Bell's Batch 9000 Ale - Bourbon Barrel Aged
Malt beverage brewed with molasses and brewer's licorice and aged in oak bourbon barrel casks.
4.1
176 reviews
Comstock, United States
Community reviews
Shared bottle with Timfoolery. Strong aroma of licorice. Tasted of chocolate and of course licorice. I thought it the anise flavor may put me off, but it got better as it went along. Top notch!!
Bottle at RBWG 2014, thanks! Pours a near clear dark brown with a tan head that dissipates to the edges. Aroma has a nice bourbon and dark grain combination with light roast and bitter chocolate backing. Flavor has bourbon up front with a bit of dark grains and roast growing and supported by dark chocolate.
Bottle gift from SJ. Looks like a Bell’s Thursday for me. Nice bold flavors of vanilla, molasses, wood, roast and caramel malt. I think the alcohol was hidden really well. A very good blend and thick body.
Bottle. Thanks to dalzale for sharing. Pours a black color with white head. Oak, caramel, brown sugar, alcohol flavors.
Bottle @ Armin’s house, courtesy of DalzAle. Thanks! Pours a deep reddish brown appearance with a tiny brown head. Big caramel, toffee, whiskey, vanilla aroma. Really rich gooey, dark chocolate, thick toffee, brown sugar, big whiskey flavor. Tasty but big.
Pour out of 750 mL bottle, big thanks to Greg! Dark black pour with no head, aroma brought notes of dark chocolate, bourbon, hints of vanilla, dark fruit, this is awesome. Taste is a mix of dark chocolate, coffee, nice dark fruit into a big vanilla, earth, finishing fairly sweet, earthy, bourbon forward.
Sampled at the GTMW2013 pre-party, and several other times. Pours an oily black color with a tan head. Aroma of raisins, chocolate, bourbon, mild caramel and vanilla notes. Licorice, coffee, and roasted malts show up in the aroma too. Flavor is bourbon, booze, anise, coffee and dark chocolate. Hints of licorice as well. Mildly bitter, with strong booze and spirit influence, with a fair amount of sweetness from the base beer creeping through. Chewy and thick mouthfeel. Finishes sweet and boozy. Interesting variant on the odd beer that was 9000.
Rating #3400. Bottle @ Bruce’s palatial pad. Cheers to whoever procured this. The pour’s deep brown with a small head. The nose is raisin chocolate cookies. Rocky road fudge. Nice, sweet, sludgy nose. The taste is similar. Super sweet burnt brown sugar and raisin. Fudge and caramel. A touch of vanilla and woody bourbon on the finish. Luckily the bourbon doesn’t dominate the beer. Hot but enjoyable. Full mouthfeel, fine carbonation. Quite good.
Autumn Brew Review, 2013. Good, for a bourbon aged beer which compliments rather than overwhelms the flavor of this fine imperial stout. Some vanilla, heavily roasted grain and a thick, syrup-like palate. Very low carbonation.
On tap at GTMW 2013. My favorite beer of the day for sure. Dark brown with a creamy brown head. Aroma is strong and rich with chocolate, dark roasted malts, bourbon, oak and vanilla. Taste is smooth and incredible with maple, oak, chocolate, bourbon, light coffee and roasted malts.
1/19/2010. 12 oz. bottle. One of the best stouts out there. Black with a beige head. Sweet aromas from oak and vanilla, but coffee, chocolate and roasted malt gives a near perfect balance. Definitely a winner.
On tap in Madison (WI)
Rating #2,500. A special tapping at Maduro’s pre-GTMW party drew me here soon after they opened. This was just what I hoped for and more. A great imperial stout is made better with barrel aging; the result is truly world class. Even at $10 a pint I would not have hesitated to order this.
Aroma / Appearance - An oily black base betrays the thick nature of this high ABV monster. The viscosity is more like fountain ink than fluid. Slick legs crawl down the sides like brown creeping ivy. The mocha colored head only adds to the mysterious feel. Vanilla, licorice, coffee, and malts are strong but there is considerable depth here. Dessert chocolate in the base paired well with the smoky ash hiding in the middle.
Flavor / Palate - Anise, baker’s chocolate, and cocoa nibs stick to every corner of the palate. A creamy mouthfeel is dense and almost like drinking melted chocolate. Smoke, malt, and vanilla transition to the bitter malty finish. Coffee and other flavors pop up at times making it hard to get to the bottom of the flavor profile. A fine beer is one of the favorite I have tried and one that I hope to sample again some day.
Tap: Black-hole black with a small, slightly creamy, deep-tan film that rests softly on top. Aroma is huge and omnipotent; big bourbon, molasses, oak, caramel malt, bitter cocoa beans, faint vanilla, laced black licorice & anise... you can tell this beer is going to be very sweet. Just like the original Batch 9000, only with barrel-induced properties this time around. Taste is nearly as robust with deep, dark chocolate, sweet brown sugar, thick molasses, up-front bourbon, dry woodsy oak, nuts, prunes & figs, a touch of maple syrup, and a huge back-end anise sweetness. This beer is both quite boozy and largely sweet. A little too sweet. Very good beer, really, but the intense sweetness makes it hard to drink more than a few ounces at a time. Those few ounces are nice, though.
On draft at Sidetrack. Oh. My. God. This pours black, with then slightest hint of red. Minimal head, no lace. The smell is heavy in licorice, vanilla, caramel, and bourbon. The taste is amazing. Very caramel and vanilla in the front end. Amazing complexity with the bourbon and caramel flavors. An inexplicably phenomenal beer.
Bottle, thanks to Mac, 09/01/2013. Pours black, thin light tan head, fades to spotty haze on the surface, thinnest ring of lacing. Aroma is intense dark chocolate, vanilla, burnt caramel and coffee, moderate roast, spicy licorice, coconut, large bourbon finish. Taste is chocolate, toffee, raisin, licorice, subtle vanilla, strong bitter roast and coffee, hot bourbon. Thick body, chewy and boozy. Really nice and tasty, glad to have tried.
6th August 2013
Tasting at Bruce’s pad. Opaque dark brown - black beer. Short lived tan head. Palate is soft and viscous. Semi dry with fine carbonation. Rich dark chocolate and malt. Trace of coffee. Smooth bourbon. Light vanilla oak. Bourbon spice and mellow dark fruits. Smooth finish. Nice but could possibly do with a little morr time.
Tap @ GTMW 13.
Pour is very dark-brown, with a small tan head.
Aroma has plenty of coffee, bourbon and chocolate. Also some slight vanilla and licorice in here as well.
The taste is rather sweet upfront, with a nice amount of bitterness towards the end. Average bodied, with a slightly oily texture, and a semi-flat carbonation. Pretty delicious.
4oz pour at Churchkey’s Bells event during DC Beer Week 2013. Pours a very oily, viscous, opaque black with one ring of beige head. Huge vanilla nose, tons of booze, licorice, malt, burnt sugar, chocolate cake. Flavor is very sweet, boozy, licorice, cake, malt, brown sugar, tons of booze, coconut, lots of vanilla. Sweet, boozy finish. Funny, because while I though the barrel helped the base beer. that messy base is still lurking. Too sweet.
Poured on tap at Churchkey DC full pour, for dc beer week into a snifter.
Dark walnut brown body, fairly clear with some faint red accents. Head is light mocha brown, one finger presented settles to a good collar. No lacing.
On the nose its a huge vanilla bomb. Lots of thick cream, and extract like vanilla. Nice fruity ester undertones, akin to red berried fruit. Syrup and toffee notes but nothing too sugary with a hint of coffee. Large and impressive if a bit overly sweet.
Palate delivers the goods. Light oily toffee and vanilla, candy caramel stickiness. Matching fruit esters with strawberry and some raspberry on the finish. Slick and full coating. Light toffee accents with controlled boozy warmth on the finish without a sick rush. Sweetness is nicely controlled, while a bit big some of the charring and tannic quality cuts it out nicely.
Real nice impressive strong ale. Fruity, Coffee and cream vanilla, without a giant roast crunch, and impressive take on strong ale.
bottle shared at the HF bottle share, this is much better than the base beer, mostly because the barrel aging is fantastic and really takes over, great stuff!
On tap at Maduro’s pre-GTMW party - Pours black with a tan head. Sweet as hell on the nose, just like the non-BA version, with molasses, soy, vanilla, and bourbon barrel notes. Taste is smooth and warm, with dark malt, molasses, brown sugar, wood, bourbon--very smooth. Thick and slick, with little carbonation. I don’t like the base beer, and though the barrel helps it, it’s still not all that good.
On tap at Maduro, made the trip downtown just for this one and I wasn’t disappointed one bit, pours pitch black with a thick brown head and lacing that went through out the entire glass, the aroma is full of fudge, chocolate and bourbon with oak vanilla note as well, the flavor was huge with tons of molasses mixed in with some chocolate and bourbon touches in the finish, the abv was massive, but you barely could even tell it was over 10%, you felt it though, especially have 2 of these in only about 30 minutes.
Tap at Maduro, pre-GTMW party. 11:20 or so in the morning! Black body with stained glass red edges. Foamy beige head. Surprisingly mellow aroma, some raisiny chocolate. Chewy licorice, tobacco, wood. Drinkable, especially for the ABV. Tastes thinner than the original. Still pretty massive of course, rich molasses, bourbon caramel tones. Nice.
Bottle at Jack’s Farewell Tasting, big thanks to Kenny for this one, 06/08/13.
Mid black with a good sized tan head.
Nose is earthy, bitter chocolate, booze, roast malt, woody.
Taste comprises brown sugars, dark chocolate, dirt, earth, bourbon drenched oak.
Full bodied, fine carbonation, dry bitter roast in the climax.
Solid impy affair.
Bottle thanks to Ken at Jack’s farewell bash. It pours darkest opaque brown with no head... The nose is wood, caramel, vanilla, coconut, tablet, fudge, bourbon and earth. The taste is wood, earth, vanilla, cocoa, oily, coconut, fudge, decent bitterness, mild acidity, plum, date, alcohol warmth and bourbon. Full body, moderate carbonation and viscous mouth-feel. Flavoursome and well-balanced. Good stuff.
Very nice to try this one. Healthy sample at a tasting. Looks like chocolate rain, not oily or thick, almost thin and dark black with ruby tones. no head. Nose was explosive. Best balance of bourbon and beer I’ve ever had. tons of sweetness. Taste is out of this world. lovely vanilla, mocha and malt to sweetness aspect that’s very balanced I wasn’t a fan of 9000 but BA 9000 is otherworldly
Tap. Poured black with a spotty tan head. The aroma picked up sweet bourbon, vanilla, and licorice with spicy peppery notes. The flavor found lots of tasty bourbon, licorice, chocolate, and coffee.. spicier through the warm finish. Heavy-bodied with low carbonation.. excellent balance.. awesome stuff.
Huge aroma lots of Bourbon and brown sugar some light tart fruit notes. Thick creamy palate. Num num num. Like the non BA with a hint of Fig and butt er and vanilla notes. Too sweet to drink a ton of but great
1 day old 32oz growler, shared by a local dudeabide. Nice vanilla, light spice, dark roast in the nose. Very dark brown color. Minimal light brown head. Couple loose dots of lace. Bigger body. Smooth, chewy texture. Light carbonation. Brown sugar, dark chocolate, a LOT less molasses than in standard 9000, a LOT less cloying sweet, just a moderate sweetness. Barrel has really mellowed it out, made it much more tasty and drinkable. Big bitter, bigger spicy taste. Interesting, big imperial stout. Glad for the chance to have finally tried it. Hides alcohol well, have to give it an extra point for that.
Growler thanks to jjfoodie..Pour is dark with a nice tan head..Nose is nice bourbon, wet wood, sweet vanilla, graham cracker..Taste is chocolate, licorice, alcohol, roasty, oak, bourbon vanilla..