Subsidiaries
5.8/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 5
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 6
Strange they would choose such a normal style for this anniversary beer. Simply put, this is a straightforward amber ale. It is very well made and in the top of its class, but it has little besides the assertive, sweet malt. Light vegetable aroma combined with the malt, and some taste of iron in the flavor.
Tried
on 01 Oct 2005
at 19:56
6/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 6
Flavor 5
Texture 6
Overall 6
Orange-tinted golden beer; head reduced in secs to whitish rim. Quite grassy and dry cookies-like malt. After a time, some somehow raisinsweet-like hopsaroma seeps through, gaining in strength. Hopstaste, faint bitterish and a queer fishy taste (as if cask finings suddenly became detectable) comes up. There’s the classical American (I)PA taste too, but it keeps struggling with this dull but persistent off-taste. Not sure who wins. Some spiceyness (root-spices), bit of chlorined grapefruit. Rather fizzy beer, light to medium bodied, and exceptionally dry. Kalamazoo makes truly fine beers, but this one is not my cuppa tea. Wonder if anything’s wrong with the bottle - or with the taster?
Tried
from Cask
on 28 Sep 2005
at 13:42
9/10
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Appearance 10
Aroma 8
Flavor 9
Texture 10
Overall 9
Bottled. Yum! I’m still cellaring my one bottle, but I got a sampler this weekend at Picadilly Beverage Shop in Champaign, IL. Heady, smoky, deep, chewy, thick, oily: all sorts of adjectives just pop into my head. Pours black and viscous. You’d almost think it was brewed exclusively with bitter black malts. Coats my little plastic sampler glass like a film of 10W-30. Exceptional.
Tried
from Bottle
from
Piccadilly Beverage Shop
on 28 Sep 2005
at 05:00
8/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
Red-amber beer, hazy; cream-ochre, creamy head, some lace. Pine branches, covered with hop vines and various fruit and nuts dangling from it. If nobody had invented X-mas ale before, THIS is it. Apricot, sweet cherry, confited oranges, etc. Do bitter cakes exist? If not, here they are, in liquid form. I get some caramel, I get cookie malts, but all of it is covered in a hoppy icing, and then softly caramelised in the oven. Rich, well-filled, slick, nearly chewy MF. I WANT this! I’ll drink this this Christmas until oblivion.Thanks for bringing this along Lachesis - great.
Tried
on 26 Sep 2005
at 00:55
7/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7
Colour changes from clear gold to fully hazy orange, depending on the level of the bottle; whitish irregular head, fast gone. American hops, good ones, even when not at I²PA levels, some dry cookie sweetness, but in perfect balance. Lytchee aroma, but not only sweet, with a whisky touch. Taste : dry hops sacks, filled with Christmas-dried oranges, green sultanas and some steamed and cloved onions. Medium bodied, yeast-filled MF. Even once KNOWING it, I just can’t get ANY wheat out of this, unless it would be the looks. Blind it would be a pure guess. How much wheat is malted in Belgium, BTW?
Tried
from Bottle
on 26 Sep 2005
at 00:34
7.9/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8.5
Bourbon Barrel aged version. draught Eccentric Day 2003. It’s a lot more mellow. Surprisingly not as much aroma. The bourbon is very subtle and comes out on the finish. Very flat, a little bit of wateriness unfortunately. I will admit this was served too cold, to be fair. But it was damned tasty and took a lot of will power to let it warm fully. Chocolatey, light woody/alcohol flavors with some vinousness and more roast than I remember. Head retention is poor and I think the barrel-aging has dulled some of the character that I was most impressed with in the regular version (the sweet caramel, prunes and raisins). Wish it would have got more a vanilla flavor from the bourbon. As StewardofGondor points out, the barrel aging was done tastefully. But then, I would expect nothing less from Bells. I think this is a little less suited for the bourbon barrel than your average Stout due to the extreme grapefruity nature of the beer. The citrus sort of clashed with the bourbon, in my sample anyways. Granted my review is from a sample 2 years earlier than these 2 at the GTMW.
Tried
on 12 Sep 2005
at 08:41
7/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7
On tap (firkin, yeah!) at Bells 20th Anniversary Party. My first beer of the evening, and a fitting tribute to the brewery’s "birthday." This is a nicely quaffable amber ale, complete with the classic hazy amber body and puffy, light cream-colored head. Earthy, hoppy, bready aroma with light hints of spice (attributable to the hops). Bready flavor with light caramel, earthy hops, toast, and a hint of tobacco. Slight sweetness, incredibly creamy palate, medium-bodied. A good choice for an anniversary ale that can be enjoyed by everybody from casual beer drinkers to uber-enthusiasts.
Tried
from Draft
on 10 Sep 2005
at 20:46
5/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 4
Texture 4
Overall 5
On tap at Bells 20th Anniversary Party. Cloudy yellow body, thin off-white head. Aroma of apple cider and light honey, on the sweet side. Unfortunately, this was vinegary, sour, and thin. "Pissy apple cider" is one of the comments I wrote down that seems most appropriate. There is very little in the way of honey character. I didn’t detect too much of the alcohol, but perhaps a hint here or there would have cut through the weak apple juice/urine notes. Not recommended.
Tried
from Draft
on 10 Sep 2005
at 20:26
7.6/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
Clear dark brown color with a medium tan head and thin lacing. The aroma is heavy on the toasted malt, with a bit of caramel in the background. Medium, smooth body with dominant malt flavoring. Sweet caramel and a bit of hops and coffee is also present. The finish is roasty and sweet at times. This beer disappeared in the blink of an eye and I was left wondering why it took me so long to try it.
Tried
on 27 Aug 2005
at 22:19
8.9/10
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Appearance 10
Aroma 9
Flavor 8
Texture 10
Overall 8.5
Bottle Pours a deep oily black with an extremely thick, light brown head. Lots of persistant thick sticky lacing. Strong coffe and roasted aromas. Very rich dark coffe flavors. Sweetness balances nicely. Very thick and heavy on the palate. Bitter coffe aftertaste. Heavy and satisfying. Thanks goes out to Pailhead for reminding me to keep trying to get all the ’Bells’ I can
Tried
from Bottle
on 25 Aug 2005
at 18:35