Eccentric Ale 2009
Bell's Brewery - Eccentric Café & General Store

 

 

 

 

 

Earth and sweetness has its place in the culinary arts, so its place in craft beer isn't such a stretch. But as these tastes culminate- the entire mouth is challenged by its grace, its power, its complexity...

Its deep chestnut pour carries the weight of nearly opaque garnet with all its haze and darkness. Its initial blanket of foam is sprite enough to recede to a broken sheet to skirt the glass and only regenerates with broken coffee-like creme with a quick swirl. Light trickling of intermittent lace trails behind, even while the beer sheds brandy-like legging as well.

Surprising tartness greets the nose first as its vinous wood and wine notes swirl about the olfactories with brandy, sherry and port. Still a brandy-type spice persist as malt underpinnings support the drunken fruit and spice with its own chocolate, nutty, molasses and brown sugar foundation.

And to taste, those sweetness saturate the mouth with the same malty-rich taste of black-strap molasses, over-cooked toffee, brown sugars and bittersweet chocolate. What follows is a fruitiness that trends boozy late- dates, figs, apples, prunes and raisins, grilled berries and currants all seem to be soaked in brandy as the ale fades into a spicy, boozy, but savory-salty blend that unlocks a complex set of flavors that fuse together harmoniously. Somewhat of a sherry-dipped walnut brownie is what the ale gives back in aftertaste.

Drinking nearly as much like sherry as of ale, the beer's sweeter feel and fuller creaminess shies away from thickness or chewy texture and favors a lighter creamy body that allows the vinous acidity, boozy warmth and tannic bitter-astringent confussion to lift its body late. Its spicy fruitiness makes me think of brandy as echoes of chocolate confuse the palate further- but in the most marvelous of ways.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

12oz bottle poured into a Bell's tulip.

Bell's Eccentric Ale (2010)

The beer pours a very deep brown, borderline black color, very opaque with a nice thick cloudy tan colored head, about a finger and a half high that has nice retention and leaves behind a nice amount of soapy lacing. The aroma is very spice laden, nutmeg, allspice, lots of peppercorn with some rich dark grain and sweet maple with a a sharp alcohol finish. It's not overly complex and somewhat off putting, not sure the spicing really melds that well and the maple seems somewhat out of place as well. The flavors a bit harder to handle, rich, sweet, grainy malt, zesty peppercorn, sweet maple, a lot of dark bark laden wood and sharp alcohol. Molasses, ashy leather and bitter tobacco are also present but nothing seems to blend together or compliment each other in any way, it's a big mess really. The body is nice though, smooth and rich and does help this beer out, medium carbonation is spot on and it has a nice smooth full finish.

Verdict: A really big mess of a beer, all over the place and lacking any sense of cohesion. The idea behind this season is wonderful, but this releases execution is a bit of a fail.

Big thanks goes out to BRoss242 for sharing this one as soon as I got to his house from the airport in New Orleans! Served from bottle into a Unibroue Ephemere tulip. Poured red-brown with a minimal off-white head. Maintained nice lacing throughout the glass. The aroma was comprised of sweet malt, maple syrup, dark fruit, honey, plum, sweet alcohol, caramel, and pepper. The flavor was of sweet malt, sweet alcohol, fruit, dark fruit, honey, caramel, and pepper. It had a light feel on the palate with medium carbonation. Overall this was a fairly decent brew. There was just something off on this one if I am honest. I really went into this one expecting it to be quite good based on the aroma I first got off of it. However, there just seemed to be quite a bit of booziness lingering after these few years that really hurt the balance of this brew by completely dominating any subtle flavors going on. While there was a lot going on it really just felt that a lot of it was clashing rather than working in unison. Glad I got to try this one, but doubt I would go out of my way to do so again in the future.

A: The beer pours out of the bottle semi-clear and brown in color, but rests in the glass a deep brown with a few fingers of creamy light brown head. The retention is great, and the head leaves a thick coating of lacing behind.

S: Roasted malts, rich maple syrup, molasses. Deep, sweet, and roasty.

T: The taste is mellowed and blended nicely. I was really expecting too much maple syrup, or too much sweetness. This beer is full of syrup and is sweet and thick. Roast comes from the malts. The spices aren't really noted all that much for me, but the alcohol content is nonexistent. The other big flavors have curbed it nicely.

MF: Thick and heavy with a lower than average carbonation. The body matches what I expected out of an aged Strong Ale. It is very drinkable with the alcohol so well hidden, leaving only a slight burn on the palate well after the beer has gone.

O: This was a really nice, above average American Strong Ale, but it wasn't anything too special. Hawberry Syrup is not something I'm familiar with, I'll have to try it!

Pulled this one out of the cellar on 8.6.12.

A - Pours a medium brown-amber with a one inch foamy light brown head.

S - Sweet, over ripie dark fruit, slightly oxidized.

T - Sweet dark fruity, metal-wet cardboard. Oxidized :(

D - Ok carbonation, medium body.

O - I guess I missed this one, or atleast this bottle. Way past it's prime.

 

huge thanks to waltonc for hitting this want! enjoyed from a bell's tulip.

a - popped the cap and filled my glass, the brew poured a murky brown that settled as a deep purple black with a generous frothy lattechino type of creamy head. as the head pfted into nothingness, large foamy chunks clung to the glass.

s - very eccentric. spicey malts with some syrup. spoiled caramel. there is a vanilla presence but it is off...kind of like wet cardboard.

t - WHOA. that's eccentric. it is a medley of flavors. syrup...kind of barleywine like. finishes with some bitterness, alcohol is massively hot (and i tend to prefer boozy beers). complex fruit medley of hodgepodge mix of fruits that don't necessarily play nice with each other. grapes and apples and sour grapefruit with some pineapple and...kind of like when you were little and you would mix up concoction of whatever was available to you.

m - boozy and thick with a bitter finish. definitely different.

o - i always say that bell's doesn't make a bad beer and although my scores to reflect that of an excellent beer, this beer is truth in advertising. it *is* eccentric. i wonder what this was like fresh. the flavors seem to wash over each other leaving a bit of confusion on my taste buds. the booze is hot. i love bell's, but when talking american strong ales, nothing holds a candle to batch 9k (that i've tried thus far). this beer is definitely worth a taste as you'll likely not find much of anything like it anywhere. at first i felt that i wouldn't get through the bottle, but with any and all 12%+ beers, as i sipped it i found myself digging it more and more.

12oz bottle, vintage 2009. Poured into Darkness tulip.

A - Pours a darker brown color, off-white colored head, thin collar.

S - Sweet malts, brown sugar, molasses, and light roast. The 12% is detectable on the nose, but not overpowering, which is nice.

T - Similar to the nose. Malts, brown sugar, roast, caramel. The alcohol is hidden more on the palate compared to the nose, which is nice. There's a light burn up front, the but sweetness overtakes it pretty quickly. Finish is sweet burnt sugars with light roast.

M - Medium, soft carbonation, creamy finish.

O - Not too bad. The alcohol has cooled off a bit with the age, and the sweetness compliments the alcohol burn pretty well. I would definitely drink this one again but wouldn't actively search out more of this. Decent.