Hopslam Ale - Bell's Brewing, Inc.

    Hopslam Ale is an American Double IPA created by Bell's Brewery, Inc. which is located in Kalamazoo, Michigan. This special brew is released only once a year and in quite limited quantities. The ale also has the special honor of being my second favorite beer that I have ever tried. Every year in January I start searching the internet to see if Bell's has announced release dates for that year's batch of Hopslam. Once I find the release date, I anxiously await the two to three weeks that Hopslam will be on shelves. When the time finally comes, I book it into stores in order to claim my one six-pack-per-visit limit and rush back home with my prize like a squirrel with a nut.

    Hopslam pours a golden-orange color with an off-white foamy head.

    Upon first opening the bottle, an aroma of citrus fruits (mainly grapefruit) and what can only be described as a flowery scent burst outwards from under the cap. Upon pouring, the slight sweet scent of honey can be detected.

    Bell's Hopslam Ale is medium bodied and features a light carbonation level which causes the beer to feel extremely smooth. There is a pleasant warmth to the beer which causes the mouth to tingle nicely. At 10% ABV, this warmth is not at all surprising.

    Just as you might expect from its name, Hopslam is packed full of hops flavor. A bitter piney flavor starts out the ale's bouquet with a very nice grapefruit flavor following. One would expect an ale that is so full of hops to be overly bitter, but such is not the case with Hopslam. A great malt backbone works to edge out this bitterness allowing the pleasant flowery flavors to come through without the unpleasant bitter flavors. The sweet, smooth flavor of honey holds up the back end of the bouquet leaving a pleasant sweetness as an aftertaste.

Looks like someone wasn't aware of the one six-pack limit, so I stocked up! Lucky me!

    There is a large amount of hype surrounding Hopslam lately as the seasonal release has become quite popular since its release in 2004. As such, the beer can be quite hard to come across unless you plan ahead and look for release dates online. When I first tasted Hopslam, I was able to purchase a pitcher of the ale for normal price. In the years since, having Hopslam on tap has been reduced to an expensive half-pint that leaves you only wanting more. Interestingly, the first time I ever tasted the ale was in a period of time that I very much disliked strong, hoppy beers. The amazing balance presented by Hopslam just blew me away even though I knew little about beer or what different styles of ale could offer. It wasn't until a couple of years later when I found hopslam by chance at a local store and decided to give it another try that the ale was cemented as my favorite beer.

    Whether or not the hype surrounding Bell's Hopslam is warranted, it remains my second favorite brew even after trying many, many others. To this day, I am still amazed by the balance struck between the hops' bitterness and the honey and malts sweetness. The high alcohol content makes this beer a definite sipper, though it also lends an incredibly pleasant warmth to the ale. This is definitely a beer worth tracking down!

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