Bells Java Stout

Brewed by Bells Brewery
Style: Stout
Kalamazoo, Michigan USA

Bottle courtesy after4ever. Pours opaque blackish brown with a thin tan head. Aroma of brewed Folger’s coffee. Medium body and carbonation. Creamy chocolate and dry coffee taste. Vanilla espresso finish.

Bottle thanks to NachlamSie. Poured at room temperature outside, 30 degree fahrenheit. The brew poured black with an abundant tan head that gave some amazing lacing. The aroma is of a mild, earthy coffee with some molasses and vanilla. The carbonation is light, creating a nice, smooth mouthfeel. The coffee flavour, as expected, is pretty dominant, though, it seems a little weaker than I like my coffee to be. Cocoa mixes in with the coffee very nicely. Brown sugar and molasses become evident as the brew sits on the tongue a little longer. As it passes, it becomes much sweeter. A coffee-like bitterness lingers in the background. As this brew starts to cool down, the coffee flavour becomes slightly weaker. The sweetness in the finish subdues a little as the bitterness becomes a little more dominant. Now at optimal serving temperature, the initial coffee flavour has become a little stronger again and has leveled out nicely with the flavours of the molasses, brown sugar, vanilla, and cocoa. I really enjoy this brew, and I especially enjoy doing these tastings in the frigid weather with the beer starting at room temperature cooling to optimal serving temperature. It’s unique. (I’ll have to give NachlamSie some props for introducing me to this kind of tasting.)

Pours deep, dark, black from 12 oz bottle. Aroma of roasted malts, coffee’s with a hint of chocolate’s. Flavour is full bodied, as you would expect, coffee and chocolate dominates well, balanced with malt and a hint of hop character. A wonderful work of brew mastery. As a lover of IPA and IIPA beers, this is truly a nice change in terms of flavour. I lost hope for some stout beers, except for a few, but this beer gives me hope for deep, dark, flavourful ales and beers. Excellent job Bells.

TAp at brewery. Poured a very dark black color. Aoma is coffe all the way. Taste is coffe and chocolate.

No doubt about the Java in this one. Pours out a very dark brown with a nice fluffy tan head. Aroma of,,,you guessed it coffee, malt and a little chocolate. Tastes very strongly of coffee and roasted nuts with a nice little hop. The alcohol blends in quite seemlessly with the perfect carbonation. The mouth feel is thinner than Bells regular stout but still good. Very well done.

Sweet aftertaste that gets more pleasant as it sits in my mouth. At first, I wish I had the regular stout but after about half way thru I really began to enjoy this one.

Bottle. Pretty jet black with brown head. Harsh aromas of burnt coffee, burnt dark chocolate, and ash, with some faint sweet roasted notes in the background along with a touch of spruce. Flavor is not as harsh as the nose implies-- fairly well balanced chocolatey dark malt and bitter black coffee, with a lingering aftertaste of dark chocolate. Incredibly smooth and creamy on the palate. Just too harsh all around for my tastes-- the burnt coffee flavor/aroma got in the way of an otherwise _delightful_ stout.

Bottle. Aroma of spiced coffee. Lots of coffee but balanced by enough rich, sweet, roasted malt. Pours damn near pitch black with deep brown highlights. Thick khaki head with sticky lacing. Flavor has a good balance of dark, rich coffee and sweet, rich roasted malt with hints of dark chocolate. Rich and creamy on the palate. Finishes with a nice bittersweet chocolate kick. One of the better coffee beers out there.