Bell's Amber Ale - Bell's Brewery, Inc.

ken3c

Michigan

3.43/5  rDev -10.9%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Nice foamy head recedes to wisps and a halo. Lacing is spotty. Cloudy amber clarifies significantly but not completely by the end of the glass.

Smells slightly malty and slightly hoppy.

Tastes slightly sweet and slightly hoppy. There is also a rather harsh bitter taste that improves as it clarifies.

Mouthfeel is light to medium and lightly carbonated.

Drinkability suffers from the harsh bitterness but this beer was still enjoyable.

Next time I drink this, I'll do a better job of decanting.

Serving type: bottle

09-13-2004 05:36:59 | More by ken3c

bewareOFpenguin

Massachusetts

4.22/5  rDev +9.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Solid offering, I can see why it is the flagship ale. Nice amber color and a decent head. The taste was more on the lines of a pale ale than an amber. Hints of fruit, a good malt base and a surprise hop effect in the background. Quite tastey, overall.

Serving type: bottle

09-09-2004 18:02:14 | More by bewareOFpenguin

orbitalr0x

Illinois

3.85/5  rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

This beer pours a nice golden amber color with a 1/2" think head. The head lingers for a bit, but dissipates pretty quickly. My nose picks up some malt tones coupled with hoppy undertones. Quite nice overall. There is quite a bit of yeast floating in the glass...and even more on the bottom of the bottle. The first sip comes with a strong sweet malty flavor and a bit of hop bite on the finish. Biterness is hardly there...mostly caramel tones and a bit of a bready yeast flavor. It's quite a tasty ale and goes down clean and smooth. This definetly would qualify as a quality session brew. Bell's produces some fine brews and this one is no exception.

Serving type: bottle

09-08-2004 02:16:17 | More by orbitalr0x

sabrills70

North Carolina

3.85/5  rDev 0%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Pours a cloudy orange amber color with an medium head that faded rather quickly. Lots of sediment. Good lace. Smell of sweet malt, with some citrus and perhaps a bit of caramel and vanilla. Taste is sweet malt with a nice crisp hoppiness, finishes dry. Very well balanced. Very drinkable. A very nice amber. Try some if you get the chance

Serving type: bottle

08-28-2004 23:16:35 | More by sabrills70

jayb

Iowa

3.63/5  rDev -5.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

orangish red in color. Sediment throughout the glass. An off white head that settled quickly. Lacing was non-existant. Aroma was of sweet malts and a slight citrus tang. little bit of caramel as well. Taste was of sweet grains, herbal spice, slight roasted bitterness. Carbonation has a real bite to it. Very dry. Caramel and roastiness keick into full gear towards the end when the brew warms up. A pretty soild amber in my book.

Serving type: bottle

08-18-2004 03:30:16 | More by jayb

kmpitz2

Tennessee

3.98/5  rDev +3.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

The beer pours a light amber color, something like a weak tea. The head is about two fingers that falls quickly to a nice coating over the beer. The nose is citrusy hop with some malt sweetness. The flavor is not as sweet as I expected with the nose. It has a really spicy, almost peppery, hop finish...a very pleasant surprise. The beer is moderately thick, without a burning carbonation, overall good. This s nice drinkable beer. I would consider having a glass of it while out if it were offered. I can see myself revisiting it in the fall or early spring.

Serving type: bottle

08-18-2004 00:23:05 | More by kmpitz2

WesWes

New York

4/5  rDev +3.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

The beer pours a dark gold/amber color with a thick frothy off-white head that slowly fades to lacing. The aroma is good. It has a dry, yet malty scent with some floral hop notes. The taste is good. It has a dry, malty flavor that is bitter and toastey. It has a crisp finish. The mouthfeel is fine. It is a medium bodied beer with good carbonation. This is a fine amber ale. It has it all; a good drinker.

Serving type: bottle

08-06-2004 00:18:30 | More by WesWes

Ahhdball

Ohio

2.58/5  rDev -33%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.5

Brownish Orange with a slight beige head that dissappeared quickly.
Barely a smell, but what I did smell was bland burnt oranges.
Dull earthlike hop character and a finish that left nothing. No malt, no fruit, nothing. I know this is a Bell's but I'm very dissappointed.
Smooth watery feel and no aftertaste which i suppose is a good thing.
Overall this beer isn't terrible but it's not that good either.

Serving type: bottle

07-31-2004 20:54:13 | More by Ahhdball

nortmand

Virginia

2.7/5  rDev -29.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

Pours extremely cloudy amber, with little white head.
Smells like Bell's other standard beers: yeasty, doughy, bready, lacking in complexity or interest.
Tastes similarly yeasty, overpowering even. A little caramel flavor, but not enough to balance the extreme yeastiness.
Mouthfeel? Have you ever eaten Pillsbury biscuit dough raw? Like that, but with water and carbonation. Doughy? mouthfeel.
Drinkability is OK, but this beer is way too yeasty, man am I going to be regular in the morning.

Serving type: bottle

07-10-2004 04:18:36 | More by nortmand

aaronbeach69

Illinois

3.13/5  rDev -18.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

appearance a dark orange... copper... not dark enought o be "amber". 1.3 fingers head, lace holds to sides of cup pretty well... head is somewhat carmel-white...

smell: fruity with subdued hops

taste: nice bitter aftertaste in the back of the mouth... somewhat of a warm alchohol glow left...tips of tounge tingle between carbonation and alchohol showing through more than expected. However, the mid-taste seems subtle to non-existent...

mouthfeel - a nice mouthfeel... somewhat filling than most pale ales I have had but much less than a hearty IPA...

drinkability - easily drinkable... however a little bit of alchohol jumps out that the ABV doenst' justify...

notes: an ok beer, something I would repeat... but not that I plan to

Serving type: bottle

07-10-2004 03:14:01 | More by aaronbeach69

RoyalT

Ohio

3.7/5  rDev -3.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

Appearance – This is a gorgeous Amber Ale. The body is deep, rich, and hazy orange and the head is huge. It came up with an easy pour, showed great retention, and left some cool-looking lace on the inside of my glass.

Smell – The light, grainy notes are quite nice. They are laden with an orangy sweetness and a rather impressive hop profile.

Taste – This is about as good as American grain gets. It is husky but smooth and complimented by a nice sweetness, which I have found to be quite repugnant in most other grainy ales. The grassy hops keep this one balanced.

Mouthfeel – Closer to medium-bodied than light, this crisp American Amber goes down well and even has a bit of dryness at the finish.

Drinkability – I’m not a huge fan of the style, but this is about as good as it gets. Or, I should say, about as good as I’ve had to date.

Comments – Thanks to feloniousmonk for including this in a nice trade package.

Serving type: bottle

07-10-2004 00:56:03 | More by RoyalT

crookedhalo

Pennsylvania

3.88/5  rDev +0.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Orangey amber colored with darker colored flecks of protein in suspension. Fruity, biscuity, and caramel aromas and maybe a little bit floral in the hop department but not too hoppy. Smooth and well-balanced, fruitiness shines through in the finish. Drinkability is fairly good. I turned my brother onto this beer, a die hard Yuengling drinker. He doesn't understand the basic difference between a lager and an ale (funny how beer appreciation isn't genetically predisposed).

Serving type: bottle

07-02-2004 22:24:52 | More by crookedhalo

arizcards

Arizona

3.88/5  rDev +0.8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Got to sample this nice little amber on our Michigan getaway last week. Have heard nice things about the Kazoo Brewing Company and was pleasantly surprised to find it available in the boonies of Northern Michigan.
Nice looking beer, an orange-amber in color that poured a nice 2 inch head which left a nice lacing. The unfiltered nature of this brew lends to the interesting appearance. Nose is of sweet caramel malts. The taste was well balanced, starting with those sweet malts with a very light hop finish-a nice smooth taste. Mouthfeel was thin and gentle on the palate. This brew's drinkability was very nice, a good compliment to watching life go by on Deer Lake at Boyne Mountain.

Serving type: bottle

06-13-2004 01:24:14 | More by arizcards

marcellaproust

Washington

3.48/5  rDev -9.6%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Medium body, medium dark amber color. Head quickly dissipates to a rim. Smells of subtle malt and caramel. Lots of carbonation. The malt and nuttiness is roundly balanced by hops with a quick bitter finale. A great amercian amber, though less flavor than I expected from Bell's.

Serving type: bottle

05-12-2004 00:56:08 | More by marcellaproust

GreenWBush

Oregon

2.3/5  rDev -40.3%
look: 4 | smell: 1 | taste: 2 | feel: 4 | overall: 3

The classically unfiltered flagship beer from Michigan - Bell's Amber Ale. One that seems to be divisive amongst die-hard Larry Bell fanatics and casual K-zoo stout and Two-Hearted quaffers. I basically grew up on this shit so it tasted good then, but now i've more than given up on it.

At first the beer plops out with fecal earthy tones. The head swirls up to the top of the imperial pint with a confrontational hello. All of the sudden I find myself coaxing anything from the head - and this is the beer cleanest of all my glasses.

There's a bit of that worn-out cheese-like hop character on the nose of this beer. One would assume this was an improperly handled sample. Au Contraire! This came straight from a recently delivered case. There is a nice yeasty malt character that pulls together as room temperature encroaches. There is something about the look and smell of the beer that evokes chewiness.

There is a dulled hop bite in this beer floating atop of a cheeseburger-y blend of heavy yeasts and clunky sweet malts. The beer is thick and bold, one both a macro drinker and a blind taste-tester could harmonize negatively about. There's also a weird hybrid brownie / locker room thing going on somewhere in there.

Uh, i'm in the Two-Hearted camp as always ... but maybe being nursed with this beer forever altered the place in my heart.

Serving type: bottle

05-09-2004 00:02:03 | More by GreenWBush

BuckeyeNation

Iowa

3.65/5  rDev -5.2%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Golden tangerine with quite a bit of suspended yeast. The head is off-white, soft yet dense, falls to a barely covering film and doesn't leave a whole lot of lace. The nose is a combination of sweet, biscuity malt and earthy hops.

The flavor is of bready caramel malt with a solid undercurrent of earthy-spicy hops. It's also a little fruity; spiced apple perhaps. The finish is long, bitterish and dry. Solid mouthfeel for the style.

Amber Ale is another tasty beer from Bell's. Although nowhere close to their best effort, its balance ensures that it will be enjoyed by malt lovers and by hop lovers alike. A good session ale that I wish was available in the Hawkeye state.

Serving type: bottle

05-02-2004 23:15:44 | More by BuckeyeNation

soper2000

Texas

3.5/5  rDev -9.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Notes from a Bell's tasting:
Pours a bland amber color with a minimal head. Ok looking beer just not my style. Smell has hints of caramel and malt with a little bit of hops sneaking up. This beer doesn't have the strongest flavor. It has a decent malt backbone but I usually like my beers with more of a kick. Drinkability seems to be high as this is not a very complicated beer. I guess i just haven't learned to appreciate ambers yet. This is not a bad brew i just don't think i will be getting much more of it.

Serving type: bottle

04-16-2004 01:14:39 | More by soper2000

BarrelBrother

Illinois

4.65/5  rDev +20.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 5 | feel: 4 | overall: 5

The first time I tired this beer it caught my attention. Bell says it's a "cask conditioned" amber which was unusual and demanded an additional tasting session! I was surprised with the cloudiness of the brew, almost weiss cloudy, but the taste! Slightly sweet initally with carmel overtones and a subtle spicy flavor that I really enjoyed. Hmmm, nice aroma, with a hint of fruitiness. Nice creamy head that made the experience even better. The aftertaste was clean, refreshing with a slight bitter finish. Mouthfeel is smooth and ejnoyable. I have moved this brew high on my list to a regular staple at the house for get togethers and have gotten many outstanding comments about this beer from guests. As the old TV commercial used to say, "Try it, you'll like it!" I totally agree!

Serving type: bottle

04-10-2004 03:52:59 | More by BarrelBrother

TastyTaste

Minnesota

4.5/5  rDev +16.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 5

Deep hazy copper color, creamy white head that leaves a layer on the top all the way down. Lots of sticking to the glass. Has a nice fruit and hops aroma. Taste is of carmel and hops. The bitterness is there, but not overpowering. I could difinitely session this one. Very smooth and drinkable.

Serving type: bottle

03-09-2004 18:55:00 | More by TastyTaste

kwalters

Michigan

3.68/5  rDev -4.4%
look: 2.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

This isn't a brew I'd attach the word "Flagship" to, but nonetheless it's a nice beer. Perhaps it's Bell's most widely appealing beer able to satisfy both the macro and micro crowd?

This particular bottle poured a true coppery red color with a nice 1-inch off-white head. I immediately noticed a bit of yeast in the head. After examining the beer beneath it, I noticed a lot of yeast particles in suspension. I guess I didn't pour it delicately enough.

The scent and flavor are quite a mixed bag. I can pick out some yeasty bread flavor, some sugary sweetness and some apple sourness. And then there's a hop finish. There's a lot going on and none of it seems to blend together all that well. I enjoy it, but Amber Ale isn't what I thought it would be.

Serving type: bottle

03-03-2004 14:27:30 | More by kwalters

granger10

Wisconsin

4.5/5  rDev +16.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

I must say that I am amazed with this brew. What took me so long to try it? On the back it says it's Bell's "flagship beer" and I can see why. This beer pours a vibrant flourescent amber color with a medium sized white head. Good amount of lacing as well. Smell is caramel sweet and a twinge of bitterness as well. The body on this beer is thick, very thick for an amber yet quite smooth as well. Caramel is the main sweetness but I detect some honey in there as well. Citric qualities that mostly resemble tangerines are very noticeable. Slight buttery diacetyl and a yeasty spiciness come through. Hops aren't bitter but provide a solid base and background holding the body and other flavors together. The hops also seem citric and maybe floral as well. This is a real beer drinkers amber, probably too much flavor and too thick for most non-craft drinkers. Even though it is thick I feel that I could drink this as a session brew with ease. Well done!

Serving type: bottle

02-26-2004 19:11:58 | More by granger10

jsolack

Michigan

3.93/5  rDev +2.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Appearance:
Amber (surprise) and misty. Nice head with mild lacing.

Smell:
Sweet molasses with orange accents. Mildly spicy smell.

Taste:
Hoppy sweet with slight bitter finish Wheat flavor is mixed nicely with slight orange flavor. Overall a nice complex flavor.

Mouthfeel:
A crisp feel in the mouth. Light but not watery.

Drinkability:
A very drinkable beer with a nice even flavor. Definitely could have a few more!

Serving type: bottle

02-22-2004 03:43:57 | More by jsolack

Morris729

Texas

4.08/5  rDev +6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

Pours golden amber in color with a bit of an orange tint with an off-white head that fades into a pretty solid lace. Nose is sweet toasted malts and grains with some underlying notes of butterscotch. Medium in body with a bit of a buttery texture towards the end. Taste begins with notes of buttery toffee and diacetyl followed by some doughy and bready flavors with just the right amount of hop bitterness to balance everything out. A pretty nice American amber ale and certainly a beer that would make for a wonderful session brew. Thanks to feloniousmonk for the sample!

Serving type: bottle

02-17-2004 03:16:51 | More by Morris729

JackTheRipper

Pennsylvania

4.5/5  rDev +16.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Appearance: Pours a hazy, slightly coppery color. Thin head, not too much lacing.

Smell: Citrus, honey, a bit of a bread-like smell.

Taste: Starts off with a lemony, honey sweetness, hops are nicely balanced in the finish.

Mouthfeel: Full, but not to the point of chewy full. Carbonation is very nice. Alcohol is well masked. Finishes a bit on the dry side without any big aftertastes.

Drinkability: Another very well crafted beer. I wouldn't hesitate to have another one of these.

Serving type: bottle

01-19-2004 00:44:54 | More by JackTheRipper

flaminghomer

Indiana

4/5  rDev +3.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

not what i was expecting. light and hazy. i could see lots of sediment in my glass. very dry taste and very drinkable..head was pretty good looking with lots of tiny white bubbles and large dimples as it fell. stuck to the glass o.k. as it went down but not a whole lot.

as i said taste is very dry and clean do to the hops and very drinkable.

in the end i have to say that it is a very good beer but a little less than i expected. it was like a tame pale ale and i'm not a huge pale ale guy to begin with.

Serving type: bottle

01-11-2004 03:43:33 | More by flaminghomer