Thursday, November 3, 2011

Bell’s Expedition Stout: Review


10.5% abv
12oz bottle
$19.00 a six pack
Bell’s Brewery, Inc
Comstock, Michigan, USA

This bottle has been in my fridge since last spring.  Let’s see how it is doing.  I have three more bottles.  I thought I would age this batch.  This is a winter seasonal brew. 

Appearance: this stout has a black body with a big roasted brown head and loads of lacing on the glass.  Plenty of sediment on the bottom of the bottle so, make sure to do a good swirl of the bottle to get all the goodies into your glass. 

Aroma: dark roasted coffee and grains, sweet toasted brown sugar, smoky, 

Flavors: Alcohol bite, a little medicinal, toasted and almost burnt molasses and grains, dark chocolate bite (90% like), dark roasted coffee. 

The alcohol bite and medicinal note is not as big as it was back in the spring when I sampled a couple of these from this six pack.  My notes say that the alcohol and medicinal notes overwhelmed the flavors. 

Remember this is a sipper.  Make sure you have the time to drink this bottle. 

Mouthfeel: thick with a creamy feel, the burnt roasted notes linger on the palate, a little alcohol warmth. 

My Strength Rating: 8.5 – a good full bodied Russian Imperial Stout

To find the date the beer was made go to the Bell’s web site and they have a batch finder on their home page.  On the back label on the bottle there are some numbers on the bottom of the label.  My number is 10068.  They say it was made on November 10, 2010. 

To the Point: age this stout, it is starting to mellow already, I think in another six months that alcohol bite should be tamed and the flavors will just improve.  This is also a great stout to have with a cigar. 

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