Bells Java Stout

Brewed by Bells Brewery
Style: Stout
Kalamazoo, Michigan USA

If you call your stout a Java stout, then you’d better deliver in the java department. The boys over at Bells managed to do exactly that. A deep, jet black appearance with a small tannish head. Aroma is fresh coffee grounds, some black licorice, dark chocolate and toffee. Mouthfeel is a little sticky. Flavor is an excellent combonation of fresh coffee, dark malts and a clean finish. I couldn’t detect any astringency. Just an outstanding beer. Kudos to Bells for this one.

The more coffee stouts I try, the more I’m skeptical of the style. This one features a pleasant, deep coffee aroma with a sweeter molasses component as well. Milder roasted notes are there. Flavor starts off with coffee, and not a whole lot else. Mouthfeel is on the thin side, as alot of coffee stouts are. This one is a touch heavier than most. There’s a roasty chocolate compnent that tries to assert itself. Very low hops, it seems as if the coffee is used as a substitute. Pretty dark, nearly black, with a 1 finger tan head.

Bottle, batch 7706 bottled on 10-26-06. Pulled it out of the celler to give it a try. 6 months ago I tryed one, the coffee flavor took this beer over. 6 months later... Pours pitch black with a average fizzy light brown head. The head is mostly lasting, with fair spotty lacing. The aroma is still of a cup of coffee, with no hop nose. The initial flavor is very sweet with no bitterness, the finishing flavor is still sweet and a very mild bitterness. The duration of the finish is a long coffee aftertaste. The body is medium to full with creamy texture and soft carbonation. This is a good stout, I have 4 more in the celler I will pull another one out in 6 months to see how it is holding up and see if the coffee is starting to mellow out.

Pours black with a big fluffy dark brown head. Aroma is a big beefy roast with earth and chocolate to compliment. The three of these aromas although seperate combine to form an overall similarity to good coffee. Flavor is largely coffee with some rich chocolate, and tons of roasted notes. Very smooth and creamy mouthfeel. There is somewhat of a burnt /charred characteristic to it throughout, but overall the roasted notes and its ever loving smoothness stick out.

Pours mahogany into a snifter. Offwhite head recedes to skim rim. Sour chocolate and espresso aromas. Slightly thin and sour with a lasting espresso finish.

Had a sip of this stuff when jarspag drank it, not really something I would want a whole bottle of. Chances are it had gone bad, aroma of espresso with cleaning fluid or something chemical of that nature. Nice mouthfeel and palate however.

the aroma on this one seemed a bit off to me - mostly coffee - but also had some weird funk to it - like something had gone bad. hard to put a description on it. flavor was dominated too much by the coffee - but hey, i guess that’s what they were going for. overall, not something i would seek out again, especially when there’s expedition.

Wow, this beer is fairly one dimensional. Taste is straight cold coffee. Black coffee with no creamer. Quite strong. Not quite what I was expecting.