Bells Hopslam

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

Oh Sweet Lord! This stuff is GOOD! Similar to Three Floyds Alpha King, but with a bit more alcohol, but well covered up by the powerful hop taste. Had this in a 16oz on draught.

Draft at KClingers. Bright orange-yellow with a thin layer of white foam. Holy crap ... this is one of the biggest hop-fruit aromas I’ve ever experienced, almost orange-blossomy. Follows with the same flavors, big and oily, tart and tangy, like an orange soda on steroids. (#2649, 1/14/07) <<Rerated from a bottle, 2/16/08, ... same impressions! Wow!>>

Wow. Perfect pour. Sweet, balanced nose with a touch of fruit and honey. It’s very crisp but full tasting and very drinkable.

2007 edition. Draft at Dilly Deli in Cincinnati,OH. Oh I liked this a lot! Has a huge hop aroma for such a big beer - 10%. The citrus hop aroma and flavor is just bursting throughout. The 70 IBU rating seems a little low for an IPA@, but there is more to a great beer than IBU, late addition flavor/aroma hops contibute greatly to a beer without affecting the IBUs all that much. This beer will warm your heart and soul. GREAT JOB BELL’S!!!

Thick, syrupy pour with a pillowy white head. Nice pine resin aroma. Flavors of juicy grapefruit, pine and earth, semi sweet with the perfect bitter balance. One of the best 2IPA’s I’ve had.

Bottle from the Beer Yard. Pours turbid dark straw with floaties. Aroma is huge tropical fruit, resiny hops, mango, black pepper, tangerine, honeydew, peach, guava. The flavor is tropical fruity, very hoppy, balanced well by caramel malt, with the mango, tangerine, honeydew, even watermelon hints, plus pineapple and papaya. Very complex aroma and flavor. Toward the finish, it gets a bit dry and a tad astringent. Take 2 parts Stone 10th, add 1part Weyerbacher 11, a dash of Dreadnaught, and a syringe full of Hop Whompus, and you have this beer. Just marvelous!

Bottle from JCapriotti. Thanks! Pours a decent amber with dense shading and a slight head. Little lacing to speak of in the glass. Aroma is an assault of grapefruit, pine, and orange; hints of peach and strawberry as well, but they never become the focus of your olfactory center. Woah! THIS is what an IPA should be: a biting, unrepentive, ruthless and downright brutal slam of grapefruit, pine, orange, and floral hops on the tongue. This beer kicks your butt AND steals your lunch money AND impregnates your girlfriend. Not for the faint of heart, but definitely for gluttons of punishment.

Number 600. 12 ounce bottle poured in to a snifter. Texas orange with a short lived creamy color head. Very clear. Orange pith, wet grass, simple syrup, honey, maybe maple are in the nose. Lots of tongue coatig grapefruit and tropical hop flavor the finishes with a pleasant bitterness. Flavor lasted from front to back for several seconds. It keeps going and going. Thin and light on the palate, a sixer of this could go down in no time. My new favorite Bells? It certainly doesn’t beat out Expo, even though its more drinkable. Your night my last longer with Two Hearted. I think Hopslam beats it out though.