The lovely Nathan brought home another selection from Bell's, apparently attempting to curry favor, and allegedly to even out the score of Bell's v. Flying Dog reviews. Not so sure I'm believing all that, but I'm pretty sure he's aware that I've been coveting this brew.
This is actually just a re-branding of the Bell's Pale Ale. I'm fine with that... from what I recall, it's a pretty solid brew. Let's see how this new pop of it goes.
It pours a lovely golden color with a moderate off-white head. With a pale ale, I would not expect the head on this to evaporate too quickly, and this doesn't. It clocks in at 5.2% ABV, so I would expect the head to stick around for awhile. The aroma of this is crackery malts and earthy hops. The flavor isn't as hoppy as I recall, and it's much earthier. I pick up some notes of orange that fade into earthy. I'm somehow reminded of fresh earth, but it's not a turn-off. It just kind of smells and tastes like freshly tilled earth on a crop farm (as opposed to an animal farm -- that would be offensive! Unless, of course, we're referring to the George Orwell novel). There's also some faint pineapple and tropical citrus that comes through.
One thing I love about Bell's is that they work closely with many local sources, such as Briess Malt and a couple of different hop farms in Michigan. Kalamazoo and Comstock are pretty close to some rather rural areas, so their availability is easy to come by. Bell's is committed to sustainability, as well, and they've been ahead of the curve for most trends in beer production. Not that they bow to the trends, but I love that the beer industry actually cares about the world around it -- even while providing us with materials to forget all about it.
Overall, this is a little blander than I recall, but it's still a solid pale ale, more than adequately representative of the style.
4/5 caps
-Jennie
fudge... I can't add anything to what she said.... so.... That's what she said
4/5 caps
-Nathan
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