Bells Hopslam

Brewed by Bells Brewery
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Kalamazoo, Michigan USA

Great IIPA. Powerful hop aroma and flavor, but well balanced. Nice orange and gold color Aroma was of cascade hops, some pine; citrus and floral. Sticky palate. Flavor was sweet/malty and first, but hops shine through. Great balance; very drinkable, well for me atleast. Fruit and citrus also present. Alcohol was not too present.

Batch 7690 ~ Packaged on October 25, 2006

11/20/2006: Wow, my mouth is watering just smelling this beer! The aroma reminds me of a freashly opened can of mandarin oranges in light syrup mixed with some fresh peaches. The beer is a hazy bright orange color with a large foamy, cream-colored head. Even after the head falls, it leaves a nice bubbly crown and heavy, detailed lacing. The flavor is rich and packed with a wonderful apricot/peach hoppiness and a sweet malty base . The long finish is slightly sweet with hints of alcohol, grapefruit, and a smooth hop bitterness. It has a slightly thick body and feels great in the mouth. This beer is extremely well balanced and the alcohol is amazingly well hidden for the 9.5% ABV that’s in there! Be careful with this one because it goes down extremely smooth and fast! Bell’s Hopslam isn’t quite a juicy as Weyerbacher Double Simcoe IPA or sweet and thick as Three Floyds Dreadnaught Imperial IPA. However, it somewhere in between the two and packs a great apriot/peach/orange/grapefruit flavor!

12 fl. oz. bottle. Score: 8/4/9/4/18 = 4.3
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Batch 7690 ~ Packaged on October 25, 2006

11/18/2009: Bell’s Hopslam Ale... Aroma: Still plenty of hops, although not quite as vibrant or juicy, more like aged; dried candied pineapple, red grapefruit, tangerine and clementine peel; some toffee malt. Appearance: Cloudy tarnished gold color; frothy crown; plenty of floaties. Flavor: Plenty of toffee and caramel; moderate bitterness; nice accompanying alcohol burn; aged/dried citrus and apricot; the floral qualities are coming through more now. Palate: Fairly thick, although still very smooth. Overall: This beer has become a very nice barleywine-style ale!

12 fl. oz. bottle. Score: 8/3/8/3/17 = 3.9

Bottle. A hazed golden amber color with a white head. Grapefruit and peach, flowers and spices in the aroma. Honey and citrus, pine, grapefruit, and pineapple in the flavor. Dry and semi-sweet, with a bitter laced finish. This seemed just a little too sweet and unbalanced.

Mazy orange hue, fine slice of bone white froth atop. In the aroma, it’s all pungent, spikey, in-your-face hoppitude! Tropical fruit on top, pineapple, lemon, grapefruit,mango, raw, pulpy and vibrant. Pine forest floor, and more. Slightly sweet citriuc feel, but bitter hop feel dominates. Taste: once more, a charge of hops on the tongue, not delivered too lightly. Same citric flavor storms the palate, but a second after it boards, there’s a nice, creamy relief. Rolls playfully on the tongue, like a cat on the rug preoccupied with string. Each new sip imparts this deliciousness, but despite the huge !BUs and way-up-there ABV, you ’d hardly know it. Amazingly easy to drink, if you’re a hop craver like me. Wow! Tangy, potent hoppy twang never quits the mouth. Incredibly full bodied, long-finished, and commendably created. Mmmm, delicious! A pricey beer, (I paid $14 a 6-pack), but well worth it. One hell of an IPA, and a well-named one! Thanks for delivering the goods, Larry & co! Now, I just can’t wait to tap a keg of it!

Draft at Capital Ale House Innsbrook, part of the post 10k recovery plan. If I had been thinking, which I wasn’t after running 6.2 miles, I would have told Maniac and Starfireming we were going. Oh well. Hey Maniac, they had this on tap again! Medium orange, decent fine head. Aroma was hop focused, mostly grapefruit with a touch of pine. Some gummy malts hold it all together nicely, biscuit flavors barely emerging, while the focus remains squarely on a standard hop offering of grapefruit, pine, and a touch of pineapple. Nice stuff here.

22.11.06 12oz bottle, Batch 7690, via trade with OhioDad. Nice looking stuff is orange gold, clouded, some visible sediment, and an off-white head that recedes quickly to a thin film. The aroma is pleasant, inviting, with much citrus - mostly resembling those kickass oranges I got a Wegmans a couple months back - and some strong grassy earthtones (hay) that I did not expect. Background aromas are catty, tropical, and there’s something tucked away in there that’s like artificial pineapple flavor. Body is alive with mild eff keeping the beer feeling light and quenching. Good bitterness from front to back. The flavors really expose the catty hops, especially retronasally, and yet the predominant lingering flavor is of more citrus, almost a marmalade on light biscuits...but not quite that sweet. Very nice stuff and worth a second look but the overall impression I get it that of a very nicely done beer that turns me off slightly because of the variety of hops being used. I can see easily how this beer is held in such high regard. Oh, and, HOLY CRAP I just saw that this brew is 9.5 percent. I’d never have guessed it over 6.5. Well done making such a drinkable beer with such massive credentials!

bottle, batch 8913, honey colored pour with decent off white fading head, aromas of grapefruit and girl scout cookies, flavors of bitter resiny, sour grapefuit with a sweetly pineapple finish, well done

Bottle. Strong resin and grapefruit nose, light flowers and fruitiness, very inviting. Clear orange pour with a huge creamy / foamy / lacy head. Strongly bitter hop juice, resin and hops, delicious sticky hoppy aftertaste. Oily full palate. Distilled buds, I say! Extreme and perfectly to style, yet repeatable - I could have two of these every night. ... Also, double-take on seeing masterfully-hidden alcohol pct. - seriously, my eyes bugged, I couldn’t be convinced this had 9.5%

Having tried a year-old bottle last week and followed it up with the really fresh stuff [8283], I’m a re-dedicated fan - one of the drinkable doubles.