A few nice bell images I found:
Bell’s Beer Sampler
Image by Bernt Rostad
The beer samplers at Bell’s Eccentric Café comes on two shapes of boards, formed either as the Upper or as the Lower Peninsula. I got the Lower Peninsula board with these six beers on tap:
** Bells Wheat Love is an 8,24% abv wheat ale brewed with Belgian yeasts. It poured a cloudy orange with a small white head. Light in body. Aroma of Belgian yeast and sweet wheat malt. Sweet and medium heavy mouthfeel. Flavor was sweet, almost sugary, with a wheaty finish. Some yeast too. I found it too sweet for this kind of body.
** Bells Porter is a 5,2% abv porter. It poured black with a small beige head. Ashy aroma with some coffee roasted malt. Light mouthfeel. Roasty malt flavor with some coffee and chocolate notes. Crisp, but with a watery finish. Too light too be interesting but an OK low-strength porter I guess.
** Bells Kalamazoo Stout is a 6% abv stout. It poured black with a big tan head. Sweet malt aroma with notes of roasted malts, coffee and dark chocolate. Nice. Medium to light mouthfeel with a smooth carbonation. Flavor started out with mild coffee, dark chocolate and some malt sweetness. Well balanced, though a bit thin for my liking, I found it very drinkable. A good session stout?
** Bells Smoked Lager is a 5,9% abv lager brewed with Vienna-style smoked malts. It poured a hazy orange color with a small white head. Mouthfeel was thin, lagerish. Aroma of mild smoke and some malt. Flavor was dominated by the smoke, with some notes of sweet malt. Interesting to drink a lager with this much taste, but not sure I really like it. A beer with more body would be better suited to balance the smoke.
** Bells Oracle is a 10,1% abv double IPA. It poured a hazy amber color with a small white head. Aroma was very hoppy with notes of pine, citrus and floral hops. Mouthfeel was medium heavy. Flavor started out with a mild malt sweetness but shortly the resinous hops kicked in with lots of citrus, pine and bitterness. Good bitter finish too. This is a pretty solid double ipa, perfect for hopheads!
** Bells Hopslam is a 10% abv imperial IPA. It poured a beautiful golden color with a nice white head. Aroma of caramel malts and a healthy amount of hops, both citrus and floral. Mouthfeel was full bodied. Flavor started out with a good dose of caramel that perfectly balanced the hops when they kicked in. Yummy. Nice, long bitter sweet aftertaste. Though sweeter than the Oracle I really like it. A great imperial IPA.
Bell Family c.1910
Image by michaelpickard
John Bell, Eliza Bell (nee Evans), Elsie (?), Susan, Florrie Bell.
