Bells Java Stout

Brewed by Bells Brewery
Style: Stout
Kalamazoo, Michigan USA

12oz bottle (2009) into a pint glass. Pours pretty solid black with some light showing through the edges with a half-finger milk chocolate head floating above. The aroma is light chocolate and coffee mixed with sweet stout and a hint (jusssst a hint) of alcohol coming through. The flavor is absolutely smooth and complex with milk chocolates, sweet roasted malt, a touch of sour American stout, and just the right amount of fresh coffee blended beautifully into the end of the flavor. This is good stuff!

A: Black as night, with a small espresso colored head. Picture Perfect. S: This one has a wonderful malt smell about it. Of course there are hints of coffee, but you can also smell chocolate and a hint of spice, nutmeg maybe? T: Bell’s never ceases to amaze. This is another solid beer from their ever impressive lineup. The taste is wonderful. It is so simple yet complex. This beer has a taste of a perfectly crafted cafe’ mocha. The malt gives it a wonderful backbone and enhances the taste of fresh brewed dark coffee and chocolate. M: It is very smooth, creamy, with very little bitterness despite the taste of dark coffee and chocolate.

12 oz bottle courtesy of the Binnys singles rack (Orland Park, IL). A beer I’ve been anticipating for awhile. Pours a near pitch black pour, a touch of very dark brown around the edges, opaque, a moderate dark brown head, that bubbles, stays decent sized, laces ok. Aromas are coffee, roasted malts, chocolatey mocha, with more coffee, and a bit of ashy smoke on the palate. Not bad. Initial is heavier bodied, a decent thickness, heavier coffee, roasted malts, dark chocolate, mocha on the palate, a touch of sweetness really sticks, but bitterness and roasty feel is very potent, but goes down nicely. A nice balance, largely roasty, but still enough sweetness to make the beer quite quaffable. Finish is sweet and bitter, roasty with a solid ash and coffee dominance. Good flavors, not an overly complex stout, but certainly done very well, balanced, and tasty. Very nice!

Aroma is just like fine coffee with a smoky overtone - hardly like beer at all, but most inviting! It pours a deep opaque sable, nearly black, with a very thick, fine-bubbled tan head. Flavor is rich and very smoky, maybe a wee bit too smoky. It has a tasty chocolate undertone and hints of toffee and molasses. Texture is thick, smooth, fairly tingly, and quite satisfying. Overall, an immensely pleasing stout.

Bottle. Pitch black with a longlasting tan head. Hard roasted malt, roasted coffee beans, espresso and light vanilla aroma notes. Lovely roasted flavour with lots of coffee, light milky and chocolate. Creamy and soft texture. It ends up sweet coffeeish and light hoppy.

12 oz. bottle batch 9436, bottled Nov 10, 2009. Pours dark brown with a good-sized rocky brown head. Leaves rings of lacing on the glass.

Aroma is a big punch o’ coffee. Strongest coffee aroma & flavor I’ve encountered in a beer...a little too much perhaps. Some licorice, slight chocolate, and a bit of sourness round out the nose.

Flavor is of course big on coffee, some chocolate, caramel, licorice, roasted malts. Bitter coffee finish.

Mouthfeel is pleasant, medium to full with low to medium carbonation. Alcohol is well-hidden.

I like coffee stouts a lot and had high hopes for this one, but it isn’t as good as others I’ve had. The coffee is very overpowering which hurts the balance, and doesn’t smell or taste like the highest quality coffee either. More like day-old Folgers rather than gourmet beans. Granted my bottles are extremely fresh, so I’m hoping a few months of age may help mellow it out a bit. This review is based on my second bottle, about a week after the first one and it is better than initial impressions. The high price doesn’t help either...

First tasted on tap at the Brew Kettle in Strongsville, but purchased from one of the best beer stores in Cleveland if not all of America, Rozi’s in Lakewood. You get the coffee hint right away, but the caramel & chocolate seem to lessen the coffee hit you get from dinking coffee. Stays on the palate nicely and finishes very well. Definitely use a snifter if you have one, keeps the flavor and aroma in the glass as yoy enjoy it. As usual, with the darker beers, let it warm up a bit. You’ll taste buds will appreciate it!!!

first off, the pour is NOT black, it’s darkish brown. settles in the glass much darker looking, but this thing is not black. the smell is sweet and STRANGE. the taste is very bitter, ashy, coffee... to me, the off smell really takes away from the beer... but if you like really bitter stouts you might like this one a little more than i did.