Bells Java Stout

Brewed by Bells Brewery
Style: Stout
Kalamazoo, Michigan USA

(bottle) Poured into my mega snifter. Pours dark brown with cream colored head. Upon sniffing I was greeted with a huge aroma of roasted coffee, with some slight undertones of chocolate and toasted walnuts. This was basically all I was looking for, and then some on the aroma. Taste was a strong blast of roasted coffee with a lingering bitterness and roasty finish, along with some chocolate. Medium bodied, perfectly carbonated (like all Bell’s stouts). This one pretty much was all I was looking for in a coffee beer.

Pours a very dark brown, with a chocolate frosting colored thick creamy head. Aroma of coffee and light chocolate, with some charred oak. First sip was unable to detect the coffee or the chocolate. Waited a few minutes to let it warm a bit more and bamo, there they were, very enjoyable. The coffee, chocolate and wood flavors come through. Finish was a bit tainted by a flowery hop that peeked through a bit too much. The feeling is smooth and light, but still feels creamy on the palate. A decent beer, but definately not my favorite coffee.

Solid black with dark brown head. Aroma of coffee and light roast. Flavor is of a heavy roast coffee. Finish is smooth and surprisingly light and creamy. Very enjoyable.

355 ml, batch 8158. Jet black with a large head that lasts. Aroma is fresh coffee grounds, cocoa, and charred wood. Flavor is dark roast coffee, charred wood, slight metallic herb and chocolate. Medium-large body with a creamy smooth palate.

Pours opaque with a massive tan head. Nose is a roasted bean kind of thing with an odd perfume edge to it. Flavor is thick with a nice robust character. On the end I get a roasted edge and that odd perfume thing comes out. It is almost like liquid flowers, with leaves and stems along for the ride. At first this seemed nice. Then that weird flowery perfume edge was kicking in way too hard and it just detracted from an otherwise interesting beer. Ncie to try for the first half at least.

Bottle. Pitch black with puffy brown head. Big time, long lasting frothy lacing. Aroma of roasted coffee, gigarette smoke. A bitter, burnt chocolate flavor, with a roasty coffee background. Could have been slightly sweeter/maltier. Some hop flavor squeaks through in finish. Surprised to see this is 7.5%. Didn’t taste it. Good.

Bottle (batch 8158): pours dark black with a big tan frothy head, aroma of coffee is very strong, in fact, that is all I smell, taste is coffee and malt, fairly dry finish but a bit thin of a mouthfeel for a stout. Probably has too much coffee for me but it certainly is another quality Bells product.

Pours a rich dark brown with almost not head. It smells of chocolate, malts, and coffee. It is much thicker in the mouth than it looked when poured. The flavor is a little bit bitter with strong coffee flavors and some chocolate somewhere in the backgroud. The aftertaste is very stongly of coffee. I think this beer may have a little too much coffee flavor for me without much else to offset it. It’s a strong flavored stout.