Exp Hop 2012-6 - Bell's Brewery, Inc.

jegross2

Illinois

4.8/5  rDev +2.8%
look: 5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 4.5

Reviewing the Exp Hop 2012-6 from Bell's Brewery, Inc. out of Kalamazoo, Michigan. This is an "experimental" double IPA that can only be found in Bell's Eccentric Cafe (their on-site tap room/bar).
Score: 98

Tap pour served in a taster glass at Bell's Brewery and enjoyed on 12/28/12. Review is from iPhone notes.

Appearance: Unfiltered tangerine color. Served with thin layer of white head. Crazy lacing and retention. The color and appearance scream fresh IPA. 5/5

Smell: Mango, pine, grapefruit and pineapple. Smells like hoppy tropical fruit juice. Hint of lemon 4.5/5

Taste: Super dank grapefruit, mango, and peach. Sweet tropical citrus. Malty "orange juice" backbone. Grassy piney hops add a good amount of bitterness to counterbalance the sweet citrus. Bold and balanced, this beer pushes the extremes of what an IPA can do while remaining easy drinking and non-palate wrecking. Easy drinking; absolutely no booziness whatsoever. I was absolutely stunned to discover this beer is over 10% ABV. 4.75/5

Mouthfeel: Perfect IPA mouthfeel. Medium bodied, medium-light carbonation. Oily on the tongue with a nice bitter perk from the hops. 5/5

Overall: Unexpected, delicious and bold in flavor. Bells needs to bottle this one; it's a knock out success. I would easily buy a case or multiple growlers if it was made available "to go." This is one of the best IPA I have had in a long time.

Recommendation: Hop heads should absolutely seek this beer out before it's a long-forgotten one off. If I was not the "designated driver," I would have ordered several pints of this brew.

Pairings: Asian zing BBQ chicken wings.

Cost: $5.75 for a snifter glass that looked slightly larger than 12 oz in size.

Serving type: on-tap

12-30-2012 02:06:53 | More by jegross2

jeonseh

Indiana

4.66/5  rDev -0.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

On tap at Bell's

A - Dark orange with a slight copper color. Opaque with a slight haze

S - Orange, mango, passion fruit and tangerine in a full and sweet nose. This beer smells amazing.

T - Strong bitter hop kick up front. Intermixed with sweet fruit flavors of mango, passion fruit and strawberry. There is a light floral flavor near the finish. Great and complex hoppy beer.

M - Thick syrupy beer that has light carbonation. Clean, fruity finish.

O - Solid fruity and sweet DIPA with only a slight kick of bitterness. This beer is so good because it is complex and has a lot of different hop flavors. It is full of bitterness, sweet fruit and light floral accents. I wish I could get some of this more often since I thought it was as good if not better than Hopslam.

The hops are definitely sweet and full of passion fruit and strawberry. 4.5

Serving type: on-tap

01-23-2013 04:08:03 | More by jeonseh

rodlavers

Pennsylvania

4.64/5  rDev -0.6%
look: 5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Served on draft at Eccentric Cafe, 16 oz.

Pours a beautiful grapefruit ruby red, hazy, with a thin white head and great lacing.

Sweet citrus and malt aromas are present. Very bright and pleasant.

Taste is very similar to nose, sweet grapefruit and malt, crisp and refreshing.

Feel is smooth and relatively balanced without much bite on the end. Rather, it's very reminiscent of a grapefruit.

Overall, this is a great beer, and I'm really glad I had a chance to try it. Cheers.

Serving type: on-tap

01-06-2013 17:25:46 | More by rodlavers

Goosey

Missouri

4.68/5  rDev +0.2%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.75

What a beautiful color; one of the best looking IPA's I have ever seen. Off white head, with the most wonderful dank, deep fruity aromas that I can't much recall now, but dank weed mixed with ripe mangos and citrus comes to mind. The taste was so full bodied, with a fantastic backbone that IPA's are so often lacking. No lack of hops, but it wasn't a sour hop bomb, more of a fruity hop, but by no means overwhelmingly fruity. Overall, the standout IPA on a 5 day northern beer excursion in which I tried Dreadnaught, Artic Panzer Wolf, Anti-Hero, Crooked Tree, fresh Hopslam and others all on tap all at their respective breweries. Please bottle this, and I will buy it all.

Serving type: on-tap

01-16-2013 16:03:30 | More by Goosey