Third Coast Old Ale

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

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.

12oz bottle shared with ealdent. Pours a deep amber with touches of brown and red. A large, off-white head floats atop, relatively long-lived. The aroma is complex and strong. Caramel, malts, and alcohol hit first. Then there are other notes that add complexity to the nose - mostly fruity and estery. The flavor follows the nose. It starts with a noticeable tinge of alcohol accompanying strong but complex sweetness - a spicy malt profile with loads of caramel. There are also some fruit and earthy hops hiding in there, which grow towards mid-palate. The finish is somewhat dry with a balancing level of bitterness - but it still maintains an overall orientation towards malts, even in the finish. The mouthfeel seemed a little too spritzy at first, but as the beer warmed slightly, either I got used to it or it lost its fizz enough for me to notice - it finished with a nice texture, medium-to-full in body. Overall, a complex and interesting barleywine.

Bottle. Apple cider brown coloring. No head, cloudy and hazy. Candied marshmellow scent like Lucky Charms. apple, caramel, sugary in flavor. Toffee exhale is intriguing. Solid but was hoping for more.

Bottle - batch #8211. Dark copper color. Long lasting big white frothy head with good lacing. Thick carmal flavor with an enduring mouthfeel. You gotta like when a beer sticks with you for a while so you can savor it. Lots of earthiness. First time I’ve rated a barley wine, but this is very nice. A little pricey for everyday drinking, and at 10.2% definitely not for beginners. Excellent beer, worthy of it Bells heritage.

The aroma was deeply malty with of all things a coconut character when first poured into the glass. As the head fell and the beer warmed a nice nutty and toasty character coupled to a strong caramel presence began to emerge. The beer poured into the glass hazy amber with a beige low tight bubbled head which laced the glass. The flavor was malty with a substantial level of bittering which kept the malt in check. The hop flavor was earthy and a bit muddy. The malt back bone was well done, but the flavor was not well defined, perhaps a batch issue, this one has always been stellar in the past. The finish was dry with lasting bittering long into the aftertaste. The body was full with a moderate level of carbonation. Something seemed a bit off in this one, another bottle waits in the wings and the review might get a revision, but this one is average at best. 12 ounce bottle. Batch 8211.

It has a very sweet malty aroma with an absence of hops. It poured a nice copper red with a thin, bubbly off-white head. The flavor hits with a very sweet caramel that is accompanied by a slight bitter and presence of alcohol. My favorite part was the very thick mouthfeel. I just don’t think it’s a style I prefer though.

Served at the brewpub. This slightly dark amber beer has a surprisingly thick one finger dark off white head. I’m not used to old ales having that. The aroma is sweet and malty with almost no hop aroma at all. The flavor equally malty but with a surprising amount of hop bitterness. It is medium to heavy bodied, which is right in line with an old ale. It was a bit tought to drink in the summer, but I think this would make a great winter beer.

Pours a glowing orange color with a white head . Hints of caramel, spice, dark fruits, lots of barley. Finishes sweet of caramel, and a warming alcohol feeling in the tummy.