Bells Hopslam

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

To be honest, I had no idea on what style this was when I had it. Received thru a trade with Ogglethorp (thanks!). Aroma is really outstanding with huge notes of grapefruit coming thru. I didn’t get really much else because the hops were so overpowering. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much else than grapefruit in the nose. Mouthfeel was a bit harsh but nothing too bad. Flavors were grapefruit, lemons and a little malt. My buddy I was tasting it with described the flavors as being ragged and he was dead-on. There wasn’t anything clean or refined about this. It was good drinking, but I think due to the overpowering one hop taste and aroma I couldn’t drink more than one. There is something to be said about mixing things up a bit.

So I’m casually checking out what my local place with 16-20 taps (Isaac Newton’s) has and I realize they have this beauty on tap - one I’ve been trying to get my hands on for awhile. So I rush out with growler in hand. I hope a case of this happens to land in my local store, but in the mean time I’m psyched to try another highly rated beer from one of my top 4 or 5 favorite breweries (albeit, only about an hour after trying a great Pizza port IPA). Sounds like a challenge/treat for my hop lovin’ palate. Nice looking copper/caramel color with medium sized foamy head. Sweet floral hop aroma with substantial sugary malt goodness in the nose. Sweet and sticky hop flavor is wonderful! Tastes from bitter to sweet roll across the tongue in a fantastic tasting brew! Sweet malts mix with wonderful hop taste. This is probably the smoothest DIIPA I’ve had and I just want more. Bells Rules!

(Bottle, thanks Hopscotch and Ughsmash) Pours hazy, juice like orange. Very hoppy, tropical fruit juice aroma with tones of passion fruit, lychee, grapefruit, mango, peach, tangerine, oranges and smaller notes of grass, resin and pine. Also rather sweet with notes of caramel. Very fruity, hoppy flavour with tones of grapefruit, pine, lychee, orange peel and peach. Medium sweet and Medium to full bitter. Rather dryish. Extremely clean hop peppery mouthfeel. Lingering hop bitter and fruity aftertaste. Medium to full body. A perfect, has it all, IIPA.

Orangish amber in color, huge semi rocky, off-white head, great lacing. Poured into a GI IPA glass, has perfect appearance. Aroma has all kinds of carribean fruit up front, mango, pineapple, peach, tangerine some lemon and orange zest. Malt backbone lacks a bit, assuming bigger than aroma indicates, because at 9.5% there is no alcohol detectable whatsoever. Flavor again all kinds of fruit and citrus zest. Lots of resins, first time pine shows up at all, is in the finish. I don’t get much malt, but not all too unbalanced. Great oily/sticky mouthfeel. My daily drinker right now, can’t get enough of the stuff. Re-rate batch 7775, huge pine through and through, would score 9/5/8/4/17-4.3, still very nice, just prefer the huge fruit characters. Most always keep the higher rating though.

Hops and Honey lace this exquisitely drinkable beer. Extra points for such a smooth drinking 10% balance out the somewhat hefty pricetag. A seasonal brew that I will look forward to every year.

Big time shout out to da Illinismitty for this brew. Pours an extra cloudy orange with a little white head. The nose on this one is super fresh. Hops come out in a very citrusy fashion with strong herbal, maryjane notes. Lots of definition on this nose, very spicy but not biting. The flavor is not all the bitter, but filled with grapefruit and lemon. Malts are medium sticky and balance things out quite well. The finish lets some biting citrus presence nip the tongue just a bit more. This is a very tasteful, clean, and fresh tasting IIPA. Not really a monster like some others in the style, which is neither a good or bad thing.
[Feb 24, 2008]
Bottle split with Tronraner. Man, Hopslam destroys. There is a ridiculous amount of fresh, herbal, citrusy hop quality in the aroma. Deep, spicy pine, grapefruit, ganja. The whole nine yards. Mouthfeel is sticky with loads more hop devastation and a smooth, malt presence to balance out things. Perfectly clean and deep.

Bottle 7806 from The_Epeeist. Pours with a little head of large bubbles that die immediately. Quickly fading small bubble surround the hazy orange-amber color. Nice strong hop aroma on the pour, but fades to very mild long-boil malty caramel honey notes. I taste a mellow, well blended hop-malt infusion. Heavy body. Not a hop bomb like I expected, but an excellent brew. I wonder if it has been aged a little.

On tap at the Oldsmar Tap House (FL) on 3/15/08. Pours dark, clear golden with a thick, frothy head. Strong grapefruit and citrus aroma, very hoppy. Flavor: grapefruit, citrus, with a bitter start and finish.