Side Yard Ale
Bell's Brewery - Eccentric Café & General Store

12oz bottle. Label is stamped with best by date of '02.22.26'. Labeled as 'FRESH-HOPPED NEW ENGLAND-STYLE IPA'.
Hazy, pale gold colored body. Not a great thickness of white head upon pouring but this persists as a full cap and high ring. Leaves behind big lacing patches on the non-drinking side of the glass.
Aroma is earthy, vegetal, and floral.
Taste is very hop expressive. Generally a flavorable balance with sweet and bitter. Flavors of dank hop leaf, orange, peach, lemon, melon, apricot, and a touch of mint. Aftertaste is soft and full of fruit and herbal flavors.
Medium mouthfeel. Soft texture but a crisp finish. Overall bitterness is present but low level. Excellent carbonation.
More peach than watermelon in fresh hop expression but overall quite rewarding.

 

The pour is pretty much the best part of this one, completely opaque honey orange with a near white head that left copious amounts of lacing.
The taste is curiously devoid of strong anything. There is some slight grapefruit rind flavor going on but that is about it. Finishes dry. I’m speculating that the lack of rain this year really didn’t do any favors for the hops.
The feel matches the look; it’s almost juicy in texture.
OA, hopefully this year is an anomaly and next year’s batch will be amazing.

This pours a wonderfully opaque cloudy yellow. The nose is full of all sorts of peach, guava, and pineapple notes. It’s vibrant and fresh without being overpowering or too subtle. Surprisingly smooth, without any harshness or hop bite. I found myself thinking of some of Alvarado Street’s best hazies, and burped hops after finishing this.

 

 

 

 

Pours a very hazy straw color with a sudsy white head that provides ample lacing. The nose is straight up juice bomb, with pineapple, grapefruit, and oranges most prominent.

The pineapple is really prominent on the taste, but there’s room for the grapefruit and oranges, and there’s a decidedly dry, biting mouthfeel - this is NEIPA meets WCIPA to a certain extent, which I am really digging.

Bell’s is a “Top 10” brewery for me, and this beer is yet another example why. Excellent stuff, IMHO.

Bells Side Yard Fresh Hop NEIPA brewed with all Chinook hops from Bells’s 2 acre field next to their brewery in Comstock. Dated 10/8/21.

Pours a full on hazy golden yellow color with a bright white, soapy 2.5 finger head that dissipates fairly slowly and leaves some nice glass lacing. Looks like a proper NEIPA.

Big pineapple on the nose. Pineapple juice, almost candy. Behind that is ruby red grapefruit, bright floral, cherry, red grape, light mandarin orange, little vanilla wafer from the malt. Super fruity, exotic, and awesome aroma.

Taste is almost a complete 180 from the nose. Up front there’s a splatter of pineapple gummis, red grape and sweet cherry, but that quickly gives way to underripe pineapple, yellow grapefruit, hop spice, rose water, grapefruit peel, and big pine resin. Cherry is not a descriptor I come across often with hops, but that really endures throughout the flavor profile, as well as the pineapple, just in a drier way as the flavor progresses. Speaking of dry, this beer really dries out and bring a significant bitterness with it as you get into the finish.

Medium body. Slick, oily, slightly chalky, some softness.

It’s been a minute since I’ve had a Bells beer and I’ve gotta say, this is one of the better hoppy beers I’ve ever had by them. Really exceeded my expectations. They do an excellent job of showing off the fresh hops. Michigan Chinook just hits differently compared to it’s PNW counterpart. This looks and smells like a NEIPA, but it definitely drinks more like a west coast and I’m not mad about it at all.

 

I’m not sure how this is classified as an NEIPA?? Tastes more West coast to me, which I’m not a fan of. I bought it thinking juicy NE and was let down.

 

 

September - October 2021 Specialty Release - 4 pack
16 oz. can dated 10/08/2021 - 6.8% ABV / ? IBU
Brewed and canned in Comstock, MI
Poured into a Bell's branded nonic pint glass

Look - Pours a somewhat thin white head that quickly evaporates. Light to dark orange opaque hazy appearance.
Smell - Smells like freshly squeezed orange juice. Tons of citrus and some subtle pine from the Chinook hops.
Taste - The first taste is a burst of citrus, and then in the aftertaste you get a very subtle piney bitterness mixed with oat malt. As it warms, you pick up more of the pine and mint. Zero alcohol taste.
Feel - Very crisp and smooth mouthfeel. Medium bodied and easy to drink.
Overall - One of the freshest beers I've ever had and it is amazing. You pick up way more of the hop characteristics when the beer is fresh and this is just an all around well made product. Just an insanely refreshing and delicious brew.

 

Smell is sweet melon and juicy bitter hops. Taste follows suit but it really does have almost a “green” hop flavor that cuts through the bitterness and lets the sweeter flavors shine with the bitter on the backend. Delicious