Bells Hopslam

My first beer from Bells Brewery, and another one that I picked up while on a trip to Indianapolis. I really hope this place starts to distribute on the East Coast soon otherwise it may be time for another trip.

Bells Hopslam pours orange/yellow in color with a normal-sized white colored frothy head. The carbonation is very apparent from the pour and the lacing is adequate. Aroma is very hoppy(obviously from a name like hopslam you would expect this) and consists of flowers, spice, honey, citrus, and caramel sweetness. It's like someone dipped a nice smelling flower in honey.

The taste is where this beer shines: it is nice and bitter at first but then it leads into a sweet honey and light fruits ending. Almost no taste of alcohol even though this brew sits at 10%. A great well balanced IPA.

Appearance - 4.1

Smell - 3.8

Taste - 3.9

Texture - 3.8

Overall - 3.9/5

Bells Hopslam

This is a standard fare from a company in middle-America that is very hard for us to acquire here on the East Coast - Bells. We hear only good things from this company so Fonnie picked this up when he went out to Indiana.

The beer pours out with an orange, but red-tint, color - unlike most IPAs. It also had a minimal head - something very normal for IPAs. It smelled of sweetness and honey with a slight spice and floral notes. The texture was bitter at the beginning from the hops and then this characteristic carried through all the way through. But, it wasn't like cleaning product (like I normally compare mediocre IPAs to). The honey was hard to detect but that's because we had the beer at a lower temperature than it was supposed to be enjoyed at - should be warmer. The texture was quite sharp and it leaves a bitter aftertaste. This beer has a very linear progression of themes though and doesn't leave room for variation.

I'm not a huge IPA fan so if one get's my attention, it's worth noting. I suggest you try this beer out pending you can ever find it - it'll be well worth your time and money.

App - 4.3
Smell - 4.3
Taste - 3.7
Text. - 3.6
Overall - 3.98/5

Brew Tasting the Thirty-First

Next up is the other beer that I picked up in Indiana, this time it come straight from Bells Brewing Company - another great microbrewery that does not distribute on the East Coast (there are a lot of them).

1. Bells Hopslam

De Dolle Dulle Teve 10º (Mad Bitch)

Last but not least comes a different kind of Tripel, if I had to classify it as anything I would say it would be most like if a Tripel and a Dubbel were combined into some amazing concoction. Anyway... lets get to the beer.

It pours light brown with a decent sized white head that quickly fades into a small half finger sized ring. Very good carbonation with tight knit bubbles. Not much lacing. The aroma is of hops, light fruits, brown sugar, maple. Its very sweet with a subtle hops backbone. The taste is very sweet at first and then leads into a nice bitter hoppy ending with a slight warming sensation from the alcohol at the end.

It may be because I'm partial to Belgian Dubbels, but this was by far my favorite out of the four we tried for "Tripel" night. If you can find it, try it, you won't be disappointed.

Appearance - 3.9

Smell - 4.3

Taste -4.4

Texture - 4.2

Overall - 4.2/5

Allagash Tripel Reserve

Time to step away from Belgium and see how a microbrewery in Maine can do. The third one we tried out for Tripel night comes from Maine, courtesy of Allagash Brewing Company.

This brew was by far the lightest colored of the four, with no sediment, good carbonation, and a large foamy white head. The actual beer was also a lot more cloudy in appearance than the others. The smell is of pine, herbs, trees, bitterness, and flowers. Not as strong as an aroma but more complex than the others so far. Taste is of bitter hops that leads straight into a pine tree aftertaste, with little to no hint of alcohol at all. A bit watery, but not too bad. Kind of weak. Probably my least favorite out of the ones for Tripel night, but still good if anyone out there wants to give it a try.

Appearance - 4.0

Smell - 3.6

Taste - 3.8

Texture - 3.6

Overall - 3.75/5