This One Goes To 11 Ale
Bell's Brewery - Eccentric Café & General Store

 

We are finding curious notes of rock and rye and an inviting aura of French Toast Crunch (trust me I know you remember what it tastes like ;-).... WE LOVE BEER and love to feel it in our mouths and that's usually on FRIDAYS (amIright??!?!)

Sweet molasses amber after tones. Coniferous body. Lasting Deciduous head voice. Self Taught. Traces of nickel and tongue zapping honey suckle. All hands on deck for this one, let's GO!

until next time BBF (best beer friends)
signing off...

 

Poured into a small chalice: color is amber, opaque, light tan head with fine bubbles, some lacing, thin top remains.

Smell is malt, caramel, light toffee, syrup, then hop aromas of pine, herbs, light pith.

Taste is big caramel malt, moderate booziness, light toffee, syrup/honey/resin like flavor, and fruit, hops come through as pine, pith, herbs.

Mouthfeel is low carbonation, moderate sweetness, some boozy burn, moderate bitterness.

Overall a big, hoppy, malty wonder of a beer - it does get boozy but its expected and countered by the sweetness.

 

Opaque deep amber/reddish pour; off white head; poor cap retention leaves a small island of micro dots, thin ring and spotty lacing; thin legs on swirl. Nose is sweet cherries, pine and honey. Bitter orange, pine and booze; sweet malty base; boozy cough syrup finish. Medium body, sticky resin feel, moderate carbonation; warmth in mouth from 11% abv; no astringency; dry woody finish. Overall, the alcohol, sweet and bitter go back and forth (similar to how sweet and sour pork dishes do so), an interesting juxtaposition of countervailing flavors; and it reminds me of how much I like the boozy bite of aged DFH 120, yet dangerously easy easy drinking; a rare, for me, sum of the parts triumphs score-wise; I like!

 

Mostly opaque dark amber red with brown tints, beige head. Most notable thing about this amber is the noticeable booze in the taste and feel, grants warmth and support to the malts especially. Given this boost, the taste is dominated by the malt flavors of caramel and toffee, with the hops relegated to second fiddle as a pine and citrus finish. Like the smell more in that the hops had more of a fair fight. Feel is big, languid for style, malty, and warm.

 

Pours hazy, orange-tan in color with 1/3 inch head. Taste is big piney hops with caramel. Heavy bodied, sweet, slick, with medium-low carbonation. Makes for an ok red ale.

From the bottle, it pours a clear caramel color with a large foamy and creamy tan head. The head retains very well; nice looking brew overall.

The nose opens with an inviting caramel and toffee sweetness, as well as highlighting its toasty and biscuity amber malt profile. The hops aromas range from fruity to floral, particularly evoking touches of tropical and stone fruit. Yet, it is the piney and resiny hops that soon begin to stand out in the nose, indicating what’s to come in the taste.

Medium to full bodied with a thick and chewy malt base that is doughy, biscuity and with lots of caramel; overall, this brew has a lot of rich malt sweetness throughout. Yet, the balance is fantastic with a moderate yet firm hops bitterness that provides a resiny and prickly counterpoint to the fluffy malts. This balance, along with the alcohol spice, for me evokes characteristics of Barleywine or a strong malty DIPA like DFH 90 minute. The hops flavors open with citrusy notes of grapefruit, jammy notes of peach, apricot, orange marmalade and tropical notes of mango. However, it is the earthy tastes of pine resin and dank cannabis like flavors that in many ways becomes the signature of this drink. Adding to the smoothness of the mouthfeel, the carbonation is gentle. The initially well hidden alcohol taste slowly begins to warm in the finish, which is also long with a nice balance of malt and resiny bitterness.

Fantastic brew! I’ve been sampling so many of these new breweries lately, what with their hazy/juicy IPAs and fruited sours, that I almost forgot what fine classic flavors legendary breweries like Bells can provide.

L - Deep amber, cloudy, with 2 fingers of head and nice lacing left all over the brew and glass.

S - Roasted malts, caramel, and TONS of booze. Love this smell!

T -Sweet upfront, caramel and grains. Warms your throat and boozy towards the end. Lots of piny hop flavors. Hops explode in your mouth

F - Full body and well carbonated

O - An amazing brew. Bells kills it once again!

Pours a reddish brown color with a foamy tan head that lasts quite a while. Aroma is hops. Tastes of malt and hops up front. A good bit of hop bitterness. Good mouth feel.

pours a murky copper with a thick white head. nose; strong caramel, bread, grapefruit, candied orange, pine, & citrus hops. taste; caramel malt, dinner roll, mellowed grapefruit & lemon, with some more-than-slight ethanol off the top. medium carbonation & mouthfeel.

 

 

 

Pours a dark orange, reddish gue with medium carbonation. Aroma is a bit malty/sweet with some fruity hops, taste is much the same. A little sweet and full bodied, similar to a lagunitas offering but all in all a fun malty ipa to sip through.

I really like this one. Cloudy dark auburn hues. Minimal head and lacing. Smell of malt, slight pine, slight sweet caramel/honey, hint of sweet zesty hops. Taste is citrusy hops with a huge plenty bittersweet malt background, and a whole lot of booze. A whole lot. Feel is maybe the best part of it. I see people describing it as thick, but I’m not getting that. It’s medium bodied to me, very crisp, mouth watering, and for one of the strongest 11 percent beers I’ve ever had, it’s an easy sipper. I see that some people compared it to a barleywine, but it also strikes me as a milder 120 Minute. Better than the ratings. I’ll buy this every time it comes out.

Aroma is malts, caramel, mild pine, fruit and a hint of syrup/honey. The flavor is fruit, caramel, mild honey/syrup, malts and a piney hop/slightly sticky sweet finish.

Poured from a bottle dated 10/13/2019 into the test glass
A - Deep copper color, carbonation works to get topside, sign of high gravity. Quick to exit cap of off white.
S - toasted grains, orange marmalade, alcohol, sourdough toast, som,e pine threads in there.
T - Follows the nose well, add some caramel, and a bit of toffee
M - Thick on the palate, sweet start, bittering hops balance things out
O - A big sipper here, sweet and bordering on barleywine status

 

 

 

 

For me, an absolute benchmark of the style. Pours a deep amber with plenty of head and residual lacing. Rich maltiness takes over the nose, completely hiding the aggressive hops that pounce on the tongue. Delightful.

 

 

 

Poured from a bottle into a pint glass

Appearance – The beer pours a hazy brick red color with a small off white head. The head fades very fast leaving just a tiny bit of foamy lace on the surface of the brew.

Smell – The aroma of the brew is super heavy of lightly toasted caramel malt along with a toasted bready smell and some hints of pine. Along with thee smells comes a good showing of a boozy alcohol smell and a touch of earth.

Taste – The taste begins with a toasted bready flavor that has some notes of caramel and harvest fruits from the start. There is a bit of pine and grapefruit hop upfront with the former hop flavor growing in intensity as the taste advances. While the taste advances, there are also some light flavors of dark fruit and brown sugar and a rather decent presence of a boozy alcohol taste. Some herbal hop and some light oak tastes join the rest of the flavors at the end to leave one with a nice warming and boozy taste to linger on the tongue.

Mouthfeel – The body of the brew is thick and heavy with a carbonation level that is rather low. For the mix of bready flavors, moderate hop, and booziness the feel is awesome and makes this on a nice slow sipper.

Overall – A nice warming brew that has a good blend of malt, hop, and booze. I actually really liked this beer and would love it if it was a mainstay.

"But this one goes to 11". I love Spinal Tap, so I had to try this out. It's pretty good for a red. Smooth with a hint of cherry. Alcohol is hidden well considering "this one goes to 11". I would buy a 4 pack were it not $ 35. Not that good....

A nice color of red poured from a 12 ounce bottle pkg 10/31/19. A sweet malty aroma. Taste is malty sweet with flavors of fruit, maybe cherries. The alcohol is not even noticeable. Mouthfeel is thick but creamy. Has a nice sweet malty feel on the tongue. Overall an interesting brew I believe I would definitely drink again Cheers Bell’s.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

12 oz bottle bottled 10/31/19. Pours hazy copper red with a medium creamy light tan head that retains well and laces the glass some.

The aroma is sweet caramel malt with piney hops and some alcohol.

The flavor is sweet caramel malt with fruity piney resiny hops and an alcohol bite in the finish. The mouthfeel is medium bodied with low carbonation.

Overall, a nice malty red with nice hops. A bit hot on the alcohol though.