7 days of Oktoberfest beers – Bell’s

Today’s Oktoberfest beer offering comes from one of my favorite breweries, Bell’s. Not only do I love their beer, I love their recent history with Chicago. When beer distribution laws eventually change, I believe they will be seen as one of the major influences.

My drinking career started in the great state of Michigan, where Bell’s flowed faster than the Flint River. Oberon was my first ever taste of craft beer, and Bell’s has had a spot in my heart ever since. In 2005, I moved to the opposite side of Lake Michigan and set up shop in Chicago. I was thankful at the time to find Oberon, among others, were readily available. Then, in fall 2006, Bell’s pulled out of the Chicago market after a dispute with their distributor. The distribution rights to Bell’s were being sold to another company that founder Larry Bell didn’t feel would be acting in the best interest of the brewery. Because current laws make it nearly impossible for a brewery to part ways with their distributor, if Bell’s were ever to re-enter the Chicago market, they would have been sued by their former distributor

The next year, Bell’s arrived again on the Western shores of Lake Michigan with two new beers, this time just under the masthead of Kalamazoo Brewing (the former name of the brewery). Everyone knew whose beers they were, but there was nothing that the distributor could do. It was the greatest instance of the little guy pulling one over on the big guy in recent beer history. Thankfully the distributor recently pulled out of Illinois entirely, and Bell’s has returned in full force, setting the table for me to have easy access to their Octoberfest beer.

I know, that was far too many words, and none of them were actually about the beer. If you just want a straight up review you can head to RateBeer or some other collection of arbitrary drivel.

 

 

Bell’s Octoberfest pours orange, giving you that fall feeling before you even take your first sip. Take a minute to smell it because it is one of those instances where you pick up something different every time. Sometimes the fruitiness comes though and other times the hops really stand out. I don’t know if my nose is occasionally lazy or if that’s just how the beer operates. Typically when I see orange, pumpkin comes to mind, but that flavor is nowhere to be found. Caramel and a little bit of spice are the most noticeable tastes from this medium bodied beer. The flavor doesn’t linger all that long and there is very little aftertaste, so you may find that the beer is disappearing more quickly than normal. Thankfully it gets a 16/24 on my session scale, so you can drink this one all day long.

You can find Bell’s in 14 states, mostly Midwest and Southeast. They, as any good microbrewery does, have a beer finder on their website if you want to go pick up a 6-pack and give it a shot for yourself. You won’t be sorry.

Great read about Bell’s exit here.
More about their re-entry here.

Previous “7 days of Oktoberfest beers”

Sam Adams
Boulevard Bob’s ’47
Hofbräu München

 

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