Third Coast Old Ale

Brewed by Bells Brewery
Style: Barley Wine
Kalamazoo, Michigan USA

Bottle, batch 7800. Dark amber body, small off-white head, sweet nose with fruity, brown sugary, and vinous notes. Brown sugar dominates the flavor with finishing bitterness. Some peppery alcohol in finish.

Bottle. Pours a deep, rich ruby with a small head. Mm, nice sweet, vinous nose on thiswith plenty of meaty, roasty scents to boot. Mouthfeel is par for the course and alcohol is well concealed. A malty complex flavor is presented here with suggestions of leather, meat, toffee, smoke, tobacco, brown sugar, ripe fruits, and a lingering non-descript bitterness that balances everything out. This reminds me a bit of HoD Adam, though leaning more towards the caramelly sweetness which can be found in a barleywine. Quite delicious.

12oz bottle. Aroma has notes of yeast, toffee, molasses, caramel, and sweet dried dark fruit. Above average sized tan cascading head that mostly diminished but left great lace. Murky caramel hue with a good amount of particles in varying sizes. Flavor is sweet and rich with a nice bitterness at the finish. Palate is full bodied and oily flat. A little alcohol on the nose, palate, and finish. This is a very good barely wine, very well crafted with complex notes and rich flavors.

Draft at Ashley’s in Ann Arbor. This is the first Bell’s beer I didn’t like (goes for my girlfriend too). Pours a brown color, with a strong taste of alcohol that overpowers everything. Sweet and a bit sour.

Cloudy, chestnut pour with lace all along the glass. Rich caramel, toffee, cherries, and alcohol spiciness in the nose. Full flavors of sticky caramel, toffee, ripe fruits, and molasses. A truly great barley wine thats hearty and wonderful!

This is really well-done...deceptively sweet with lots of burnt, nutty caramel malts and a heady aroma. Good carbonation for a barley wine and rich golden-brown colour topped up with a thin beige head. Highly drinkable. Not hugely complex -- has very little aftertaste. Still, solid as a rock, classical yet distinct. Very clean.

The beer is a thick mixture of dark brown and black with no head. It definitely smells like a barleywine with a lot of chocolate and caramel. The flavor is very boozy with flavors of raisins and lots of yeast and spice.

bottle, batch 7124, consumed dec. 2007. so nice to find 7000s still on the shelves when you travel off the beaten path! pours a clear copper color with a thin off-white head that soon fades to a film, but laces nicely. great smell of caramel, burnt brown sugar and molasses, bubble gum, and a bit of bread. caramel candy flavor, with more of that burnt brown sugar taste, and maybe a bit of hops picking up the rear. finishes like an old ale: quite sweet for my tastes. there’s a bit of bitter on the back end that makes you try to think it wants balance, but this is a sweet beer. relatively full-bodied, with a thick, sticky mouthfeel, and not a lot in the way of carbonation. but carbonation wouldn’t work in this beer. this is an exceptional beer for the style, but this is a style that gets so cloying i can barely finish a bottle.