Bells Christmas Ale

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

Bottle. Pours a dark amber color with a small nutty off white head. Nose is spicy hops with a light sticky malt note hidden. Palate is full and smooth with a light stickiness. Flavor is clean, lightly spicy hop notes with a nice sticky malt note as well. very well done and sessionable.

pours amber, copper bubbly aqt first with a decent head that soon dies. Heavy aroma nose of honey, floral and grassy. Has a strong alchohol kick and a very heavy carbonation sting. Carbonation is boosted with gas. Has a bit of ginger and a cinnamon like undertone. A good brew...

Malty, hoppy mediocrity with a hint of some seasonal spices, though not overpoweringly so. Simple Christmas ale.

Sampled from 12 oz bottle. Poured a amber/copper color with a medium sized whitish color. Aromas are hops, citrus, notes of grass, malts. It’s pretty hoppy, hoppier than I expected from a "Christmas" beer - but not overwhelming. Nice and crisp, the beer is quite refreshing.

Fresh 12oz bottle. Pours copper/amber with a craggy off-white head with some nice retention and lacing. Nose is quite hoppy, grassy, some citrus, some caramel malt background. For a "malt driven" beer this sure is hoppy. I quite enjoyed this, a real caramel-ly pale ale with some nice muted citrus grapefruit hops, spicy, restrained bitterness. A mild fruitiness from the yeast(?) with a clean finish.

Batch 9431 ( where is 9000) I missed out on this last year so I had to jump all over it this time pour was dark amber with frothy off white head, aromas are off light malts grains, and hops tasted more like a irish ale than a scotch ale well I really didn’t miss out on this its very disappointing when your expecting a malt bomb and get this rather very weak and thin version shame on you larry give us what we want I dont know maybe alesmith ruined me forever

12oz bottle. Pours a crystal clear, copper-orange body with a finger-width, frothy, off-white head that dissipates quickly and leaves a moderate lacing. Aroma is malt forward with a berry fruitiness to it. Sweet candy caramels, some peat, and an earthy orange peel. Flavor is intially bold, but is quick to fade and ends up being pretty thin. More of a toasty caramel joins the rest of the sweet malts up front for more of a scotch ale malt taste than the aroma led me to believe. A lightly peppered bread malt comes in during the middle with more fruits before this finishes with a slightly spicy orange peel, moderate earthy bitterness. Dry with a medium length aftertaste of resiny pines that didn’t really show up until now and some toasty caramels. Medium body and smooth, although like I said earlier, somewhat thin and watery feeling. Overall, more hops than most scotch ales, but I didn’t find it to work the best with this one. The flavor is enjoyable, but for the most part, this was average.

Poured orange. Nose was weak sweet malt and some floral hops. Flavor was mild hops, sweet malt, toasted grains, hints of fruits. Drinkable, but overall underwhelming.