Bell's Batch 5000

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 6

NorCal tasting Feb 07 - This was brought over by MI2CA during his trip out West. An aroma which is mildly smokey, malty sweet and slightly woody. It didn't get a higher score simply because everything was so mild. Nothing really jumped up and grabbed me. Flavors had a bit of plastic and smelly ass, along with a noticeable alcohol bite and a bit of tobacco. Nothing really remarkable about this beer. Perhaps it's well past it's prime. A shame.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 9

Poured a murky brown color with a small, light tan head that left nice lacing on the glass. Aroma of smoked meats, charred wood, nuts, sherry, and caramel malts. Taste was smokey, a bit salty, with roasted malts, tobacco, cocoa, and more caramel. Alcohol was fairly strong. Thanks Paul!

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

Really flat pour. Really rough pouring left a thin, ephemeral head. Big rich malty aroma wafts up as you pour though and is quite nice in its richness. The taste is mostly caramel, with some chocolate. There's a mild fruitiness, some really, really faint coffee, present but not too strong smokiness. Mouthfeel was thick. Nice big flavor but perhaps a little too thick, rich and sweet to be easily drinkable. Has plenty of complexity, but it's just the overly sweet nature that makes it a bit unpleasant.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 7

Um, bacon? Yes, that was my very first impression of this beer -- something I most definately did not expect from this beer. I kinda assumed that this would be a jazzed up version of the Third Coast Old Ale, but a full blown ruachbier...? Wow.

Deep amber body, with a nice even layer of foam and Belgian Lace. But when it comes to the aroma, all bets are off. I picked up on the sausage n' bacon prescence immediately, while even my non-beer drinking girlfriend said that this smelled just like Teriyaki steak sauce. All fine points when it comes to the rauchbier style, but I think it's a bit too "over the top", even for an aniversary ale.

And then comes the flavor profile. Would this have any sort of taste that could balance out the huge smokiness? Surprisingly, there is indeed enough soul and character in the malt body of this beer to remind folks that this is not meant to be strictly a smoke-beer only. Hints of complex fruit undertones underlying all that damn smoke. Overall drinkability suffers a bit in the grand scheme of things.

I still say it's basically unbalanced in the long-and-short of things, but still interesting enough to warrant investigation. Not for the weak at heart or the unadventurous, that's for sure!
//TB

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 7

Dark brown, muddy color. Smallish head. Aroma is smoky and woody. Big smoked flavored ale. Malts are surprisingly sweet, nutty and woody. The hops are really masked by the smokiness but they are fairly mild and piney(?) It’s hard to tell. It nicely smoked and malty and hides the 9% alcohol very well. It aggressively smoked, with being over the top about i. This is NOT a beer for everyone, but it is a must try for smoked beer fans. Mouthfeel is full and round. Finish is clean and smooth, Aftertaste is slightly bitter.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 9 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 9

This is a very nice smoked beer. I happen to like smoked beers & this is an excellent representation of the style.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 10 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 10 | Overall: 10

dark brown colour, almost no head, prune and cinnamon, licorice with smokey notes, very thick, oily, strong alcohol presence, dry, spicy and licorice finish - exceptionnal !

Aroma: 5 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

This was a very interesting experience. There is so much yeast on the bottom that it's almost gross! it's like a thick cream. I realize that this is for aging but it made it a little too thick, I thought I might have gotten a bad batch or something, but then again there is only one batch! This beer is really sweet, and very complex, very little hops added. My amateur mouth could not pick out all of the flavors but there was a ton of them. I didn't enjoy drinking this beer because I thought it was too much yeast. I'm going to age the other four bottles I have and see if it gets better. I expected something a little more drinkable as kalamazoo's special 5000th batch, but i still love the brewery.