Bell's Black Note Stout (Vintage 2014)

Brewed By: Bell's Brewery, Inc. in Kalamazoo, Michigan  

Purchased: 12oz single bottle bought at West Lakeview Liquors in Chicago, IL; 2014 (Bottled on 3/12/14)

Style/ABV: Barrel-Aged Russian Imperial Stout, 11.4%

Reported IBUs: ?

Nothing tops off a nice 6-mile run and this hot Midwest Summer like a barrel-aged RIS. About Bell's:

Bell's Brewery is one of the biggest names in craft beer. Once you get past the Sierra Nevada, New Belgium, and Stone phase, you start hearing about breweries like Bell's. Bell's began as a home-brewing supply shop, founded by Larry Bell, back in 1983. Bell's sold its first beer in September 1985. The brewery has humble roots like many of the first craft breweries, and the beer was originally brewed in a 15-gallon soup kettle. The beer was originally self-distributed, bottled, and delivered by hand during the company's first four years. In 1993, Bell's became the first brewery in Michigan to open an onsite pub. The brewery currently has two facilities, one in Kalamazoo, and one in Comstock Township, Michigan. For more info, check out their website. 

If you don't know the deal, the Black Note is a coveted Midwest barrel-aged Stout. The bottle reads: "Black Note is a malty harmony of dark chocolate, espresso and dried fruit notes, aged in freshly retired oak bourbon barrels. Aimed squarely at stout aficionados, Black Note makes a grand statement about the art of the dark." This one punches in at 11.4% ABV, and should pack a nice punch. 

Bell's Black Note Stout (Vintage 2014)

The Black Note pours with obsidian opacity not unlike black metal, squid ink, and David Blaine's soul. This is your typical RIS affair, with a finger of mocha-brown head that leaves coffee-like residuals on the side of your glass, like the bottom of an empty cup of Starbucks coffee. This beer is well-carbonated, courtesy of the #glasswhale, and looks similar in low light and bright light. You could take this one home and keep the lights off or risk turning them on. No problem.

If you are serious about courting this beer, you should know its cousins. Namely Bourbon County and the BBA Plead the 5th. I guess you could throw the range of 50/50s into the mix as well. This smells the part of a good BBA RIS, with hot whiskey and bourbon sweetness coming over the top, followed by waves of rich chocolate, espresso/coffee, and pie crust. There is some coconut on the nose here, but nothing like what you get with Bourbon County. As this warms, I am getting some growing raisin and sweet whiskey notes. There are some hints of cherries, molasses, and Twizzlers as well. 

Bell's website suggests that this beer is a blend of the Expedition Stout and Double Cream Stout -- or at least, a spiritual blend of the two. And I can sort of see that. I had a bottle of this a few weeks ago, and I wasn't enjoying it as much as I had hoped. Right now though, this is drinking nicely. I'm getting big dark fruit notes, with cherries, Twizzlers, raisins, chocolate-dipped cherries and raisins towards the back, subtle whiskey sweetness, and complex molasses and sweet caramel sugars. There's a nice blast of sticky chocolate, toffee, coffee, and espresso up front. There is even some measured roast in here, with tons of malt complexity dancing around. The barrel and the spirit here are nuanced, but present. It's very pleasant, easy-going stuff.

Hmm...where do we go from here. This is a malty, overly-sweet, big beer. Surprisingly, I'm not getting a ton of alcohol for 11.4%. Really, not much alcohol at all. This is smooth, but still full-bodied. There's a little bourbon kick in the middle, along with some roasty and twangy hop noise in the background, but this is not overwhelming in any way that is unusual for the style. Palate depth here is fantastic, and this is surprisingly complex. This starts out sticky-sweet with chocolate and coffee/espresso, raisins, Twizzlers, dark fruits; the mids dial up bourbon, whiskey, raisin sweetness, English Barleywine malts, and just giant caramel sugars; the back end continues to ride the sugar train, with some hops creeping up, and lingering molasses and dark fruit notes. This is all around super solid, but still somewhat different than the BBA Pt5 and BCBS. 

Rating: Divine Brew (4.5/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Decent Divine Brew here. For frame of reference...I just dug out a bottle of Bourbon County Stout the other day, 2012 Vintage. And it's drinking fantastic right about now. The Black Note is amazing. This is a blissful, stupefying beer, worth all the hype. This is better than KBS too...or different. More complex. I think this beer is going to continue to improve in the bottle, and I really am curious to revisit this beer in a year or two. The dark fruit notes in this beer are already popping, but given some time, this should really meld into an English Barleywine-type experience. But drinking this somewhat fresh, it's not bad. Not bad at all. Food pairings here include ice cream, dry chocolate cake, creme brulee, a nice cigar, a big raunchy burger, steak cooked medium-rare, and things like that. Really though, this beer should be carefully poured into your snifter at cellar temps and thought about. 

Random Thought: Moving is so fucking busy and stressful. /sigh