Bells Brewery

Founders?

 

Late January/Early February. It landed in my local liquor store the same day Hopslam did, which I believe was the last Monday in January.

 

An Excellent question! Just checked their availablity page on the website and it is not listed....

 

As posted above, Oberon was one of the gateway brews for myself. Thought it was great and always waited for that orange bottle cap to reappear. Now that my palate has grown accustom to flavor, Oberon has become an old friend who I say hi to in passing, but never see at a gathering. Expedition is Fan-fucking-tastic. Hopslam is great (but it will never be the same as "last year", keep that in mind), and Two Hearted is one of those beers that I am amazed I can get for $9 a six-pack every single day of the week.
Would love to be at Bell's for Greensky Bluegrass in 3 weeks!

 

Is that what fresh air smells like in Ohio? Yikes.

Direct quote from my review of a 5-week-old bottle: "Aroma has a musty, minerally quality. There's some floral hoppy notes but mostly I'm getting this weird old wet basement smell that I just also got from a bottle of Gumballhead. And no, it's not the glass. Maybe the water really is different in other parts of the country, and so they condition it differently too...? no idea, but I don't like this smell."

 

I think you really need to like licorice in order to enjoy Kalamazoo Stout. I love licorice and it's probably why I enjoy that beer so much. However, I could see it being really off-putting if you weren't a black licorice fan.

 

I was briefly out of love with Oberon last spring/summer, until I had one on tap the other night, and holy shit was it good. Black Note, BA Batch 9000, Expedition, Hopslam, and Two Hearted are among my favorite beers of all time. I've actually got a lot of catching up to do with their year rounds (I'm pretty sure I've committed Michigan blasphemy by living in the state my entire life and never having stuff like their Amber, Kalamazoo Stout, Third Coast Beer, Porter, etc.) so I'm sure I'll catch some misses in there, like the Midwestern Pale, of which I was not a fan.

EDIT: Also, their regular Cherry Stout. I thought that stuff was overpriced garbage.

 

Come on, I don't know many people that liked Cerise. I also didn't care for Dirty Bastard; Backwoods Bastard yes, Dirty Bastard no.

 

I love Two Hearted and Hopslam (which I've actually grown to like more in the past 2 years), but I still LOVE Oberon. Cheers to me I guess!!

I also dislike thier standard pale ale and the midwestern pale ale but I have cone to realize I am not going to like everything everyone else does, so I just move on with my day. Not sure I have found a brewery where I think everyone of thier beers is great. Didn't like 3F Pride and Joy, though I love most of their other stuff. Love New Glarus, but Hop Hearty IPA does do it for me at all. Like alot of Founders beers but AllDay IPA was watery crap to me.

 

Cerise has an 83 "Good" rating, so the majority of people at least liked it.

And didn't like Dirty Bastard!? FOR SHAME!!

 

So a beer (Oberon) not living up to the hype means that the quality of said beer is inconsistent from their other beers?

 

That's the thing, I love black licorice; I always eat the black jelly beans that everyone else leaves behind, and I love me some Good & Plenty candies. I even chewed on licorice root when I was a kid. But for some reason, I just don't like that stout.

My point was that I don't consider it a let-down, I just don't think it's for me.

 

Two Hearted definitely takes the cake for me from this brewery. I'm never upset to see that fish label. Besides this one, obviously Hopslam is one of the best imperial IPAs. Expedition is a great stout, super smooth. I've always liked Oberon. I think it's a great summer beer for sure. Overall I think Bells is a great brewery. Maybe I'm a little biased being from Michigan... I don't think so.

 

Ick. Maybe I've subconsciously avoided it for a reason.

 

I love black licorice. I see a lot of beers described by people on this site as having a licorice taste, but I never get it. Bummer.

 

Yes, Bells makes some mild beers for people who aren't hop or stout heads. You named four of them. There are a few more. Some people prefer mild beers. Most of the beers you named in the OP have been brewed for a long time. Quite a few people must be buying and enjoying them.

 

I know, I know. I just didn't like it.