Bells Third Coast Old Ale

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

The beer pours a solid amber color, slightly hazed, and capped with a frothy white head. Lacing is good. Aromas of alcohol, molasses, and dark fruit dominate the nose. Mouthfeel is full bodied. Flavor is definitely malt forward with this one. Quite possibly an oversweet hop bomb!

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

Beer Eight of my Twelve Beers of Christmas - 2010 bottle from kinger. Murky dark brown pour, velvety tan head, cap and ring, nice lazy lacing. Rich ripe pitted fruits, heavy malts, molasses, earthy hops, rum, raisins and prunes, light woodsiness abound in the aromas and flavors. Huge beer, definitely a sipper. Been sitting on this one for some time. Thanks Cory - loved it.

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

Murky brown pour with a quickly disappearing head. Aroma is fruitier than expected--cherries and plums to go with the molasses and bready malts, with a hint of alcohol. Light carbonation with a thick, full body. Big, boozy flavor, lots of sweetness and just a hint of the dark fruit from the aroma.

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

Appearance is slightly cloudy, kind of dissapointing. The smell is surprisingly fruity, with hints of malts on the back. Mouthfeel is average, not thick not weak. Flavor is strong and by far the best characteristic of this beer. I sampled this next to Central Waters Bourbon Barrel Barleywine and Central Waters deffinitely takes the crown here.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 10 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

A deep mahogany colored beer. A disappointingly small light bubbly textured, pale white head rises briefly above. In short order it settles into a thick ringlet that tries to climb the sides of the glass. Things get better from this point on. The nose is a nice balance of molasses, dark fruits and alcohol. The taste matches, a bit bolder with bready malt thrown, nicely in. The body is so pleasantly full and richly smooth. A great sipping beer, not overpowering in any one feature, crafted well.

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

batch9385 into a standard pint. Pours dark brown with ruby edges and a one-finger nearly white head which dissapears to just an island of foam. Lacing is pretty scarce as well. Odd since bubbles hang all over the place within. Nose is lots of malt, raisins, banana, and rum. Taste starts very sweet - brown sugar, raisins, grapes, caramel, then some breadiness with some bitterness, dryness, and warming in the finish. Mouthfeel is heavy with lots of carbonation. This is a sipper but a nicely complex (interesting) brew that I have had before and will seek out again.

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

The Night of Barleywines at the old homestead. Bigfoot, Vertical Horizon and now, Third Coast Old Ale. A reddish brown pour with a small tan head with leaves some serious lacing on the sides of the glass. Neither the malt or the hops dominate the smell. The same with the taste. Hints of dark fruit. How can a brew with such a high abv, be this smooth and balanced? I guess my problem is that this is the 3rd Barleywine of the night and there is nothing about this one that sets it apart from the previous two. All good, but the senses may be a bit dulled. Very good stuff, but need to lead off an evening with this one. Recommended.

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

I'm trying to give this the benefit of the doubt... it probably should not have followed the Stone Vertical Epic, but did. Dark mahagony with all sorts of particulate matter present when poured. Medium head and slightly thin in the mouth. Decent flavor.

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

what makes this a BW instead of an old ale? just curious. i thought it was a prototype old ale, which made for a very good beer that fell just a little short of the "wow" factor. rich aroma, body, and flavor. caramel, lactic qualities, rum, raisins...maybe a touch of hops in the finish, but not bitter at all. pretty stinkin smooth. not a top 100 beer for me, and Expedition is far and away my favorite Bells beer, but this adds yet another tasty brew to their line-up. I'm starting to doubt that they make anything average.

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

I am not the biggest fan of barleywines, but this one I enjoyed more as I drank the second one (another night of course). They are usually on the bitter side for me, and this is no exception. Definitely very hoppy, but also has some sweet fruity flavors to slightly offset the bitterness. Has a medium to dark brown appearance, hardly any head with light lacing. Glad I tried, and worth the price given the high ABV%. Good beer with lots of flavor going on, just might be moving on to something different.