Bells Java Stout

Brewed by Bells Brewery
Style: Stout
Kalamazoo, Michigan USA

Thanks to Crizay for my dessert coffee fix here. Pours black with a medium sized tan-khaki head, dissipating somewhat quickly. Aroma is straight up coffee beens, but more specifically, it’s like going to the bulk department and scooping a bunch of beans into a bag to take home. That’s the smell. It’s very earthy with a bit of toffee and dark chocolate, but it’s a strong earth smell more than roast. Tastes really balanced with dark chocolate, chocolate milk, fresh earthy coffee, dirt, sticks, and toast. Finishes with a slightly bitter roast, but mainly a smooth earthy taste lingering like buttered toast and lightly charred wood. Medium bodied and medium carbonation, silky feeling. Best thing about this is that it’s SO SMOOTH. Amazingly smooth. Usually coffee beers are the more abravise breeds of stouts, but this is really really good. The coffee taste is smooth, earthy and as far from harsh as you can get. Have I mentioned how smooth this is? Just effortless.

Poured a jet black from the bottle with a trim head of tan foam. Brimming with espresso in the aroma and flavor that is blanced with a mild creaminess. Not ambitious, but highly drinkable.

Bottle @ The Brickskeller.
Black colored brew. Nice aroma of roasted coffee, very intense. Burned coffee in the flavor too. Kinda odd at first, but it’s a nice mixture of the roasted malts and coffee beans. Nice!

Tons of coffee smell & flavor and a creamy mouthfeel. Totally hit the spot on a Sunday morning. Good beer!

12 oz. Bottle. Cellared for a year. Pours an inky black with large bubbles and very little foam. Aroma is intense with a blast of espresso and coffee beans. Flavor mirrors the aroma to a certain extent and is definitely dominated by the roasted coffee flavors. Some bittering hops and hints of vanilla behind all the coffee. The beer feels strongly acidic on the tongue, but the body holds up nicely to mellow out the coffee. Finishes quickly and leaves a slightly tart lingering sensation. Having tried a number of "coffee" stouts, this one is about as potently coffee flavored as they get. Bells has succeeded yet again in making another unique and memorable stout.

This poured black in color with a thin head and there was no hiding the coffee aromas and flavors. It pretty much dominated the beer which made it rather simple but also well made and balanced. Medium-bodied and smooth.

Bottle. No doubt about the strong coffee aroma in this, like espresso. Heavy notes of toasted and molasses for the the malt as well, with light dough and earth for the yeast, faint resin for the hops and vanilla in the background. Head is large, rocky, off-white with good lacing and is mostly lasting. Color is black. Flavor starts heavily sweet and finishes moderately sweet and lightly acidic and bitter. Palate is full bodied, between creamy and syrupy, and has a soft, bordering on flat carbonation. It finishes chewy and lightly drying. I’m not usually a fan of coffee flavored stuff but the essence of the coffee married well with the other components of this Stout.

A smooth stout, with a great coffee flavor. What a combination. Perfect for those cold winter nights. Too bad I can’t get this out in Colorado.