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
4.56/5 rDev +7%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
4.11/5 rDev -3.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4
4.21/5 rDev -1.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
4.08/5 rDev -4.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
In a snifter, on tap, pours a dark mahogany black, creamy 1 finger khaki head with decent retention and good lacing. Nose is quite roasty and a little smoky, with good malt character, solid baker’s chocolate, a little sweet cream, a little (but not much) bitter coffee. Good, but for the style, nothing too special. Taste is a little more interesting to me, with a little leathery licorice and some fleshy dark fruit complementing the predominant slightly chewy chocolate, and a zippy hoppy edge that affects the feel more than it does the taste. A little smoke lingers. Fairly light feel and not very boozy, considering the abv. Can’t believe I haven’t rated this before. Solid offering, and more than well-well worth a shot.
739 characters
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
In a snifter, on tap, pours a dark mahogany black, creamy 1 finger khaki head with decent retention and good lacing. Nose is quite roasty and a little smoky, with good malt character, solid baker’s chocolate, a little sweet cream, a little (but not much) bitter coffee. Good, but for the style, nothing too special. Taste is a little more interesting to me, with a little leathery licorice and some fleshy dark fruit complementing the predominant slightly chewy chocolate, and a zippy hoppy edge that affects the feel more than it does the taste. A little smoke lingers. Fairly light feel and not very boozy, considering the abv. Can’t believe I haven’t rated this before. Solid offering, and more than well-well worth a shot.
739 characters
3.85/5 rDev -9.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75
3.89/5 rDev -8.7%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4.5
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4.5
4.21/5 rDev -1.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
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
4.11/5 rDev -3.5%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Pours a dark black with a dark brown head. Smells of sweet chocolate, roasted malts, light hops, and coffee. Tastes of bitter hops, heavily roasted malt, burnt coffee, chocolate, cocoa powder, a lot of alcohol, and some very light sweetness. Medium-heavy body with medium carbonation. Overall it's a very good RIS, I just wish the alcohol were a little less apparent.
369 characters
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Pours a dark black with a dark brown head. Smells of sweet chocolate, roasted malts, light hops, and coffee. Tastes of bitter hops, heavily roasted malt, burnt coffee, chocolate, cocoa powder, a lot of alcohol, and some very light sweetness. Medium-heavy body with medium carbonation. Overall it's a very good RIS, I just wish the alcohol were a little less apparent.
369 characters
4.36/5 rDev +2.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
Pours black with tan head and sticky lacing. Nose is chocolate, prune, oats, and smokey tones. The taste is very nice, a sweet chocolate with semi bitter flavors, some oak/smoke flavors and mild dryness on finish. Overall a very enjoyable stout, loads of flavors that just get better as the beer warms, very well made and recommend highly.
339 characters
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
Pours black with tan head and sticky lacing. Nose is chocolate, prune, oats, and smokey tones. The taste is very nice, a sweet chocolate with semi bitter flavors, some oak/smoke flavors and mild dryness on finish. Overall a very enjoyable stout, loads of flavors that just get better as the beer warms, very well made and recommend highly.
339 characters
4.73/5 rDev +11%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.75
12oz bottle poured into glass. The color is black with a thin brown head. The aroma is, prunes, rasins and dark chocolate. It tastes like dark chocolate, rasins, prunes, and smoke. The smoke taste stands out to me. This beer feels heavy due to the abv. Overall this is a world class beer. This beer is worth trying multiple times, might save some to age.
354 characters
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.75
12oz bottle poured into glass. The color is black with a thin brown head. The aroma is, prunes, rasins and dark chocolate. It tastes like dark chocolate, rasins, prunes, and smoke. The smoke taste stands out to me. This beer feels heavy due to the abv. Overall this is a world class beer. This beer is worth trying multiple times, might save some to age.
354 characters
3.57/5 rDev -16.2%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.75
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.75
4.49/5 rDev +5.4%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
This is a very complex stout. It has all the flavors. Chocolate, coffee, dark fruit, smoke and not too much of any one. They say it ages well and I would expect so. It could go for a little smoothing out and just seems like a beer screaming for a year on it. I don't know if I can make any bottles last that long though, as it's already very good fresh. Good job bell's, keep the good beer coming.
397 characters
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
This is a very complex stout. It has all the flavors. Chocolate, coffee, dark fruit, smoke and not too much of any one. They say it ages well and I would expect so. It could go for a little smoothing out and just seems like a beer screaming for a year on it. I don't know if I can make any bottles last that long though, as it's already very good fresh. Good job bell's, keep the good beer coming.
397 characters
4.75/5 rDev +11.5%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75
In the past month, I’ve tried 3 different versions of this beer; a 2015 version (aged 2 years), 2017 version (aged 3 months), and fresh out of the tap at Bell’s Brewery in Kalamazoo, MI. By far, the beer with the most flavor and depth is the one that was aged for threee months in the bottle. The other 2 felt thinner. I’m glad I tried the bottled version from this year; this beer was a little disappointing other at the 2 other stages of aging.
Drink at 3 months!
473 characters
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75
In the past month, I’ve tried 3 different versions of this beer; a 2015 version (aged 2 years), 2017 version (aged 3 months), and fresh out of the tap at Bell’s Brewery in Kalamazoo, MI. By far, the beer with the most flavor and depth is the one that was aged for threee months in the bottle. The other 2 felt thinner. I’m glad I tried the bottled version from this year; this beer was a little disappointing other at the 2 other stages of aging.
Drink at 3 months!
473 characters
4.31/5 rDev +1.2%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
look: 3.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
4.29/5 rDev +0.7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | 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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