Bell's Lineup - Time to Retool?

Such a solid dependably delicious line up. If it ain't broke ....

 

I would agree that I find most bells beers boring and rarely buy or order their beers. They definely need to revamp their lineup

 

One of the things that I love about Bells is how they take classic styles and perfect them. Their brown ale and amber may not be the fanciest of beers out there, but if I want the style I would reach for a Bells. That said, they are an out of market treat. While I hope they do not change, I understand business is business.

 

Midwest is awful......Love the porter......Like the cherry stout.......Kzoo is great and a low abv so great for me. Biggest Bells issue is price. $40 a case for the everyday beers IF I drive out of state. Stay home and its close to $50.

Best deal is $42 best brown 16oz cans......great beer and overall I am not a brown ale fan.

Enjoy

 

If midwestern, third coast beer, or smitten disappeared I wouldn't care but overall I like all of the options. They have one of the strongest fall/winter lineups and most of the other beers seem to be moving just fine here in Michigan, especially in grocery stores.

 

This is surprising to me. Bell's is one of the cheapest options in Toledo, and I rarely see a bottle that isn't under $2. I assume case prices follow suit, but I don't but by the case, so I can't say.

 

i think a good point to be taken by all of this discussion is that we might be coming to the end of era it terms of year-round offerings. People want to try new things. And while many have "stand-by," "always in the fridge" beer, I feel the market for new releases to be rising.

Sierra dropped their spring seasonal for a new beer every year, and even if the beer isn't great, I'm still going to be excited to buy it, because it is new.

 

They should just make Two Hearted and Hopslam. And send it all to me.

 

This is an interesting post. I'm sure Bell's will make adjustments to their lineup if the economics of the situation dictate, but as long as those beers are on shelves, you have to assume they don't feel any pressure to change.

Now that I've been in the game for about 5 years, I have to say my tastes are really trending towards the lighter bodied ales and lagers. To me, they're subtler, more nuanced, and more enjoyable if you're drinking more than six ounces. So I love that Bell's produces multiple lagers and a highly traditional berliner like Oarsman. Probably explains why I also like Great Lakes so much.

Shelves chock full of highly priced hop bombs and bourbon barrel offerings will give me palate fatigue rapidly.

 

The title of this thread caused a small epiphany. Follow me here; Maynard James Keenan is from Michigan (yes, born in Ohio, but formatively from Michigan...) and leads the band Tool. Bell's from Michigan could use a re-TOOL. Maynard owns a winery...... How about Bell's does with Aenema or 10,000 Days what they did with Holst's Planets suite but age all of the beers in the series in wine barrels form Maynard's winery?

Yes, this idea on "retooling" Bell's is both elaborate, specific and tedious to comprehend possibly, but I thought it to be interesting.

 

Mr. Bell, I love your beers, keep up the good work! I'd love you a little more if Best Brown was available for a longer period.

 

probably the best idea since the invention of the lightbulb. we need more wine barrel beer. hooker with a penis imperial red aged in merlot barrels. nice!

 

Without reading the entire thread I'm fairly confident that your opinion is in the minority

 

Instead, they could pull out of Ohio, because @kellyst is unappreciative, and send all the beer they send to Ohio to NJ.

 

Here ya go... http://bellsbeer.com/contact/career-opportunities/marketing-manager/

 

Planet series was pretty well-marketed though, no? I thought that was one of the more clever and effective marketing concepts in craft beer in the past few years, maybe second only to Stone Enjoy By.

 

I found the two hearted cans around the same price, especially when they first came out and I was grabbing them regularly. Not sure where in PA you are, but I know you can grab two hearted under $50 for tall boys. That's a solid price. I think they're still $8.50 a 4pk most places too(though they were $7.49 at launch).