Bells Eccentric Ale

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

Thanks to Duane for sharing this one. From the 2004 batch and sampled at the end of 2006. The body was dark red with a medium khaki colored head. The aroma was chocolate with some toffee and old leather. There was also some nice dank moss. The taste was like a root cellar with some leather. There was also cinnamon and some nice bread crust. This was solid and I liked the hint of oxidation in this one.

Paper notes from the Falls Tasting / 2006 YeHA!. Aroma is floral, with a ginger note evident. Pour is a cloudy light brown with a lacey head. Flavor is loaded with a malty-sweetness, some spice, and the ginger note remains. Marvelously complex with a lingering sweetness.

Thick, syrupy sweetness. Lots of spices, pumpkin, caramel, vanilla. Lots of rich flavors going on. The ABV is not really noticed, just a nice warming going down. Excellent winter brew.

reddish brown body with no head..aroma huge in spice, nutmeg, pumpkin, and alcohol..flavor is very similar to the aroma..heavy in spices/heavy malt profile...nice, thick mouthfeel...good beer, but a tad one-dimensional

Had a few on tap during Eccentric Day 2006 and the day after. An extremely sweet malty beer with a bourbon aftertaste. Goes down extremely smooth. The one I had after Eccentric Day looked and tasted a lot less heavy as the stuff they had the night before. Worth trying at least once.

bottle ’05. Pours a cloudy amber-ruby color with tan colored head. Aroma of sweet malt, ginger, burnt sugar. Flavor is malt, alcohol, burnt surgar, wood, chocolate, spice. Palate is full bodied, resinous, sticky, hot. Good brew, just not my thing.

2006. Batch 7799. Szechuan peppercorns mingle with crystallized ginger. Floral. Tropical musk. Light fruit and malt. Dewy. Earth on a rainy spring morning. Fresh. Delightful nose as always. Pours a very dark, oily mahogany, with this ridiculous overly soapy bread crumb-colored head. Amazing lacing. Flavor is dense and peculiar. Alcohol pervades over some coffee and pan-caramelized notes. Hotness quickly settles in amongst the nuance spice notes. The honey peeks through. A rounded fruitness carries the ginger across a field of plum liquor. Very soft and supple. Creamy. A wildly intoxicating full beverage. Lots of flavors and even some oxidation. This one isn’t as sharp and defined as previous years I’ve had, but it’s still a fantastic beer. There’s some fleshy pumpkin-like flavor in the backend. Hops glow in the smack, with a fresh spinach patois. Not as muddy as I would have expected with all the ingredients listed on the bottle this year. There’s a little more roast edge in this rendition. Thanks again Sean for another year of my favorite spiced beer! 2007.12oz Bottle. Batch#K8309. Classic malty, ginger-hued, barleywine, yeast, alcohol aroma. Somehow less enticing this time around. A bit saccharin. Pours a dark, dark ruby-cornered brown, with a soapy white rim. Flavor is still solid, with some wild hippy store bulk section, buckwheat honey, and molasses. This is sweeter than I remember, somehow. Alcohol meshes well with sugars and spice character. This isn’t faring well. Bubblegum and dust bring up the backend. Too much sickly yeast character and little desirable hop front. Chewy, spicy and licorice-like. I’m a little disappointed that the ginger profile has been subdued and that the spice edge has been brought up. This really seems like beer-candy now, but retaining the classic profile this beer has in recent years always been uniquely known

2002 bottle. Pours like thin old honey. all carbonation has been visably lost, leaving only a viscous chestnut brown liquide stitting errily still in my glass. Huge carmel, malt, and herbal hops in the nose along with something else but it drowned out by the big barlywine like nose. Much is the same in the mouth. Big thick mouthfeel, dates, prunes, ,brown sugar, a little alcohol, and raisons. Finishes with honey, a lingering green bitterness, and a decent puff of alcohol.