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November 01, 2003
Bell's Beer Tasting
A week ago Thursday I went to another fine tasting at the Brickskeller. This time, the amazing beers of the Kalamazoo Brewing Co. were on display. Better known to most as "Bell's Beers", if they are known at all, these are some of the finest brews in the country.
Larry Bell did not make the trip to Washington, but sent Production Manager John Mallet. John is a veteran brewer and has been head brewer at Old Dominion.
In addition to being a talented brewer and builder of brewing plants, John happens to tell a great story with a dead-pan delivery that left the audience laughing and informed.
He told us about the new brewhouse he just helped Bell's build. They bought most of the brewing equipment, a fifty barrel Steinecker brewhouse, from Anheuser-Busch. It seems that Wolfgang Puck was opening a brewery/restaurant in Los Angeles. When the riots hit, no one came and the brewery, built at a cost of almost $35 million, closed its doors. Anheuser-Busch bought the equipment and had the German company come back and take it apart and package it for shipping. Then they did nothing with it for 10 years. Mallett could not say enough good things about this brewhouse and the quality of the construction and engineering. And the deal the got it for.
He also told us about how Larry Bell started the brewery. Originally it had been a homebrew supply store opened in 1983. A few years later and not making any money, Larry went to the Michigan state business office and wanted to close shop. Apparently the conversation centered around having to pay a $125 fee to file for bankruptcy, and how if he had the money he wouldn't be closing shop. And he decided, thankfully for us, that he would keep it open instead.
Onto the evening's beer list: We were served Bell's Pale Ale, Winter White, Best Brown, Double Cream Stout, the Java Stout, Two Hearted Ale, Consecrator Dopplebock and something they call Batch 6000.
As you might guess, the beers started off nice and smooth and built up a huge character and higher levels of alcohol as the night continued. My favorites were the Best Brown and the Two Hearted Ale. The Two Hearted is open top fermented and has a really nice hoppy aroma. Very drinkable and tasty.
The one that surprised me the most was the Java Stout. Not a drinker of caffeinated products, I liked this stout immensely. Everything about it screams cup of joe, from the dark color to the intense smell of coffee. The beer has two types of coffee and apparently a 12 oz serving has as much caffeine as a cup of coffee.
The Batch 6000 is a special brew that was meant to be laid down for a year or so. We were the first to taste it, and it was still kind of overpowering, having only been bottled two weeks earlier. This beer is going to get more drinkable with time.
Sadly, Bell's is not distributed in this area. The closest seems to be Philadelphia. Sounds like time for a road trip soon.
Posted by Samer at November 1, 2003 09:10 PM
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