December 22nd - Bells Brewery Arabicadabra

After last night's miss on a milk stout with some spices added into it, I figured I would remind myself this afternoon what I was looking for in a milk stout before heading into the evening hours tonight.  Arabicadabra from Bell's was a quick selection to review this afternoon.  Sounds like coffee beans mixed in with some magic today!  

I'm betting it's more magical than this...just sayin'

This is something that I've seen locally, but never had the ambition to actually purchase and try.  Luckily, for me, I'm a member of a case club that purchases things I normally wouldn't.  That hasn't proved yet to be a bad thing either!

Bell's Brewing out of Kalamazoo, Michigan has been distributing beer here for a few years now.  Their Two Hearted Ale, Kalamazoo Stout, Winter White Ale, Oberon Ale, and recently their 30th Anniversary Cherry Stout Reserve are all beers that I've found to be absolutely enjoyable.  Again, I don't usually purchase any of them myself (most recently Oberon was on sale after the summer months...I snagged a 12 pack of that at a cheap price!), but if my brother-in-law buys it, I'm all in!

Upon doing some research before putting this together today, Bell's provides some tasting notes from their website/YouTube.  I'll share my thoughts first before linking that up below, but I'm curious to see how close I come to the folks who brew this up on the regular.

Let's get straight to it today, shall we?

From the bottle, poured into my beer coffee mug (I'll tell you the story of where it came from in person sometime if you're curious...) a nearly jet black beer with a nice looking medium brown and milky head at the top.  The aroma was straight up roasted coffee with just a touch of chocolatey goodness.

First sip was definitely sweet (like what I wanted last night) and full bodied for a 5.5% ABV selection.  Creamy goodness filled my palate as well with each and every sip.  There is some chocolate in the flavor as well, albeit just a touch.  The beer finishes slightly bitter, but not overly so.  There is also a dry sort of taste that lingers, just like my cuppa joe in the morning!  I dig it and you may too, if you enjoy this style and some coffee mixed in!