Third Coast Old Ale

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

Pours dark red/brown with a moderate head. Strong alcoholic warmth upfront with a berry, caramel, wine-like quality. Aroma of raisins and molasses of sorts. Quite a crazy beer!

Review of rating: Sampled a 2 year old bottle (Batch 6522; June 2005), courtesy of csbosox. Overall rating is unchanged, but with age, I dropped the aroma by one point and bumped up the flavor by one. The older bottle lost a bit of its complexity on the nose but gained a smoothness to the flavor that made it very well balanced. After a couple years of cellaring the nose and flavor seem more in sync. Young or aged its an amazing beer. Thanks for sharing this one, Chris.//Batch 7695; October 2006. Pours an opaque molasses with a pitted, frothy, tan head which laces nicely. The aroma is amazing, one of the best I’ve ever sampled. Candied apple, pineapple, raisin, plum, and spicy hops with just a hint of alcohol in the background. The mouthfeel is full, creamy, sticky-sweet and soft on the tongue. The flavor is sweet dark fruits (plums/raisins/dates) with a smoky alcohol finish. This one is a bit "hot" on the finish, but still an excellent beer. I may need to cellar a few bottles for a year or two to see how it mellows.

Bottle from Capone’s sampled with Mad_Indian. Deep amber with a decent size off-white head. Aroma of caramel, molasses, spices, and alcohol. The flavor is amazingly smooth, caramel, molasses, spices, nice hoppy presence, and a good alcohol punch in the finish.

Bottle from Capones, Sampled with Stegosaurus. Red amber pour with aroma of sweet malt and a hint of alcohol. Mild fruit, and hop taste. Blended well and a good kick in the end. Good brew but than again it is BELLS!!!

Drewbeerme hooked this up. Hazy dark reddish brown with a moderate head, good lacing and retention. Aroma is big in almost all ways. PNW hops with some chewy caramel, toffee type malts. Fairly heavy beer, sweet syrupy finish with light alcohol. It’s good, but didn’t come off like a 4+/5 barley wine.

had at Beer bistro last night, good surprise. nice warming beer lotsa raisin and malt on th nose, well hopped like most american barley wines, somewhat sweet with good alcohol feel,

(Bottle) Pours a murky dark brown color, with a small tan head. Quite a bit of yeast that settled to the bottom as well. Aroma is of sugar and caramel. Taste is much more complex, with lots of malt, and a rather hoppy finish. Dark fruity notes in here as well. Moderate alcohol burn, with a rich syrupy mouthfeel. An interesting beer!

My first barleywine. Great brew (really? do you you expect anything less from bells?). Amber in the glass with a non-existant head. Smells sweet, a bit of caramel. Not much hops. The taste complex with hints of raisens, caramel, molasses and sugar with a mild bitterness and alcohol. Heavy in the mouth, which I love and hence the nice rating.