Bells Christmas Ale

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

(12oz. bottle) Pours a clear amber body with a small off-white head. Aroma of pine, toasted grain, and hay. Flavor of roasted malt, hops (pine, earthy), and caramel.

Bottle, John’s Grocery in Iowa City. Nice basic copper, just off white skim of bubbles. Warm malt with a clove phenol and a little sour bile note. Crisp carbonation bite cuts through the malt sweetness, making way for a medicinal finish. The overall impression of having a dose of the wash from a peaty whiskey mixed into an otherwise straight-up amber ale. It’s not unpleasant, but it’s a bit less of a unified experience than I usually expect from Bells.

12oz via trade with alexsdad, a new bells and a scotch ale is nice for me. Low ratings aside glad to try it. Pours orange with a bright white ring. Nose is sweet. Taste is hoppy and bitter and by means anything resembling a good scotch ale.

Crushed with Jakebra. Its aight. Take this and Backwoods Bastard, absolutely no contest, but Id drink her again.

Bottle back from Greensboro at Christmas. Scotch is not my first impression of this guy but hey, I am not categorizing these things. Pours a pretty looking deep ruby red color with an offwhite head that lasts for a bit. Aroma of cherry and caramel malt. Finish is a bit bitter and hoppy. Flavor is mainly grain and caramel sweetness. The grain is more on the toasted side. Some red fruit, cherry, in there as well. After the toasted grain though everything else is a bit of an afterthought.

12oz. Bottle: Aroma of caramel, malts, toasting, slight maple syrup, grains, cereal, slight fruit, and a hint of noble hops. Poured orange/amber with a hint of copper in color and a large, dense, creamy, beige head that diminished but lasted throughout. Cloudy. Lightly sparkling. Full of medium and large-sized particles throughout. Excellent lacing. Flavor is light to medium sweet and lightly bitter. Tastes of malts, grains, caramel, hops, water, minerals, and some yeast. Light to medium body. Slightly sticky, dry texture. Average carbonation. Sweet, grain, and hops finish is dry. How is this a Scotch Ale???

amber reddish pour with a small off white head. Aroma is malt and spice. Flavor has more malt...and a bit of spice. nothing really to pick up from this one. Rather flat finish with not much going on. Mehhhhh.

12oz bottle. Clear amber in color with a minimal head. Funky aroma with lots of malt. Malty flavor with some spice and a nice hop finish. Better than I expected based upon what others told me.