Bell's - Third Coast Old Ale 2010

Bell's has a great reputation for producing delicious beers.  I expect this one to be no different.  I wish their website had some more background on this beer though.  My assumption is that its a doubled recipe of their Blonde Ale, Third Coast Beer.  Both are nicely hopped, unfiltered and quite bitter.  Plus they both have similar names which is the final nail in the coffin for you doubters as far as I'm concerned.  One of the neat things Bell's does is label each batch of beer they produce with its batch number.  This American barley wine is batch number 9958.

This brew pours slightly hazy due to bottle conditioning and has a reddish brown coloring.  The aroma is a very nice malty and caramelized fruit smell combined with a mild citrus and bitterness from the hops.  My first sip is creamy and thick.  A malty and bitter flavor combination is prominent.  There are plenty of hops added at the beginning of the boil causing the high bitterness factor.  Although surprisingly less late hop additions to create a similar aromatic punch.  A second taste brings an almost woody and sweet toffee flavor into the mix.  After letting it warm up for about 15 minutes some of the initially hidden flavors of cinnamon and molasses come through.  A nice carbonation level helps to help dry out any residual sweetness the hops dont nab.  The alcohol is more present than what I would like during the finish.  No burning, just warmth.  At 10.2% I shouldn't be surprised though.

Overall 4.0/6.0 - This is a good brew and a solid example of an American Barley Wine.  The bottle suggests hiding some of this in your cellar and letting it age for a while.  I will be following that suggestion.  Even though I enjoy this beer now,  I know it can definitely improve with age.  The alcohol will mellow and more of the complexity that I would expect from a beer like this will shine through.  Get a six pack, have a few now and set aside the rest for next year.  Ill re-review this beer around the same time in 2011 and see how it has changed with some age on it.