#25 Bell's Brewery This One Goes to 11 Ale

**This beer was provided to me by a totally generous, and awesome reader**

I've been attempting to write this review all week, but honestly, this week has been a damned mess. So now, in the comfort of my hotel room, with Sons of Anarchy in the background, I can finally move forward with it.

It's like they knew I was coming. Thanks, hotel people!

This is another excellent beer from Bell's Brewery, over in Michigan. The first beer of theirs I had was the Expedition Stout. You can read about that here. Months later and I still find myself daydreaming about that beer. It's really weird.

I wonder if it ever thinks about me.

Er, anyway...

"This One Goes to 11 Ale" is a special brew, and I'm going to let Bell's tell you all about why:

"Bell's Brewery, Inc.
09.10.2012

Our Batch Series ended at 10,000, but This One Goes to 11 Ale is a bit louder.

Brewed to commemorate our 11,000th batch, this Imperial Red uses hops from the Southern Hemisphere, but also features those from the Pacific Northwest, including a freshly named and newly released varietal.

The official description:

This One Goes to 11 Ale opens with bright, juicy aromas such as tropical fruits & ripe cherries, largely derived from massive kettle & dry-hop additions of Southern Hemisphere hop varieties such as Galaxy, Motueka, and Summer. The citrus & resinous pine notes of the Pacific Northwest hop family are also well represented, making their presence known through Simcoe, Citra, and the newly released Mosaic varietal, just to name a few. A wide range of specialty malts anchor the hops to this Imperial Red Ale, contrasting the assertive bitterness & juicy aromatics with a robust, toasty depth of flavor. Fermented with Bell’s signature house ale yeast, This One Goes to 11 Ale finishes with a lingering warmth."

This is copy and pasted from their own blog, here.

So let's get to the review.

They're Waiting...

11 pours a beautiful, dark amber, comparable to the burning orange-red of a sunset. There isn't much of a head in my pour.

It smells damn wonderful. A tempting, roasted sweetness. Citrus and other fruity tones. Definitely can get a hint of booze. It's a very complex nose. Color me damn impressed. But wait, there's more...

The first sip, and it's noticeable heavy in the mouth, but incredibly smooth. The slight burn of booze is upfront, but subsides quickly to a sweet (and hoppier than I would have thought) finish. This is a busy beer. Everything about it, malts, hops, alcohol...It's all perfectly balanced. Which I thought odd, as 11 is a prime number. But hey, that's just my imagination getting away from me.

This beer is very, very good. Even with the slight trace of alcohol in the nose and taste, you would never believe it to be an 11% beer. I am extremely lucky to have gotten my hand on TWO bottles of this, which I will never have again. Were you lucky enough to have gotten your hands on any?

I love Bell's, they need to be available in Maryland. A big thank you to Chester for looking out for me and sending me these bottles and stickers.

You can find them online!

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BellsBrewery
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BellsBreweryInc
Website: http://bellsbeer.com/

Bell's Brewery This One Goes to 11 Ale

Smell: 4.5/5
Appearance: 5/5
Taste: 4.5/5
Feel: 4/5
Overall: 4.5/5

This beer pairs well with: This is Spinal Tap