Bell's Porter: Dense, Full- Bodied Sweetness
Written: Dec 17 '01
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Nice array of complex flavors
Cons: High price, even for a very good beer
The Bottom Line: This is a mighty fine glass of beer, and those who love this style of beer will think very highly of Bell's Porter
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| Bryan_Carey's Full Review: Bell's Porter |
Kalamazoo Brewing Company is located in the city of Kalamazoo, Michigan, in the southwest part of the state. This brewery makes many fine malt beverage products, under the retail name “Bell”, named for the brewery’s founder, Larry Bell. The product I’m going to review today is Bell’s Porter, a very good example of a full- flavored porter.
Basic Characteristics of This Beer:
Like most porters, this one is dark brown in color, almost to the point of being black. Held up to a light, though, you can see that the beer is actually dark brown and dense, but not so dense that light cannot shine through. The aroma of the beer is sweet and roasty. The foam level is very good, producing a sturdy, chunky head of foam that lasts for a good long time, leaving lace along the sides of your glass as you drink.
Tasting this beer yielded some pleasant surprises. First of all, the aroma was not necessarily indicative of the taste. The beer does have the flavor of roasted malt, but it’s much more complex than that. I was able to detect coffee, chocolate, roasted malt, and a little bit of smokiness. This sweet flavor is nicely complemented by the fruity, bitter flavor of hops in the finish. But the overall taste is sweet.
I found that this beer did taste a little better after it had been out of the refrigerator for a few minutes, warming up to about 45 to 50 degrees. When I took my first few sips, the beer was really too cold- about 38 degrees- and this made much of the complexity hard to detect. Once it was a little bit warmer, the flavors all began to come out of their hiding places, making for a complex, tasty porter.
This product is brewed with an original gravity of 1.054, and the alcohol level is 5.25 percent by volume. Both of these numbers are pretty average for porter.
Food Compatibility:
I like drinking this beer solo, but there are some foods that it would match up nicely with. Since it has a roasted, smoky flavor, it would go well with similar- tasting foods, like chuck roast, pot roast, beef stew, barbecued wings, etc. And, with the emphasis on the sweet malt, it would also go well with a sweet desert, like chocolate cake, coffee cake, chocolate pie, etc.
Final Thoughts:
Kalamazoo Brewing Company makes many fine products. I’ve never tasted a bad brew from this brewery. Larry Bell & Company are very skilled at knowing how to brew great beer.
This is a very good porter. It’s not quite good enough to call a classic, but it’s awfully close. It has most all of the qualities that I would expect in a great porter- complex taste, dense, full- bodied, good, sturdy level of foaminess, etc. However, it doesn’t have quite enough greatness to make me rate it five stars. I can’t really describe what it is, but it’s missing that extra little “something”, that makes me rate a beer as outstanding.
If you are in the state of Michigan anytime soon, grab yourself a few bottles of Bell’s Porter and see what you think. I should warn you that this beer is a little pricey. Here in Ohio, a six- pack sells for $7.99, making it twice the price of the more popular beers like Bud and Miller.
Many seasoned drinkers will probably rate this beer with 5 stars. I’m not going to go that far, but I do agree that it’s a very good porter, worthy of at least a four star rating. It’s got lots of character, lots of body, and lots of flavor.
Recommended:
Yes
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