Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - So I met Larry Bell from Bell's Beer tonight..OT.

There was a brewer's showcase tonight at at a local east lansing bar and Bell's was the showcase. Larry Bell, the owner and founder, made an appearance.

He's kind of a weird dude. He knows everyone loves him for his beer and he acts like it. He walks around with quite the celebrity status around here (granted, his brewery IS in Michigan and the bar I work at is at MSU). He has this air about him that just makes him seem like a rich guy. I can't really explain it. He'll talk you into the ground with beer knowledge though. My god. When he came he was wearing this weird sort of "safari" get up, undoubtedly to promote his Expedition Stout, which in my opinion, is not very good. All it is, from what I can tell, is a dark stout made to get absolutely crunked on if you dont care about taste. (12% or so ABV...so yea it does the trick rather efficiently.) It seems to be brewed for darkness rather than full flavor. That's just my opinion though. Think what you want.

We had every beer that Bell's makes on tap at our bar, and holy crap did we sell a lot of it. The first to go was the Consecrator Dopplebock (so good). Gone in like 2 hours. It was intense. Then went Deb's Red. You can normally only get that at the Bell's Brewery in KZoo, so that was pretty cool.

Normally on tap at the bar bar are Double Cream Stout, Hopslam, Winter White (in the winter...duh), and of course...Two Hearted. The bar that this all went down at is known throughout East Lansing (MSU) for having a crazy selection of Micros. Its awesome.

Feel free to discuss this off topic nonsense. Just wanted to share my somewhat interesting experience.

I love Bell's! And i love Hopslam! It sounds like you work at a cool bar. What's it called so I can keep it in mind next time I'm in the area. :)

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There was a brewer's showcase tonight at at a local east lansing bar and Bell's was the showcase. Larry Bell, the owner and founder, made an appearance.

He's kind of a weird dude. He knows everyone loves him for his beer and he acts like it. He walks around with quite the celebrity status around here (granted, his brewery IS in Michigan and the bar I work at is at MSU). He has this air about him that just makes him seem like a rich guy. I can't really explain it. He'll talk you into the ground with beer knowledge though. My god. When he came he was wearing this weird sort of "safari" get up, undoubtedly to promote his Expedition Stout, which in my opinion, is not very good. All it is, from what I can tell, is a dark stout made to get absolutely crunked on if you dont care about taste. (12% or so ABV...so yea it does the trick rather efficiently.) It seems to be brewed for darkness rather than full flavor. That's just my opinion though. Think what you want.

We had every beer that Bell's makes on tap at our bar, and holy crap did we sell a lot of it. The first to go was the Consecrator Dopplebock (so good). Gone in like 2 hours. It was intense. Then went Deb's Red. You can normally only get that at the Bell's Brewery in KZoo, so that was pretty cool.

Normally on tap at the bar bar are Double Cream Stout, Hopslam, Winter White (in the winter...duh), and of course...Two Hearted. The bar that this all went down at is known throughout East Lansing (MSU) for having a crazy selection of Micros. Its awesome.

Feel free to discuss this off topic nonsense. Just wanted to share my somewhat interesting experience.

Pretty cool that you met Larry. I got to say hey to him once and he seems like a pretty cool guy.

And I find it strange that you don't like their Expedition Stout. It's one of my favorite stouts, provided you pour it like a 5 year old to get a head. In fact, if anyone wanted to send me a bottle or 6 of it, I'd be greatly appreciative.

consecretor dopplebock rocks my misguided world

this is not a total hijack but there's a film called 'king of kong and a fist full of quarters' and Bell sounds a little like Billy Mitchell from the show.

which bar was this at? my 21st is in a few months and i need to make a list of places to hit. seems like this place ought to be near the top.

Two friends that work at Whole Foods with me went to hang out with him at his brewery. They said that he was a very cool guy. This is the first I have heard on him being snobbish. He is responsible for some of my favorite brews ever. Hopslam is heaven, we have 100 cases of it on the floor right now.

Crunchy's in EL. kind of a dive, but you'll like it.

Crunchy's in EL. kind of a dive, but you'll like it.

No way, Crunchy's was one of the better places, far better than anything in the center of town. I also really like Paul Revere's, is that still around?

...Expedition Stout, which in my opinion, is not very good. All it is, from what I can tell, is a dark stout made to get absolutely crunked on if you dont care about taste. (12% or so ABV...so yea it does the trick rather efficiently.) It seems to be brewed for darkness rather than full flavor. That's just my opinion though. Think what you want.


Expedition Stout kind of smells like mosquito repellent. It is ****ing awesome though. It's definitely one of those 'once in a while' beers, but if you only care about getting drunk there are numerous eisbocks or malt liquors that are way cheaper in an ABV sense.

Kalamazoo Stout is one of the best beers ever, like Victory's Storm King before it wussed out (or my taste buds acclimated to it, whichever).

I met their master brewer in undergrad when I was working on a marketing project. he chatted with me for about two hours about the industry, etc. and was a really awesome guy.

the stouts are the weakest beers in the Bell's catalog, but the ales are spectacular. they *occasionally* have them out here in dc, but drinking oberon in the summertime (at dominick's in AA) is one of the things i miss the most about Michigan.

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that, my friend, is a very accurate observation :D

anywho, I love crunchy's, even tho it is still somewhat of a dive. it's definitely a place for drinking with actual friends instead of finding random sorority girls to hook up with, like every other bar is EL. As far as I know, Paul Revere's is still hopping, I haven't been there in atleast 2 years though. I know it changed owners right about the time I turned 21 and started going to MSU. I dont get to that part of town much anymore. From what i remember though, they had a pretty decent selection as well. Maybe I'll make a stop there in the near future.

i've never really cared too much about bell's

dude sounds like an ass though :|

No way, Crunchy's was one of the better places, far better than anything in the center of town. I also really like Paul Revere's, is that still around?

ah yeah, i hear they have good specials there. for some reason my friends like drinking at woody's when they go to the bar, but i dunno. i don't see myself being a huge fan of the EL bar scene... probably going to be biking over to old town a lot this summer.

oh i do love me some bells beer,

close to being about one of the best exports of our state

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right? at least mention the word bicycle... christ.
i swear, the ss/fg mods really do nothing here. i feel like other mods do more to police this subforum than ours.
there's an entire subforum for this. (http://bikeforums.net/forumdisplay.php?f=199)

Yeah, he could have said he rode his bike there.....

Anyway, Bells is the bizniz when it comes to microbrews, I like their IPA. Tough to find round these parts tho :(