Bells Eccentric Ale

Brewed by Bells Brewery
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
Kalamazoo, Michigan USA

2003 Vintage, forgotten about bottle, accidently aged in my garage for approximately one year. Dark ruby/brown color. Powerfully aromatic, with notes of oxidation, spices, squash and pumpkin. Taste is fantastic with holiday spices, ginger, perfect sweetness. It’s aged great. This is a mighty fine big pumpkin ale. I wish I had more.

Batch 6688 / ’03. Beer is cloudy, medium/dark oxidized brown. Head is small, white, frothy, rapidily and mostly diminishing.<P>The aroma is malty with with light notes of roasted grain, caramel; Hoppy with a light note of minty herb; Yeasty with a light note of attic; Excellent miscellaneous notes of moderately weighty brown sugary mushed pumpkin and sweet potato, warm alcohol, pumpkin pie spices, little oxidation.Promise to try a fresher bottle when there’s an opportunity.<P>The flavor is heavily sweet, lightly/moderately bitter with a long, warm, lightly acidic, moderately bittersweet finish.<P>The body is full, the texture is syrupy and the carbonation is soft.

OK, this rating is sort of wierd. I have never tried a fresh version of this beer, but I tried a bottle on saturday at the brewery that was from 1995. So, I assume the flavor was drastically different. Poured with no head, smelled sweet, malty, some spice. Taste was super smooth, with tiny bubbles, rich and sweet, some spice, with super long after taste. Hardly any alcohol taste, all the flavors were blended together. Wouldn’t drink it all the time, but very interesting brew. Re-Rate: Tied this fresh (still a year old) at eccentric day. Very interesting and deep flavor, spices, chocolate, dark fruits and lots more. Nice beer thats very different.

1995 Vintage at Eccentric Cafe. This was very interesting. Dark red/brown color with almost no carbonation or head. Aroma was extremely spicy, almost smelled like a ginger beer, but with some alcohol. Flavor was sweet malty barleywine as a backbone with lots of spice in the middle and finish, especially ginger. This had a very sharp and almost bitter finish due to the spicyness, I found this very intriguing. I tried this next to a 1999 vintage that my buddy was drinking which did not have nearly the same amount of spice. Overall this was an interesting beer to try once.

Bottle from Styles. Thanks! ’04 Vintage. Lots of toffee, hops, caramel and some brown sugar in the aroma. I’m suprised by the amount of hops still in this beer. Deep brown in color with an average head. Full palate. The flavor is reminiscent of an aged barleywine for sure, something along the lines of Hardys. Lots of brown sugar, malt and toffee at first, but a nice dose of hops to make things interesting. Excellent beer.

2005 bottle courtesy of silphium, oh so many thanks. Shared with my pal Carl. Pours cloudy mollasses brown with a thin tan head. Aroma is very strong and sweet portending potency. The taste is wonderful has brown sugar quality, sweetness alcholic punch and some oakyness as well. Te taste really lingers and rolls over my mouth not gviing up. Really very complex and intriguing and altogether tasty.

2005 Bottle courtesy of Silphium: Pours a hazy mahogany color with just a wisp of a head. Aroma, peaty, slightly smoky, woody, some raisins and other fruits, slight spicing. Flavor, caramel and molasses up front, followed by some fruits, woody and earthy notes, some spice. Very faint alcohol in this one. This held up very well. Really nice beer. Gonna have to go to eccentric day now. 4.2

On tap @ Brew’s Cafe: 2007 Vintage: Pours brown with an off white head. Aroma, black licorice, molassas, lots of spices. Flavor, licorice, some earthiness, spices, minty. This just came off a lot stronger than I remembered. Probably due to this being much younger that the bottle I had. 3.3

Bottle is several years old, I had it for 2-3 years in the cellar and no telling how long it was aged before I got it. Pours murky mud colored with just a hint of carbonation. Aroma is brown sugar, woodsy. Initial flavor is milk chocolate, caramel, brown sugar followed by a rush of alcohol and woodsy, earthy hops and a moderate to full bitterness. Lingering, alcohol burn. Is this a barleywine? This bottle may have been on the decline.