Bells Expedition Stout

Brewed by Bells Brewery
Style: Imperial Stout
Kalamazoo, Michigan USA

Bottle. 12 fl. oz. Pitch black color with brown, rocky head resembling chocolate mousse. Excellent lacing. Sweet, rich aroma of cocoa, sugar, coffee, and alcohol. This seriously smells like a dessert. Very thick, full body with a velvety smooth texture. So thick it is almost like a melted milkshake. Its initial flavor is moderately sweet, but eventually taken over by a wonderful, heavy bitter ending that seems to refuse to go away. Man, this is a cool beer.

Bottle. Heavy malt aromas of dark bread, molasses, and dark chocolate, moderate perfume smell for the hops, light earth and broth for the yeast, with raisin, wine and alcohol in the background. Head is light brown, frothy with fair lacing and is mostly diminishing. Color is black, but I did see some small particles at the bottom of the glass. Flavor starts moderately sweet and lightly acidic, then the long finish is moderately sweet and bitter, and just a touch sour. Palate is full bodied, between creamy and syrupy, and has a soft carbonation. It finishes lightly alcoholic. Bold in every respect. A great, almost perfect Imperial Stout.

Bottle, gift from mcbackus. Tantalizing pour of thick black with thick tan head. Aroma of fresh macchiato, vanilla bean, and a big slice of tiramisu. Creamy silky mouthfeel. Long lingering big sophisticated and strong body. Filled with whole coffee beans, freshly roasted and ground. Black forest cake emerges later. Superior stuff. A gorgeous brew to celebrate rating #1000!

Very nice imperial stout with an initially hot alcohol taste (as a 1st beer of the night) that becomes more smooth as you get into the bottle. It has a nice rich and smooth malty taste. My only compliant is the hot taste but its understandable considering the size of this beer. I suspect it will be much better in 6-8 months.

Bottle. Gorgeous, perfect tight-bubbled head. Aroma of coffee, chocolate; rich roasted malt and its counterparts. A touch light for the flavor to come, but I’m not going to complain it under a 9. Flavor has little bits of everything, in addition to the notes in the aroma (which become stronger in the mouth), plums, raisins, prunes (none too harsh or prevalent), bitter hops (also never override the sweet richness). Palate is on the sweet side, but for me the hops dried it out perfectly for an imperial stout, that is enough to keep it from syrupiness without the hops taking over the flavor profile and not even touching all that richness in the aroma. Absolutely awesome. 9-5-10-5-19/4.8

Rerate 4/23/09 Bottle, Batch 4728. Aroma of coffee, lots of molasses, a bit of tobacco, vanilla, big roasted malt, sweet alcohol, chocolate ice cream, smoked wood, citrus...wow. Flavor again big on the roast and molasses along with a dried fruit character that I didn’t find in the aroma. Increasing citrus hop notes toward the finish work really well with the chocolate and molasses notes. Everlasting roasted notes with a hint of coffee continue to linger on the tongue. Thick, viscous mouthfeel. Intense and lovely. I sat down to rerate this thinking I would score it lower if I put myself to the task, but no, I really do think it’s that good. 9-4-10-5-20/4.8

Bottle. Pours a dark black with the most beautiful dark brown/red head, as thick as a milkshake, man I can’t wait to drink this! Aroma of chocolate, coffee, roast, sweet aroma (the aroma is probably the weakest component of the beer). Flavor of similar chocolate, coffee, roast, light alcohol, sweet sweet malt with a bitter hops finish. So rich, probably one of the richest beers I’ve ever had. The mouthfeel is just incredible. Although it is rich, it is fairly smooth and easy to drink. The best Imperial Stout that I’ve had to date--just super awesome and I’m so sad we don’t get this in NY. 8/5/10/5/18 (4.6/5)

Rerate, batch 8728. I think my tastebuds have evolved since my initial sampling of this beer. Now I find it rather boozy with some burnt malt notes. Plenty of other complexities: roasted malt, light bitter chocolate, dark fruits, prune, raisin. My overall impression is that this is too boozy. And it’s no longer one of my favorite impys. So I changed the score. 8/4/8/4/15 (3.9/5)

Thanks inkubus27. Pours black with a fluffy tan head. Aroma is chocolate, coffee and molasses. Taste is very creamy and complex. Tastes like coffee, chocolate, molasses and tart cherries, very rich. Very thick mouthfeel, with a nice biting finish.

12 oz bottle into a goblet. Motor oil color with tan head that disappeared quickly. Bitter malty chocolate smell, very rich. Very complex taste. Some cherry hidden in chocolate, bitter, coffee. Very viscous, thick mouthfeel that you can chew. A beer for the very discerning.