Bells Oberon Ale

Brewed by Bells Brewery
Style: Wheat Ale
Kalamazoo, Michigan USA

Pours hazy light orange in color. Yeasty light citrus aroma. Very well balanced smooth easy drinking beer. Finishes nice with a slight orange taste. For alot of Michiganders this is their favorite summer brew. It’s even better with an orange or lemon. But I rated without because I don’t know the boundaries on that. Very nice wheat overall.

Bottle shared with Barrios at work. Golden clear with small white head. Lemon citrus is faint in the aroma. Ever so slightly bitter. Wheat taste. Fair I suppose, but I didn’t care for this personally.

bottle. Pours a cloudy golden color with a firm white head. The aroma is obviously wheaty with subtle citrus notes and assertive enough. The flavors are well balanced: wheat, slightly sugary malts, subtly tangy hops. Oberon finishes on a woody, semi-sweet lemon note. It goes beyond just being a thirst quencher.

12oz bottle from Willow Bend Liquors (Tampa, FL). Pours hazy golden with a thin white head. Aroma is sweet and malty with notes of grain, earth, wheat, grass, light spice and honey notes. Flavor is sweet and somewhat floral with notes of wheat, spice, grass, yeast, hints of caramel, honey and light floral hops. Generally light to medium body with a pleasing light floral hop and wheat finish.

Bottle. Pours a hazy orange body with a nice big head on it. Aroma is slightly faint mix of yeast, wheat, light citrus. Flavor is smooth, mellow, light yeast character, light spices. This is an enjoyable summer beer.

Bottle courtesy of cmr1517. Pours a cloudy orange with a minimal white head. Nose is faint lemon, grain and wheat. Palate is clean with some orange peel, sweet wheat and a touch grain bitters in the finish. Medium mouth feel. Nice, refreshing beer. Thanks for sharing this Chris!

Bottle. Hazy orangish gold with thick white lacing. Nose is heat and yeast. Very fruity--mostly orange, with light spicy hops, and a little yeast. Very easy and pleasent drinking. Will have to pick up more of this when it starts getting warmer again. But is this really $10 a 6 pack. I can see paying $10 a 6 pack for the expedition or kalamazoo, but not this.

So it is about time I rated this beer, this one has along story behind it. Being from the east coast, and especially Larry Bell’s favorite state, I did not get a chance to come across many Bell’s products. And when I did, through trades or tasting, Oberon was not something sought after, I mean really who wants something so un-imperial or that easily attained. So I spent many years not really caring about going out of my way to try another American wheat. Then in 2007 someone had a brand new mini-keg of this at BCTC (maybe dmac, can’t be sure cause he spent most of that weekend passed out in his tent). But I tried it and was seriously impressed. But with all the festivities (and beer) I put it in the back of my head and moved on. Then time came for me to move out to the untamed and uncharted Midwest, a dangerous and wild life change on my part. So here I was, in Kansas with a world of new beers at my disposal. So what do I try first, well mix-a-six, duh! Any real beer tick, ugh, I mean geek can tell you that. But, even though I had it I needed to throw Oberon in there as well. And was I ever impressed, blown away once again. However, a few months go by before fate leads me back to the Oberon. I go to a liquor store and what do I see, an Oberon six pack on sale, all the way down to $5.50 and its the last one. Well being January I had no notions of this being fresh but at that price it was worth the gamble. So what do I have here a batch # 8546 Oberon ale packaged on June 10, 2008, meaning it is about 8 months old. . I slowly drink the sixer and I can finally rate this.

The bottle pours out into my Cuvée René wide tumbler with a very small head. The color of the beer is a very autumn-like orange amber, like a light pumpkin color. The beer is generally clear but within the body small specs of yeast remnants are left over. They float but with enough time some of them settle at the bottom of the glass, just as if a little bit of sand had settled down there. The floating specs mix with some upward shooting carbonation bubbles. It is really fun to look inside and watch the action of this beer, a story can be told. And as I tilt the glass around I can move that bit of sand at the bottom of the glass. Aroma is itself a thick, dry raisin biscuit with citrus highlights. Taste is similar with some light tea aspects and some more sweet dry fruits. At the finish there is a hint of spiciness but its is all wrapped around a fruity pie crust. The un-freshness of the beer is apparent throughout the beer. However, it is not a detracting quality. As opposed to lesser beers, time has just added a heft to the malt character, what I am calling dry and heavy is really just a slightly aged malt character. Throughout the beer there seems to be a Belgian like (or at least European) feel to it. The yeast is not as clean as most American yeasts (or at least does not come off that way). The malts are also much more apparent with the hops in the back there. The mouthfeel is full yet quenchable, the beer is not watery but felt on the cheeks yet super easy to keep putting down. I do not know what it is but this beer just does it for me. As a style, the American wheat is almost useless in my mind but this is the exception being an exceptional beer, one that I will continue to drink as long as I live here in the great untamed Midwest. 8/4/9/4/17.

A more fresh version, code 9226, bottle on June 25, 2009, consumed 2 months later. I bought these because I wanted to use the clean yeast in a brew I will be making but it also gives me a chance to re-experience this brew. Poured into a La Fin Du Monde tulip glass. Still that beautiful orange-amber color with visible carbonation (this time the sediment went to a greater endeavor). Same small strong head with a lightly sticky lacing. Aroma is light esters, a thick but strong graininess, and layers of other malt characteristics including wheat bread. Taste has a bit of a hop bite, nondescript in type though. A thick mouthfeel for the structure makes it very felt yet a stronger carbonation makes it sparkling on the palate. A bit of a different experience but I will keep the other rating, apparently I like this beer with some age. But this is still great to drink with really body and heft and strong flavor yet easy drinking at the same time.