Right Bank Ale
Bell's Brewery - Eccentric Café & General Store

on tap at Maduro before and shortly after the Great Taste of the Midwest - entered from old cell phone notes

listed at 8.4%

Appearance: a touch lighter than the left, in the same nice snifter…a slightly soapier beige head, a touch hazy

Smell: wow – this one just stinks of all my favourite candy…pez, smarties, a nice sugar explosion. A little bit lighter than the left bank

Taste: much of the same (pez, smarties, light sugar), lighter wheat feel than the left bank but still nice and crisp, a little chalky. Weird but nice

Mouthfeel: smooth, chalky, moderate booze

Drinkability: good

An interesting brew with an intense, boozy flavor. The color is deep orange. The aroma is malty caramel. The taste is a blend of orange peel, some caramel malt, and some spiciness -- there's a kind of cinnamon sharpness, though I wouldn't say it tastes like cinnamon. It's sweet. but not in a malty/sugary way. There's an alcohol presence even greater than you'd anticipate from the 8.4% -- it has that warming, "waft through your head" quality. For me this is a plus, at least at first -- but even the 10-ounce pour I had at Maduro was probably a little too much. The alcohol sharpness and the sweetness build up. So I'd highly recommend this in small servings, but it's one of the least "drinkable" good beers I know of.

On tap at Maduro for $3 a tulip. Consumed several times along side Batch 8,000 and Left Bank Ale. Right and Left Bank Ales are prototypes of 8,000. This is a difficult beer to place stylistically. I added it as a BSDA since that is how Left Bank is described and because I think it mirrors the beer best, however, if I am wrong please correct the style listing. Listed as 8.9% ABV, whereas Left is listed as 8.4% ABV.

Pours into a tulip a dark coppered amber with a thin stark white, like eggshell stark white, head. The retention is pretty poor but a swirl reinvigorates some lace nicely. Body is translucent. Visible carbonation is low.

Aroma is potently alcoholic and mostly smells of bubblegum. Some orange peal and caramel sweetness but very little to no wheat. This really stands out in contrast to Left Banks, Imperial Hefe like qualities.

Taste mirror the aroma. The palate is hit with a brobdingnagian of alcoholic flavor, so much so that is rises and resonates in the nostrils, while stinging and burning the sinuses. There is no balance what-so-ever. Nearly all the flavor derives itself from a highly alcoholic bubblegum sweetness. Sweet caramel and a touch of sugar dipped navel orange make their appearance but that’s about it.

Drinkability is difficult. Although the body does not feel or appear to be particularly heavy, it is. The alcohol is completely unmasked and finishing just one tulip becomes a chore as this beer warms. I definitely prefer the Left Bank and 8,000 to Right Bank.