“Kalamazoo Stout represents stouts in the Bell’s year-round roster, offering a blend of dark chocolate and coffee flavors with just a hint of brewer’s licorice. One of our oldest recipes, it balances a significant hop presence against the roast malt body.”
Served in a beer tulip. The impenetrable black pour whips up a creamy two finger head which doesn’t wait around, quickly receding to a thin overlay that’s omitting wet, streaky lace trails as it ebbs. While we have dark chocolate, coffee, roasted malts and licorice here in abundance, this stouts aroma is offering much more in the way of subtle undertones. When we’re took our first whiff we both immediately agreed that it smells like coco pops. Something certainly dry, grainy and cocoa powdery here. We also get a faint hint of pumpernickel as well. It’s almost like an old rye bread scent after it’s gone hard and crusty. Either way, what we know is this is a damn fine aroma. In the mouth it’s dense, heavy and viscous in texture. The Co2 levels are expectantly mild with bitterness also quite restrained. The body is full and coats the whole mouth as it glides down with ease. Divine! The front palate is treated to a brilliant display of balance between the rich malts and the roast. Moreish chocolate, licorice and cocoa powder are offset by a roasty combination of espresso, charred woody and burned toast. The dryness from the hops kicks in across the mid and finishes with a malty sweet, roasted and slightly creamy back end. Excellent duration. Well, when we peered out at this gorgeous 30 degree, blue sky Sydney day we wondered why we had chosen a rich and heavy stout. But one whiff and a taste of this bad boy and it didn’t matter what time of the year you drink it, it’s still a top shelf stout. Rich, roasted, well layered and blissfully hedonistic. Pure indulgence here guys.