{"id":2867,"date":"2016-07-29T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-07-29T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.guysdrinkingbeer.com\/?p=2867"},"modified":"2021-08-26T16:14:45","modified_gmt":"2021-08-26T21:14:45","slug":"review-bells-eccentric-ale-2009","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.guysdrinkingbeer.com\/review-bells-eccentric-ale-2009\/","title":{"rendered":"From The Cellar: Bell’s Eccentric Ale 2009"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bell’s says:<\/p>\n

“Malt beverage brewed with spices, maple syrup and hawberry syrup.”<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Bell’s Eccentric Ale 2009
\nAmerican Strong Ale, 12.10% ABV
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(Editors note: we\u2019ve stockpiled enough Bell\u2019s Eccentric Ale 2009 to review it every so often to see how it is developing, aging and changing. Feel free to read through from the fresh tasting to the most recent review. However, if you\u2019d like to jump around, be our guest, and read more about Bell\u2019s Eccentric Ale 2009 fresh, after two years<\/a>, three years<\/a> and five years<\/a> in the cellar.)<\/em><\/p>\n

FRESH<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ryan:<\/strong> My first exposure to Bell’s Eccentric Ale series, a yearly brew to commemorate the brewery’s Eccentric Day party, was a 2008 bottle that was sampled fresh and recently reviewed after one year in the cellar.\u00a0 As I noted in that review, I’ve found Bell’s one-off beers to typically be over the top with huge flavor profiles and big-time ABV’s.\u00a0 The 2008 was a sweet, syrupy beer that had the consistency of homemade root beer.\u00a0 Would a fresh bottle of the 2009 be similar.\u00a0 Absolutely not.<\/p>\n

I think the best way to describe Bell’s Eccentric Ale ’09 is to liken in to a black IPA.\u00a0 A black IPA that is menacingly mean, won’t return the neighbor kids’ ball when it lands in his back yard and sets out a bucket of empty Pixy Stix wrappers for Halloween.<\/p>\n

Pouring a grumpy ‘ol opaque black with nearly a fists worth of tan, frothy head Eccentric ’09 has a nose full of pine needles and tree sap leaving you with the impression that you wandered in to a pine forest, not having just poured a beer.\u00a0 There are notions of raisins, licorice and molasses too but it can’t get past the over-the-top hops and the aggressive smell of booze.\u00a0 Take a sip and you get kicked in the face with an abrasive-ly bitter hop profile that leaves an unpleasant aftertaste you can’t seem to scrape off your tongue.\u00a0 There is a bit of syrup mixed in with some dark fruits and molasses in the middle of this beer, but its hard to find seeing as how it’s sandwiched between such aggressive hoppiness and roastiness.\u00a0 This one needs time in the cellar.\u00a0 Bad.<\/p>\n

This one was tough to get down fresh and tough to find anything, really, to compare it to.\u00a0 The best I can come up with is Bell’s Batch 10,000<\/a>.\u00a0 Although, I’d take another 10,000 over the Eccentric Ale ’09 any day.\u00a0 There are a few more bottles for the cellar, so this one is going to hang out for a few years and we’ll see what happens.
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2 YEARS<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Ryan<\/strong>: Aggressive. Menacingly aggressive. After two years in the cellar this beer is still mean as hell.<\/p>\n

The ’09 Eccentric Ale tricked me into thinking it had calmed down some in the cellar. The nose gave off a somewhat pleasant, albeit strong, aroma of pine trees and wintergreen.<\/p>\n

Take a sip, however, and this beer rears its ugly head.<\/p>\n

Aggressive, cloying and grimace inducing piney hops hit hard and fast followed by an overpowering smokiness that finishes with a blast of Cr\u00e8me de menthe. The perceived raisins, licorice and molasses that I picked up on two years ago are nowhere to be found, buried beneath a jerk of a beer.<\/p>\n

I didn’t think it’s possible, but this beer has gotten more aggressive over time.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Karl<\/strong>: Without knowing what the sweet hell Hawberry is, one doesn’t have to know the exact flavors of these weird ingredients to know that this is still quite a hardcore bottle of beer.<\/p>\n

Sharp, burnt flavors cover up the caramel and baked-bread tastes struggling to get out from beneath.<\/p>\n

As we’ve seen in other Bells offerings, those red grapes peek out as well – I don’t know what’s in the grain bill throughout all these beers but it is pervasive and plenty distinctive of cellared bells beers.<\/p>\n

Andrew calls this one a mean beer; it’s hard to disagree.<\/p>\n

Andrew:\u00a0<\/strong>It IS a mean beer, and I that’s not necessarily a good thing either.<\/p>\n

Frankly, the ’09 Eccentric Ale is just too sharp, too boozy, too much.<\/p>\n

Maybe it needs a few more years. Or maybe, as Ryan indicated it’s getting “meaner” with time.<\/p>\n

Regardless, color me not a fan of the ’09.
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3 YEARS<\/strong><\/p>\n