Expedition Stout | Bell's Brewery - Eccentric Café & General Store
Brewed by:
Bell's Brewery - Eccentric Café & General Store
Michigan, United States
bellsbeer.com
Style: Russian Imperial Stout
Alcohol by volume (ABV): 10.50%
Availability: Winter
Notes / Commercial Description:
Expedition Stout offers immensely complex flavors crafted specifically with vintage aging in mind, as its profile will continue to mature and develop over the years. A huge malt body is matched to a heady blend of chocolate, dark fruits, and other aromas. Intensely bitter in its early months, the flavors will slowly meld and grow in depth as the beer ages.
Added by BeerAdvocate on 01-10-2002
HISTOGRAM
View: Beers | Place Reviews
Ratings: 6,302 | Reviews: 2,177
4.25/5 rDev -0.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
4.46/5 rDev +4.7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
4.1/5 rDev -3.8%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
4.22/5 rDev -0.9%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
4.78/5 rDev +12.2%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 5 | overall: 4.75
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 5 | overall: 4.75
4.14/5 rDev -2.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
4.75/5 rDev +11.5%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75
Poured from a single-serve into a stout glass
Pours opaque and motor-oil thick with a fantastic, two-finger, tan, foamy head and outstanding sticky lacing.
The aromas are super and complex. Multiple types of chocolate (cocoa, semi-sweet, and cake batter at various levels); dark fruits; toasted marshmallow; char; and just a hint of booze.
The flavors may be even more complex and nuanced than the nose. Chocolate on multiple levels, sweet, semi-sweet, and bitter, with hints of coffee (but not too much); dark fruits (fig, raisin) and dark cherries steal the show. The char is less pronounced on the palate than it is on the nose. The booze is definitely there, but it's a pleasing warming note, not a burning one.
The mouthfeel is simultaneously thick, chewy, and viscous, and eminently drinkable thanks to some extra carbonation and just the right amount of dryness. It never gets cloying or too sweet.
This RIS is right there at the top of the list. I've had RIS's that are better at certain attributes than this one, but the total package here it tough to beat. It is one of the best beers I've had lately, if not ever.
1,142 characters
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75
Poured from a single-serve into a stout glass
Pours opaque and motor-oil thick with a fantastic, two-finger, tan, foamy head and outstanding sticky lacing.
The aromas are super and complex. Multiple types of chocolate (cocoa, semi-sweet, and cake batter at various levels); dark fruits; toasted marshmallow; char; and just a hint of booze.
The flavors may be even more complex and nuanced than the nose. Chocolate on multiple levels, sweet, semi-sweet, and bitter, with hints of coffee (but not too much); dark fruits (fig, raisin) and dark cherries steal the show. The char is less pronounced on the palate than it is on the nose. The booze is definitely there, but it's a pleasing warming note, not a burning one.
The mouthfeel is simultaneously thick, chewy, and viscous, and eminently drinkable thanks to some extra carbonation and just the right amount of dryness. It never gets cloying or too sweet.
This RIS is right there at the top of the list. I've had RIS's that are better at certain attributes than this one, but the total package here it tough to beat. It is one of the best beers I've had lately, if not ever.
1,142 characters
4.25/5 rDev -0.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
4.92/5 rDev +15.5%
look: 5 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 5
look: 5 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 5
4.5/5 rDev +5.6%
look: 5 | smell: 5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.75
Excellent at 24 months plus.
29 characters
look: 5 | smell: 5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.75
Excellent at 24 months plus.
29 characters
4.93/5 rDev +15.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 5
look: 4.25 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 5
4.35/5 rDev +2.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
12oz bottle into a tulip. bottled 9/28/16, so 15 months old.
jet black body, dark tan head, really nice lacing initially. faint carbonation up the sides of the tulip.
Nice and plummy dried fruit aroma.
taste is quite strongly molasses. medium roasted malt on the back end, dark fruit and faint chocolate notes. ever so slightly smoky and bitter. excellent taste.
mouth gets pretty close to full. finish is slightly sweet with roasted malts around the edge of the tongue and faintly bitter in the back of the mouth. 10.5abv isn't all that noticeable.
Overall, really enjoyable RIS. Happy to have the rest of the 6 pack for the next few weeks.
647 characters
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
12oz bottle into a tulip. bottled 9/28/16, so 15 months old.
jet black body, dark tan head, really nice lacing initially. faint carbonation up the sides of the tulip.
Nice and plummy dried fruit aroma.
taste is quite strongly molasses. medium roasted malt on the back end, dark fruit and faint chocolate notes. ever so slightly smoky and bitter. excellent taste.
mouth gets pretty close to full. finish is slightly sweet with roasted malts around the edge of the tongue and faintly bitter in the back of the mouth. 10.5abv isn't all that noticeable.
Overall, really enjoyable RIS. Happy to have the rest of the 6 pack for the next few weeks.
647 characters
4.48/5 rDev +5.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
3.81/5 rDev -10.6%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
4.29/5 rDev +0.7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
Bottled 9/13, drank 12/17
25 characters
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
Bottled 9/13, drank 12/17
25 characters
4.65/5 rDev +9.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.75
Wicked stout. Never thought motor oil could taste so good. Not a sessionible beer but a perfect night cap.
106 characters
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.75
Wicked stout. Never thought motor oil could taste so good. Not a sessionible beer but a perfect night cap.
106 characters
4.78/5 rDev +12.2%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 5 | overall: 4.75
12 oz. bottled on 9/11/15 poured into a two brothers snifter
Black with a brown sugar head. Big bubbles and lacing on the glass. Sweet chocolate and roasted malt on the nose. Taste follows the smell with a pleasant bitter sweet chocolate finish and some coffee. Mouth feel is fudge with a heavy body. 2 years has mellowed the bitterness present in this beer when fresh. A great stout. Great for cellaring.
406 characters
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 5 | overall: 4.75
12 oz. bottled on 9/11/15 poured into a two brothers snifter
Black with a brown sugar head. Big bubbles and lacing on the glass. Sweet chocolate and roasted malt on the nose. Taste follows the smell with a pleasant bitter sweet chocolate finish and some coffee. Mouth feel is fudge with a heavy body. 2 years has mellowed the bitterness present in this beer when fresh. A great stout. Great for cellaring.
406 characters
4.5/5 rDev +5.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
4.29/5 rDev +0.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
4.18/5 rDev -1.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
4.22/5 rDev -0.9%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
Another one that got ticked years ago, but was never reviewed. Fresh 2017 bottle to tulip glass. Pour is a jet black color with several fingers of thick, rich mocha head. Lots of spidery lacing left behind. Aroma is dark and roasty, with a boozy tinge. Flavors are big on roast and figs and plums, with a bitter bite and boozy undertones befitting the style. Thicker feel. Quite a nice companion to the Breakfast Stout I had earlier.
434 characters
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
Another one that got ticked years ago, but was never reviewed. Fresh 2017 bottle to tulip glass. Pour is a jet black color with several fingers of thick, rich mocha head. Lots of spidery lacing left behind. Aroma is dark and roasty, with a boozy tinge. Flavors are big on roast and figs and plums, with a bitter bite and boozy undertones befitting the style. Thicker feel. Quite a nice companion to the Breakfast Stout I had earlier.
434 characters
4.25/5 rDev -0.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
4.15/5 rDev -2.6%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Expedition Stout from Bell's Brewery - Eccentric Café & General Store
Beer rating:
4.26 out of
5 with
6,302 ratings
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