Bell’s Christmas Ale... Well, it has been nearly a year later now and this beer tastes exactly as it did before. It definitely hasn’t improved any. It is just as disappointing as before. Overall, this is my least favorite Bell’s beer by quite a large margin.

12 fl. oz. bottle. Score: 5/3/6/3/8 = 2.5

Sampled from a 12 oz brown bottle this beer poured a bright orange-amber color with a large tan head. The aroma was malty, sweet, toasty, nutty and fruity. The flavor was sweet with strong notes of caramel and fruity hops. There was a nutty, toasty middle with a touch of sweet nutmeg. The finish was long with caramel and nutmeg lingering. Excellent.

Bottle thanks to 17thfloor. Clear amber with creamy, medium beige head. Aroma is apple juice like, sweeter, yeast, light cinnamon. Sweeter, apple flavor, cinnamon, slight bitterness, some grass and only the slightest peet but I have to search for it. Medium, well carbonated body. Interesting, but different, sweeter.

Bottle Pours a hazy amber with a good off white head. The head is creamy and lasting. It looks awesome. Pretty good lacing also. Has a sweet aroma of fruits, caramel, and cinnimon. Has good carbination and mouthfeel. The flavor is good not too sweet and spicy. Very well blended and a medium body. Apretty good finish. This is a tasty beer. A step away from the normal.

[Bottle] Pours reddish-amber with an ok khaki head that leaves good lacing. The aroma is quite sweet--fruity, with golden delicious apple, plum and pear mostly. Some unpleasant vegetal notes also appeared as it warmed. The taste yields a good dose of hops when cold, followed by quite a bit of barley. Bitterness is restrained, and the shift between malt and hops is sharp. Decent mouthfeel, but hardly any finish to speak of. Pretty simple in the taste, and not an overly remarkable beer in any respect.