For whom the Bells pours

I can't believe it has taken me this long to feature my favorite brewery on the blog. I've been planning on eventually doing a week long set of posts of Bell's Brewery beers, and still will, but today was a more than appropriate day to enjoy a Bell's Pale Ale.


Right at this moment (and for the past few hours) my Dad has actually been sitting at the [Eccentric Cafe], which is Bell's brewpub in Kalamazoo, MI. My phone has been constantly receiving pictures and updates about the different beers he has been drinking -- basically my Dad is cool. While he is up there, I am actually sitting at home and wearing my Bell's t-shirt and drinking a Bell's beer out of my Bell's pint glass.... and pretending I am at the Bell's brewpub. Dad and I actually both had our first Bell's brew at the same time, at the 2010 Jupiter Craft Beer Fest in South Florida. A friend of mine from high school was working the event and told me to check out this tent because they had a limited release beer they would be giving away at the top of the hour. So we went over and tasted what was being sampled and our whole group was very impressed.

As a matter of fact, that just might have been the spark of my real interest in the world of craft beer. After moving up to Atlanta I found a few places that had Bell's on the menu and was able to try quite a few of what they offer. I can honestly say I've never had a bad beer from them. Some are out there and most people might not like, like the Oarsman Ale and Cherry Stout, but I had them with an open mind and found that I could enjoy them for what they were. All the other ones were just flat out great. Which brings us to the beer du jour...

This Pale Ale poured a little hazy, but had a great golden color. It tasted like the definition of a pale ale. Medium bodied, slight hops flavor, and the bitterness was rather low. Basically this was a very very drinkable beer. Like a float-down-a-river-with-a-cooler-of-these type of beer. I am going to log this one in the 'I'd drink again' category because, well, I'd drink this beer again, and due to the fact that it does not push the envelope on taste like the other brands Bell's has. It is a solid beer, but far from the best. But don't let that fool you -- I enjoy this so much that I actually have a tap handle for it on my kegerator.

Bell's
Pale Ale
American Pale Ale
5.2% abv
"Inspired Brewing."







Here are some of the pictures my Dad sent to me from the Bell's brewery and Eccentric Cafe: