Tasting Notes: Bells: Expedition Stout

Bells: Expedition Stout (USA: Imperial Stout: 10.5% ABV)

Visual: Pours slick and thick black, frothing a deep treacle brown head. Decent bubbled carbonation, very viscous.

Nose: Deep roasted hazelnuts to an intense degree, bonfire night. Cider toffee. Smoke, salt and sea air. Becomes smoother after a swirl. Fudge. Sickly sweet and yet harsh. Milky coffee, chocolate ice cream, syrup and dates. Treacle.

Body: Bitter as heck, caramel, frothy textured and well hopped. Treacle, black coffee and bitter chocolate. Lots of nuts and dark cherries.

Finish: Intense bitter, charring, hoppy to a very noticeable degree. Fluffy texture popcorn and bitter chocolate. Apricots.

Conclusion: Why are American craft breweries obsessed with over hopping their stouts? Yet another imperial stout hopped to the limit in Yeti style.

Wonderful nose, nuts and smoke calling up images of Guy Fawkes burning on a bonfire. The body is decent, but loses a lot of the subtlety in the massive hop attack. It’s still a decent stout, mixing nuttiness and hops with bitter chocolate, but it seems to be trying too hard to be extreme and ends up missing something.

Worthwhile for those who like to combine their hophead and their stouts, but the style doesn’t really grow on me, with standard (not oak aged)Yeti being a better example of the hop stout.

Decent enough, but not to my particular preference, I keep feeling a touch more room to open up and this would be marvellous. Effectively this is an assault beer, with the subtle nose a deception before it reveals its kicksplode hop back. Its very well done for what it is, but what it is, is not to my tastes.