Fresh from the bottle at the brewery. This beer looks nothing like a witbier, being murky orange-brown with a medium off-white head. OK. Dunkelweizen? The color’s right, but no Bavarian yeast strains were used, and this isn’t a "banana and clove" beer. Well, three of the four yeast strains are Belgian (in addition to the house strain), so I’m going out on a limb and placing the beer in the Witbier category. We have to designate a style, right? :-(

The aroma is quite sweet and cerealy, and spicy, with a candied character that quickly differentiates this from the Two Ale. Fruitier than Two and a bit "cookieish." Fruity, sweet body, with a hint of banana, candy, and abundant yeast esters lending spicy and bitter notes. The huge jump in esters is the biggest difference I notice in this beer vs. the Two Wheat. Otherwise, it still has the tangy, bready characteristics of Bell’s other wheat beers. So, technically, this could still be an American Wheat (despite the abundance of Belgian yeast esters), with a darker and more complex body than most. I’m a classification junkie by nature but I don’t homebrew, so I’ll let the jury decide where to put this. I will write this, though. The beer’s damned good.

On tap at Bells. Given the nature of this series of beers, assigning styles isn’t straight-forward. That said, the first of the series most closely fits the American Wheat category, despite the use of a Wit yeast in addition to the house yeast. OK, review. Nice hazy yellow-orange body, medium off-white head. Sweet, tangy aroma, nectary and almost honeyish. The flavor resembles Oberon, with tangy, bready malts and little sweetness (contrary to what the aroma suggested), crisp and fresh with no off-notes. Highly carbonated with wheat in the forefront. The hints of banana make things even more interesting. A solid first offering in the series that I may prefer to Oberon.

Thanks to Goldtwins for this one! Large creamy off white head starts this one out as it slowly settles down into a medium amber brew below. Nice caramel malt aroma that is followed by a malty sweet flavor. A well done example of an uninteresting style.

Bottle - sampled at the RBESP 2005
Double-plus black, creamy dark brown head. Chocolate and coffee aroma, quite sweet. Flavor continues along those lines, coffee and chocolate, licorice, slight band-aid. Medium body - raisin plus c&c aftertaste.

Beautiful dark, dark brown pour with tan head that leaves a nice lacing. Chocolate, toffee and molasses dominate the aroma, while flavor is heavy of roasted malt. The only downside I can find is that it is a bit weak in terms of the aftertaste, which seems to disappear rather quickly. Still, like most Bell’s products, it is nicely balanced and smooth.

Rerate. Draft. Deep amber, approach brown body. Thick, frothy, off-white head, slowly diminishing. Malty aroma with notes of nuts, caramel, bread and a hint of roastiness. The flavor is moderately sweet and lightly bitter. It finishes lightly to moderately sweet and lightly to moderately bitter, a bitterness that lingers into the aftertaste. Thin to medium body, watery texture and lively carbonation. Thin body doesn’t play well with the malty tastes. Standard fare.

Opaque dark brown body, thin ochre head. Looks like the Expedition Stout at first glance. Roasty, chocolatey aroma with a hint of vanilla, plum, grapefruit rind, soy, bitter hops notes, and alcohol. Quite complex but a bit harsh too. The body hits with big, bitter, rindy hops (grapefruit, pine), with chocolate and prunes/plums dancing underneath the stomping hops chorus. Becomes fruitier and raisiny as it warms to room temperature. Bitter, bitter finish with a definite alcohol bite. Pretty rough palate for the time being, with a diversity of flavors that haven’t quite reached harmony yet. Oily and inky. My overall impression is that this is a sort of "black barleywine" combining the characteristics of Batch 6000 and Expedition Stout. This is a good beer to cellar for awhile. Heck, Batch 6000 is still a bit harsh on the palate two years after its bottling.

Strong aroma of malts and molasses and alcohol with hints of raisins and caramel. Heavy body with an almost syrupy mouthfeel. Flavor is filled with sweet fruits, molasses, figs, alcohol with a slightly bitter hop aftertaste. The pour was dark copper. cloudy with sediment afloat. No head, but off-white rim.

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.

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?