Weekly Reviews

Bell's Le Batteur Bière de Garde

I am sure that this is the first Bière de Garde for many of you. To me, it tastes like a cross between a Belgian Golden Ale and a Hopped Lager. But that would just be my best attempt to describe it using other styles. It truly is unique. The nose is slightly sweet with hints of banana, apples, and cinnamon. As the nose progresses, softer aromas of honey and bread shine arise. The taste is bittersweet with flavors of lemon cookies, orange zest, mineral water, and chalk. The finish has slightly sour notes to it with flavors of bread, corn flakes, and lighter hints of apples.

Mike and Tyler's Rating - 7.25/10


Bell's Smitten Golden Rye Ale

Last year was the first year for this beer, and it did decently. Combining the flavors of a Golden Ale and the deep, bitter flavors of Rye seemed like an impossible task. This year, they seemed to have done a better job of perfecting that combination. The nose has lovely flavors of pine, orange peel, lemon zest, and hay. It is more reminiscent of an IPA than a Golden with its aroma. The taste smacks you with bitter rye at first, then brings about flavors of lemon juice, winter snow, and rosemary. The finish starts with light flavors of sage before the bitterness ramps up, then displays hints of soap and burnt toast. This is the perfect dethawing beer as Spring tries to fight off Winter.

Mike and Tyler's Rating - 8.5/10


Bell's Cherry Stout

This will be another first to our wall, and what a worthy addition it is. The nose is subtle with hints of milk chocolate, fudge brownies, dry cherries, and rich espresso. The nose doesn't warn you of the shock that the first taste will give you. Tart cherries immediately overwhelm your taste buds to the point of shock and surprise. After that initial surprise (and another sip), wood, bittersweet chocolate, and light hints of smoke shine forth. The finish lightens the flavor of cherries up and brings out barrel-aged fudge brownies with only hints of cherry juice. For you sweet stout lovers looking for your next fix between Southern Tiers, this is your beer.

Mike and Tyler's Rating - 8.25/10


Bell's HopSlam Imperial IPA

I wouldn't be surprised if some of you skimmed ahead in the reviews to see how we rated this years edition of HopSlam. Last years edition was the first one to receive less than a 9.5/10, ending up with an 8.75. This years edition is noticeably better, but didn't reach that 9.5. The nose is quite herbal with thick aromas of pine, citrus, and Tropicana Fruit Punch. Definitely a strong burst of hops up front. The taste is quite the mishmash, with flavors of banana, orange juice, mango, peaches, coconut, and tamarind. The finish doesn't die too much and provides strong flavors of pine, orange juice, grapefruit juice, and apricot syrup. However, without that bitterness from the honey, the alcohol can be detected in the taste which takes away from some of the great flavors.

Mike and Tyler's Rating - 9.25/10