Bells Eccentric Ale

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

Poured by Larry Bell at the Great Taste of the Midwest, Madison, 2005. 1996 vintage. My wife and I were among the last to sample this one from the 9 year old bottle, and as a result, our sample was fairly loaded with sediment and yeast. I must say, Eccentric is the proper descriptive. Notes of clove, cinnamon, allspice, juniper, apple, sour cherry come out on the nose and on the palate. I get more darker flavors on the palate as well: molasses and carmalized sugar. The bottle was likely past its prime, unfortunately. RERATE: Larry poured a 2004 version at the 2008 Great Taste. I liked this considerably better, and it seems to age rather impressively. True it’s a bit too spiced for my liking (I’m never been a big fan of Christmas ales -- essentially anything I can taste nutmeg, clove, and ginger), but this was solid. Cheers to Larry, and sorry for the initial low rating!

muddy brown colour. aroma of booze, sticky candy, toffee-ish malt, soy, roast. flavours of chocolate, dried fruit, smokemeat broth and soapy hops. slow burn alco finish. very nice to finally get to try.

RBSG ’05 - as several raters before me thought, i was banking on this being a barley wine, as it presented with the cloudy brown color, very little head, and caramel malt +grassy hop aroma that many BW’s possess. the flavors were verry much the same, and i didnt get much in the spice department. the aftertaste was slighly hoppy and left a slick feeling in my tounge, and just a bit of the abv made it through.

I’m getting barley wine with this one, too. Murky brown in color, thin tan head. Quite malty, sweet, some booze, light spice. Medium to full bodied, the booze is a bit hot even for a 2002 bottle. Pretty nice though, I’d drink again.

Pours hazy/muddy brown with a minimal off white head. Fruity spiced bread nose. Butterscotch booze and hop resin. Booze, berries, candy sugar. Boullion and smoke. Sticky hot alcohol warming finish. If I didn’t know any better this could easily be a barleywine. I have been waiting ages to try this and it did not dissapoint.

RBSG 2002 bottle This pours a hazy medium brown with a small head. Heavy malt aroma that is backed up by good solid malt flavors. Smooth palate, not overly sweet. well balanced Barleywine style brew.

Many a thanks to BBB63 for the beer. This pours a thick brown color, very cloudy and almost no head. This beer has a lot going on with it. The aroma is jam packed full of hops, cider, oak, brown sugar, cinnamon, orange peel, chocolate and clove. Flavor is like a thick appley grain combo, with more of the brown sugar, caramel, and oak coming back for an attack.. Very little to no alcohol presense. Palate is smooth and round off with the slightest bitterness. This reminds me of Old Horizontal, which is about the nicest thing I can say for a beer.

Neck label states 2003 - Pours out burnt orange, no carbonation present as the last quarter of the bottle is all but thick yeast sturring the orange into a tornado of brown sludgey mud. No head, no lace. It sits like milk. Chunky flakes of yeast float around as if in space. Hefty lush aroma with tons of chewy soft caramel, spicy claro tobacco leaves, scorched orange and pineapple, big blackened piney hops, and evocatively rich, big alcohol noting to that of a spiked milkshake. Heavenly. This is dreamy. Thick, lush, warm, and palate soaking caramel malt lightly laced with chocolate alcoholic warmth. Then slipping off to a trailing sweeter tropical fruity center of shish kabobed pineapple, orange, and dates wrapped in a dark and rugged piney hop bitterness. The onslaught continues. Earthen tobacco. More chocolate laced heat, more caramel, more really dark hops. Again, more chocolate. Its a three course meal of flavor and length. Heavenly. Super lush feel; thick, full, warming, returns and returns of layered chocolate, heat, caramel, and touches of earth. Finish gains a cosmicly ragged but bitterly acceptable full hop cone of dripping pine sap. Coats the back of the throat late with creamy leftover caramel, fruits, chocolate, and tobacco. Heavenly. If you like Third Coast Old Ale as much as I do, you’ll like this just as much if not more. Comes across as a barleywine in my book. Big. Burly. Strong. Loaded. Lengthy. Large. Lush. Pushy. Perfect.