Bells Eccentric Ale

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

2004 bottling, sampled July 2006 (thanks a bunch Emily!): generous off tan foam…extremely dark garnet. Characteristic, yeasty Bells aroma – light alcohol, pine, oak and raw vegetables. Light tingle on the tongue, a bit of grit just in front of a smooth creaminess. Raw hop bitterness and lemon rinds. Hints of vanilla, grass and bourbon. Not quite as complex and spicy as the previous sample…but tasty no less! [7/4/8/4/16 – 3.9]

2001 bottling at the Real Ale Fest (Chicago) 2003: I think that it probably happened in the evening. . . green, red, yellow peppers, snow peas, water chestnuts, carrots, broccoli, celery, zucchini, red cabbage, and a couple of drops of Szechuan style spiced chili oil were all dropped into a large wok and stir fried with hops and barley. The resulting bog of flavours was drizzled into bottles and capped up and sent off to the RAF. The beer oozes out of the bottle and sits thickly in the glass. A complex aroma of raisins, bacon, citrus rinds, and white wine hover over the glass. An intense stir fry of flavours is masterfully balanced with hops, malt and every vegetable I have ever tried from anise to carrots they are all here and sing in harmony with each other. This is the Noah’s ark of beer! [8/3/9/4/16 – 4.0]

2004 bottle courtesy of Styles. Pours a muddy brown with a small, receding tan head. The aroma is amazing, toffee, caramel apples, light oxidation, cherries, some nuts. The flavor is spicey (cinnamon mostly), sweet caramel, molases and chocolates. The mouthfeel is very soft and incredibley creamy.

Opaque plummy appearance, dark and in-depth, slimmish foaming above...I can forgive small faults in this instance. Aroma is amazing, and unearthly, wafts out from cracking the crown...a complex mess of flavors to smell, here, but easily epitomized as barleywinish...brandy, cognac, berries, cherries, dates, spices, ...a little sour, but not much...hard to describe..twisted prunes on a bender..how’s that? Taste: oh, yes...ummm...whoa...doppel, no quadrupelbock, syrup, molasses, fruit, Johnson Brothers,...morass of a melange of a slick, sticky cherries and prunes, on a leather strop..grabs the tongue and rides it long and hard, kicks the sides, sets the spurs in...but gently...although I know the booze is high, here, it comes on as a cloud, and softly settles into the senses... ...gets comfortable in the mouth, but doesn’t pummel it...full flavored, but not destructive...this is astonishing, amazingly good...candyish, in the sweet, liquory effect...holy moly... I can only complain that this ought to be readily available, at the perfect age, and in plentiful supply...of course, and pardon me while I allow the pigs to fly out of my netherside portal. a lururious, luscious absolutely lovely ale...elegant...gorgeous...put this in a liter bottle with a fancy top and extragant bells and whistles, charge $50 a bottle, serve it to yuppies with too much money and tell them it’s cognac. I swear you’ll be successful. But be sure to invite me and give me a taste...this 12 ounce bottle left us too quickly...alas...poor Eccentric Ale, this world is not meant for one as beautiful as you... my glass is empty...poor, poor me...ah, well, life goes on, there are other beers, but not any such as this! Thank you, Larry!

Whoa - this is one killer beer - pours a deep, almost opaque brown (if that’s possible without sediment in the glass) - the aroma reminds me of the stronger rye beers I’ve had (bear republic, sixpoint) - loads of woody, earthy spice, huge nuttiness and chocolate, brown sugar and nutmeg - so much to take in, I can’t possibly detect it all - slick mouthfeel, with minimal carbonation - the flavor is just as intense - the spices and huge hop profile take the stage first, with ginger and cinnamon being the most prevalent, but the huge hop flavor still makes all the other spices its bitch - perfectly balancing sweetness rises from underneath that, with chocolate, caramel, maple syrup and toffee flavors - all of this is followed by deep notes of wood and a kind of mild, earthy/cheesy funkiness that actually compliments the beer quite well - a most unique ale.

A big thank you to StewardofGondor for this beer! 2004 vintage. It’s delicious! What an interesting herbal/spicy beer from Bell’s. As I’m typically a fan of their beers, I’m not surprised that I like this so much, but I’m surprised at its originality. Of course, I wasn’t expecting such a high alcohol content, and I now realize that its going to take me a very long time to finish this! Dark brownish red body, with a dainty off-white head. Heavily spiced aroma with green raisins and ginger. The flavor is bursting with luscious fruits and especially exotic herbs. Eccentric, yes; exotic, yes. Somewhat vinous and wine-like. Very chewy - great mouthfeel. I can’t believe I’m enjoying this at this very warm and muggy time of year, but Yum!

12oz bottle acquired in trade with SuIIy (thanks!). Poured a deep and murky brown with almost no head at all. Lots of floaters. Aromas of spices (duh), soy sauce, toasted malts, caramel, and brown sugar. I swear I’m also getting bourbon and wood - almost to the point that if you gave this to me, I’d guess it was a bourbon, barreled aged beer. Tastes of alcohol, lots of spices (ginger, coriander, and lots more), wood, caramel, brown sugar, and some dark fruitiness. Flat body (with the pour and flat body, I wonder if this is the way it is supposed to be). Very different and Eccentric sums it up very well. Definitely stands out against the recent spiced/herb/vegetable beers I’ve been going through. 8 3 7 2 15 </br>Re-tasted 2004 vintage on 5/20/08. Increased numbers.

Bottle (12oz dated 2004). Via trade with Pailhead. A 11% Spice/Herb/Vegetable? Cool! Poured a very deep murky rust-copper with a decent foamy beige head, kinda odd colour, but I like the look of it. Day-um, that’s a nice aroma - rich toasty malt, alcohol, resiny hops and sweet spices (cinnamon? others?) - really appealing. Taste is ... wow, nice and spicy, I WISH I knew what those are - cinnamon or ginseng, cardomum/num (whatever), lots of fall/winter warming/mulling type spices anyway, plenty of boozy malt and enough resiny hops to give this a bitter finish. Mouthfeel is very astringent , mostly from the alcohol I think, fairly thick and creamy - hell, I’ll say it - this is a spiced barleywine, some woodiness has emerged with aging and it’s smooth as silk ... high octane silk. Thanks a ton for sharing this one, K! My ears are still warm ....

I believe it was BBB63 that sent me this bottle a couple years back… when he was BigBadBear63… wasn’t that it?

Vintage 2002
No carbonation hiss when the bottle was opened. I went for the down the middle pour.. to release some Co2… nothing… flat and dead… then GIGANTIC chunks of sediment came splashing into the glass… I’ll let it all settle before I begin sipping.
Pours a muddled chestnut colored body… dingy and foggy looking. This is definitely a Barleywine or Old Ale of sorts… maybe a Weizen-Bock… Ok... I really don’t know… I just know that I Definitely Don’t know what this is!
Immense fruity flavors, a plethora of brown sugar, figs, dates, plums, a bushel of red apples… Coriander, cardamom, clove, black peppercorn, bay leaf, Pine Sap, it’s exceptionally herbal, but more so directed over toward the molasses syrup side of the spectrum… although there is NO carbonation… I really value the sticky sweet palate… very spicy and somehow dry in the finish… the hops have fallen out and left the spicyness... but not the bitterness... the oxidation plays nicely into the flavoring… I must say… However strange… I Like It!