Bell's Hopslam Firkin Cask

Why I tried this: It was Bell's night at World of Beer, and I was determined to try some fresh Bell's beer on tap. The Hopslam Firkin was actually one of the beers I had earlier in the night. I was originally drinking a Double Cream Stout when Logan stopped me and told me I was crazy if I didn't try the firkin. Apparently they had very limited quantity and it would be gone very soon, if not already. Kyle agreed, so I made it my next beer. Logan was being a jerkface and wouldn't give me two beers at once so unfortunately, that meant I had to slam the stout, so I won't have a proper review for it haha. This will probably be the last Bell's review I'll be doing for the time being.

Smell: I got a really pleasant floral hop scent that had a bit of bananas and lots of citrus, notably orange, mixed in. There were other faint sweet smells as well.

Taste: It sort of comes in two waves. The first wave you can taste some lightly sweet malts and more citrus/orange. However, once you get paste the initial sweetness, in comes the bitterness. The hops start to take over, and boy do they take over huge. You are left with a very bitter and hoppy taste in your mouth. I don't know if it was the firkin cask or what, as normally I really despise this, but I actually somewhat enjoyed the finish.

Overall, I'd probably give this beer a quarter pint glass. I normally don't like hoppy beers at all, and maybe it was the firkin cask doing something different, but I definitely enjoyed this beer. At 10%, it was fairly strong, but I couldn't taste the alcohol. There was just too much flavor there. The sweet smell and initial taste was a nice surprise, as in an IPA for me that is usually drowned out by bitter hops, but the hops let the other tastes come through first before they made their presence known. Very hoppy in the finish, but overall enjoyable. If you like IPAs, this is probably a must have.

--Jeff

Bell's Expedition Stout

Why I tried this: It was Bell's night, and up next was the Expedition Stout. Previously, I had written about the Bell's Consecrator. I think this stout chronologically came right before the Consecrator and was the primary reason why I started to get pretty drunk. Thanks Kyle and Logan. Anyway, this is just the next in a series of Bell's beers I'll be covering from that night.

Smell: It has a very roasted, malty scent, with a good mix of chocolate. You can easily smell the high alcohol content of this beer.

Taste: I pretty much got the same thing I smelled. It had a very dark roasted malt flavor to it, with a fair amount of chocolate to balance it all out with sweetness, but there was a strong taste of alcohol that burned the tongue a bit. I don't believe Bell made much attempt to hide how strong this beer was. Definitely an imperial stout.

At 10.5%, this imperial stout was definitely a kick to the teeth. It was also the main cause of my downward spiral of the night. However, despite the harshness of the alcohol, what was there was very good and balanced. I always enjoy a good stout. However, I don't know if I would order this again. It was a sipper for sure. With that said, I'd probably give this beer a quarter full glass. If you're an imperial stout fan, give this one a try. You may be surprised.

--Jeff

Bell's Consecrator Doppelbock

Why I tried this: It was Bell's night at World of Beer. Every once in a while they have a brewer's night where they hook up a handful of beers from a craft brewery on tap, and have neat swag and stuff going on. This was such a night. Although this wasn't the first Bell's beer I had that night, this will be the first one I will review, as it was probably my favorite, that I could remember.

Smell: I was able to detect a lot of malts and a caramel sweetness in the scent of this beer.

Taste: Malty and sweet, likely due to the caramel. It also has a slight fruitiness to it as well, but I couldn't discern exactly what was in it. Overall, the taste is pretty well balanced and almost a bit mild.

Overall, I'd give this beer an empty glass award. It was a hard decision, because I actually wanted almost a little stronger of a flavor, but then I realized this is made up for in the smoothness of the beer, which in turn makes it more drinkable. I think that's a fair trade considering the great taste and smell. Definitely give this beer a try if you can find it.

--Jeff