Bell's Batch 6000 Ale
Batch 6000 is part of our commemorative series celebrating our progress with special brews. Our 6,000th batch is a special recipe to be brewed only once. It is a barley wine style; rich and strong, with a compelling finish. Well-suited for your cellar.
4
443 reviews
Comstock, United States
Community reviews
Huge thanks to the fine gentleman who sent this to me in trade. Pours a dark caramel brown with a small off-white head. Nose is caramel, toffee, booze, some brown sugar, and bits of cardboard. Flavor is similar with cardboard being slightly dominant, but still a nice caramel, brown sugar, and toffee flavor. Medium-bodied with bits of decadence lasting into the finish.
Bedingt würziger Antrunk, deutlich herb, es fehlt etwas an Süße. Etwas alkoholisch scharf, gleichzeitig aber auch wässrig und eher unaromatisch. Die Würzigkeit lässt auch im Mittelteil zu wünschen übrig, wenig süß, sehr leicht und direkt wieder verschwindend kräuterartig. Leicht schokoladig, sehr leicht alkoholisch scharf. Danke an den Doppelbock für das Bier. /9/9/9/8/9
Bottle. thick body brown pour, little head and carbonation. Great taste starting with complex flavors of caramel, dark fruit, and vanilla. All are mixed and balanced. Wish I had more of this.
Bottle shared by arminjewell. Hazy brown pour, no carbonation and an aroma of malty barleywine and strong booze. Flavor is sweet and boozy, malt, cherry and finished with a warming bite on the finish. Very good and holding up very well with age.
Bottle pour. Hazy copper brown with a kahki tight head that fades. Aroma is sweet sour metallic. Taste is sweet bitter malt and a metallic taste that finishes sweet and bitter. Palate is sticky and chaulky and finishes dry. Really glad I had a chance to try it.
Pours clear reddish brown, bottle. Aroma has notes of toffee, dark fruit, some slight butter. Taste is oxidized, some slight cardboard, but compliments the toffee and dark fruit well. Pretty typical sherry notes as well. Aged barleywine to a tee, dries out well, even a touch of dry aged hops in there. Carbed well, but definitely on its way down. Really nice.
Bottle shared by Mike from Belmont Party Supply.
I was seriously surprised at how well this beer has aged. I never had a chance to taste a fresh Batch 6000, but this one seems to have held up really well. Rich, robust, and full of heavy malty aromas and flavors with dark fruits and sweet caramel. A wonderful barleywine that took me by surprise.
Bottle. Aroma has deep and complex notes of caramel, dried dark fruits, almonds/pecans, vanilla, wood, cereal, toffee and citrus fruits. Dark amber hazy hue with a small off-white head that mostly diminished and left some lace. Flavor is very sweet and heavy bitter. Palate is full bodied and oily soft. Overall a very nice and deeply complex barley wine that has aged amazingly well. Loved the nutty, toffee, caramel malts and the fruity sweet finish. A wonderful piece of beer history and a beautiful work of art. Awesome!
Caramel, toffee up the wazoo, very much English barleywine on the nose. Deep brown, ruby. Nice malty sweetness at first, but lots of bitter on the finish; unbalanced somehow. Argument about whether the finish is due to oxidation or excessive hopping; I’d like to see this beer in a few more years.
From sample pour at local December 2010 tasting.
Bottle shared at Paul’s tasting. Pours dark brown. Nose and taste of toffee, brown sugar, molasses, caramel malts and light cinnamon.
Had this at the Grand Tasting during RBSG. Pours a hazed brown with a thin beige head. Oxidized to hell, chocolate and caramel. Medium bodied, chocolate, more caramel, more oxidization. Lots of chocolate, bit of M&Ms, soft caramel. The oxidization is huge, but ok mostly.
Bottle from someone at RBSG. Pours a clear amber/brown with dissipating sticky head. Nose is robust and nice. Toffee and caramel, marmalade and plum jam. Some decent herbal notes from the old hops as well. Nice bready notes pop in as well. On taste, it is round and full. Still very lively after all of these years with clean toffee notes that are spread on nice rye crackers. Some anise notes slip in the back. Finish remarkably dry with a citrus slant. Very good stuff.
Bottle at RBSG. Pours clear dark brown, thin tan head, solid lacing, but nothing special. HUGE nose! Just immense thick cloud of aroma coming off the top of this beer. Notes of chocolate, licorice, cedar, leather, citrus/lemon, red fruits. Flavours are spicy, with notes of red fruit, chocolate, cedar, licorice, lemon, leather, tobacco, coffee. Intense and gorgeous.
Sampled at the RBSG Summer Grand Tasting (Grand Rapids, MI). Pours a darker brownish hue, decent haziness, decent offwhite head laces atop and dies to a small film, light lacing. Aromas are quite pleasant even after years: toffee and biscuits blend with some darker jammy fruits, nuts, caramel and bread. Hops have pretty much died out, faint floral and some light oxidation and cardboard. Initial is still fairly full bodied, toffee and caramel blend with biscuits, breads, jam and a touch of orange marmalade, chestnuts, and brown sugar. Nice aging barleywine holds up, finishes with lingering sweetness, faint florals, and a touch of nuttiness and cardboard. Very nice.
So there I was probably standing slack-jawed at all the amazing beers I had already tasted at RBSG 2010 Grand Tasting, when all of a sudden some awesome person poured some of this into my glass. Really can’t believe I got to try this. Fruity, hoppy aroma with some apparent oxidization and mandarin oranges. Honestly, didn’t know offhand what style 6000 was but the nose immediately tipped me off that it was a barley wine. Flavor is dried fruit, slight orangy hops. Slight oxidation but it’s really held up well for the age. Carbonation is low, but fits well with the beer. I really really enjoyed drinking this.
Bottle courtesy of northernbrews at RBSG grand tasting. Thanks man. Pours a cloudy nut brown color with a small khaki head. Nose was classic barley-wine with complex fruits, nuts and grains. The taste, like the aroma, was complex with mildly roasted grains, mixed fruits, almonds, pecans and walnuts. The palate was full and malty with weak carbonation. Finished long and dry. Overall: One great barley wine.
Bottle shared by northernbrews at the RBSG Grand Tasting. Thanks, man! Pours a copper color with a medium tan head. Good head retention and lacing. Big toffee aroma with some citrus. The taste is toffee, caramel, citrus and a leafy, bitter hop finish. Full bodied.
12oz bottle pours a transparent, deep copper amber with a ring of creamy white head. Nose is great, cherries, pine, cookie dough, light sherry, grappa. Flavor has faded now, sweet, cookie dough, orange juice, sherry, wood. The flavor is light compared to the nose. Some chocolate too. Finish is lightly astringent but full bodied. Still a touch sticky.
Bottle courtesy of CaptainCougar. Clear red-brown pour with a little carbonation and light tan head. Strong aroma with lots of toasted malt, molasses, and almonds. Very mellow toast flavor with some coffee and caramel. Suprisingly easy to drink.
Poured a hazy, fairly deep brown with a thin tan head. First thing I noticed was the hops! Pretty strong hop aroma for a beer brewed years ago. Underneath the hops the aroma was sweet and malty. Some dark fruit and molasses come through. Flavor was sweet, but balanced by the dryness from the hops. Really enjoyable! Another goodie from Bells!
Pours a deep dark chatnut that is completely opaque with faint yellowish bronze hues when held to a light source and a frothy one finger beige head that quickly settles into a lasting ring. Not much in the way o lacing.
Sweet, slightly roasty leathery malt aroma with hintsnof caramel, toffee, chocolate, toast and biscuit. There is some nice alcohol sweetness in the nose and surprisngly the hops have held up(in the aroma at least).
Slghtly chewy medium body that is surprisingly still hop forward considering that this was brewed in 2003. The 10.5 ABV is decently masked but there is still subtle alcohol sweetness and heat in the finish. Lots of leathery, earthy malt with hints of caramel, chocolate, toffee and bread. Again, the hops have held up surprisingly well adding some earhy dryness and complexity. This beer has held up wonderfully and I can see it continuing to improve for a few more years.
I was surprised by the brownish tan color, it was lighter than I expected for a barleywine, but the taste was a nice spicy caramel taste. There were layers of different tastes as it sat in your mouth and hit different points as it was going down.
355mL courtesy of FlandersNed. Pours a deep, muddy amber with a dense, lively tan head that settles to a nice layer and leaves excellent lace all over the snifter. Aroma is rich even as I pried the cap off: figs, toffee, chocolate covered bacon, some sweet toffee, and some sort of salty/briny character. As it warms the nose is overtaken by mountains of raw brown sugar and immense rum raisin and coffee gelato. Taste is rich, toffee, figs, semi-sweet chocolate, cocoa powder but still is fairly hoppy/bitter and ends with a dry, bitter finish rather than a buttery, sweet finish like other barleywines. Nearing superlative.
bottle thanks to thirdeye11. poured deep amber. aroma was caramel, dark fruit, and figs. flavor was caramel, dark fruit, and pine. body was heavy with low carbonation.
bottle thanks to thirdeye11. deep amber with a cream head. nose is sherry, hops, dried fruits, and caramel. nice on the palate, flavor is much like the nose with a nice smooth finish.
(12oz bottle via trade with BA gratefulbeerhead) murky orange-brown pour with cream colored head. Nose of light apple, caramel and cream. Taste of toasty caramel, toasted raisins, semi-sweet chocolate, and fudge. Sweet, smoky and oily finish. This has held up well.
bottle, thanks to thirdeye11, muddy amber with no head, aroma of molasses, raisin and fortified wine, flavors of raisin coffee cake, caramel fudge, good lasting finish
Aroma - I have to believe that this bottle may have been stored in less than ideal conditions, as the oxidation seemed to take it’s toll. Oozing wet cardboard, light fig notes, caramel and a herbal quality all kind of trumped by the over-done oxidation.
Appearance - solid caramel brown body, cloudy with a smaller 1/8" scant off-white head.
Taste - cardboard, caramel malts, light alcohol, spice, kinda medicinal actually. Sweetness is kept well in check but the oxidation, again, seems to leave it’s unwelcome mark.
Palate - medium bodied, slight thickness to it, rather creamy with a medium sweet finish
Overall - I think that this one was kept in an environment not suitable for aging. I highly doubt I’ll ever cross paths with this beer again, but if I do then a re-rate will be forthcoming. It wasn’t horrible, but it was far from stellar.
Rating number 400 for this beer. Bottle thanks to thirdeye11. Pours with a small off-white head over a hazy mahogany body. Aroma is fusel (still after all these years) at first, but it blows off, leaving raisins sherry and toffee. Taste is bitter, alcohol, toffee and dark fruits. Light bubbles. Nice!
Sampled from the bottle at the 2010 March Metro Detroit Tasting. A big thanks to Kevin on this one for remembering an earlier tasting when I had said I would love to try this and bring it for me to try! Poured a slightly cloudy dark brown with light yellowish brown head. Aroma had notes of sweet grains with caramel and nuts being present, well balanced. Flavor was similarly balanced but sweet with a nice caramel flavor to start and more of a grain and alcohol finish.