{"id":1839,"date":"2017-08-06T10:59:32","date_gmt":"2017-08-06T14:59:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nightwire.net\/?page_id=1839"},"modified":"2017-08-06T11:00:37","modified_gmt":"2017-08-06T15:00:37","slug":"bells-brewery-ringing-in-more-than-30-years-of-brewing","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.nightwire.net\/?page_id=1839","title":{"rendered":"Bell\u2019s Brewery Ringing in More than 30 Years of Brewing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bell\u2019s Brewery<\/strong>
\n Ringing in More than 30 Years of Brewing<\/strong><\/p>\n

Craft Brewing today is all about what\u2019s new. The newest brewery on the block seems to get all the attention, and while we can\u2019t blame anyone for needing to check out the new kid on the block, it\u2019s the pioneers of craft beer that are proving the staying power of brewing great beer. For Bell\u2019s Brewery that means more than 30 years of making beer that isn\u2019t like everything else on the market, and that\u2019s a very good thing.<\/p>\n

To see where it all started for Bell\u2019s, we need to take a trip down brewery lane all the way back to the late 1970\u2019s. Here we find Larry Bell homebrewing when there wasn\u2019t a supply store in every town or an Internet to order supplies from. To rectify this problem, Larry opened his own homebrew supply store and named it Kalamazoo Brewing Co.<\/p>\n

Fast-forward to 1985 and Larry stepped up from homebrewing and in September of this year he sold his first commercial beer. In 1986 the total commercial production was 135 barrels of beer, and while this is small compared to today\u2019s numbers, it was a very big deal at the time.<\/p>\n

The 1990s were a big decade for Bell\u2019s, as 1990 saw the first Bell\u2019s Brewery beer sold outside of the state of Michigan. 1993 marked the opening of the Eccentric Caf\u00e9, which was the first on-site brewery pub in Michigan. The brewery continued to grow, which quickly made the craft brewery need a new, larger brewery to continue to grow.<\/p>\n

In response to their continual growth, Bell\u2019s opened their new Comstock Brewery in 2003. Constant growth and construction followed their success, and in 2012 the expansion to a new, American-made 200-barrel brewhouse was finished and open for business at the Comstock Brewery.<\/p>\n

Seeing the trend in canned beers, Bell\u2019s added a canning line in 2014, and since then more of their most-loved beers have seen the inside of these aluminum vessels, including Hopslam, Oberon, Smitten, Winter White, and Best Brown Ale.<\/p>\n

September of 2015 marked the 30th anniversary of Bell\u2019s Brewery, cementing them as a pillar of the craft brewing community. In 2017 Bell\u2019s co-owner Laura Bell was promoted to CEO of the brewery. As the daughter of Bell\u2019s Founder Larry, Laura grew up with the brewery, being 2 months old when the company was founded. Her father Larry continues to be Bell\u2019s President and is still very active in the planning and oversight of projects at the brewery.<\/p>\n

Bell\u2019s Brewery is currently the 7th largest craft brewery in the United States with annual production in 2016 topping out at a little more than 420,000 barrels of beer.<\/p>\n

Brewery history is all nice and fine, but the beer is really where it\u2019s at, and that\u2019s one thing that is always ringing true at Bell\u2019s. With year-round and seasonal lineups that resonate with craft beer fans near and far, Bell\u2019s is leading the way after more than 30 years of brewing.<\/p>\n

The Beers<\/p>\n

Bell\u2019s Brewery is known as much for their seasonal beers as they are for their year-round beers, which is hard to do for a brewery that\u2019s been around as long as Bell\u2019s has. Looking at their year-round lineup, it\u2019s hard to list anything but Two Hearted Ale first. This American IPA is brewed with 100% Centennial hops, which give the beer huge hop aroma and taste, with grapefruit upfront and a nice malt backbone throughout. Two Hearted comes in at 7% ABV in cans, bottles, and on draft. If you only try one beer from Bell\u2019s, this should be it.<\/p>\n

On the other side of the lineup is the year-round Oarsman Ale, a 4% ABV tart wheat ale that\u2019s bright, refreshing, and lightly hopped as to add to the overall experience and not dominate the beer. While Oarsman is perfect in the warm weather, it\u2019s really a great beer any time of the year, which is why you should be thankful it\u2019s available all year.<\/p>\n

A newer beer from Bell\u2019s is their Oatsmobile Ale. This year-round American Pale Ale comes in at a sessionable 4.3% ABV and features a hefty hop lineup including Mosaic, Ekuanot, and Glacier hops. These, along with the oats used in the brewing process, give Oatsmobile a blend of peach, mango, and tropical aromas while keeping bitterness in check.<\/p>\n

Looking at Bell\u2019s seasonal offerings things get even better. By and far one of the best summer beers around is their Oberon American Wheat Ale. This 5.8% ABV wheat ale is brewed with Bell\u2019s signature house ale yeast, which helps to give the beer its hop character and mild fruity aroma. Brewed with only 4 ingredients, Oberon is clean, simple, and incredibly crushable. With summer winding down, this is one beer you want to make sure you do not miss, especially since it\u2019s available this year in the 5-liter mini keg.<\/p>\n

Summer isn\u2019t the only time for seasonal beers, and a shining example of this is Bell\u2019s Best Brown Ale. What starts as a typical brown ale is kicked up a notch thanks to the generous use of American hops that perfectly offset the caramel and cocoa nuances hiding in each sip. Clocking in at 5.8% ABV, this fall seasonal beer is lower in alcohol than the big heavy stouts found in the fall, and is just dark enough to help us transition from the brighter flavors we expect from spring and summer beers. In short, it\u2019s the perfect balance of flavor and body with just enough alcohol to make it stand out from the crowd.<\/p>\n

While we wish summer could last all year, the arrival of August means we\u2019re seeing fall creep around the corner, and even though that means chillier weather, it also means some great seasonal releases from Bell\u2019s including:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Special Double Cream Stout
\n\u2022 Oktoberfest Beer
\n\u2022 Expedition Stout
\n\u2022 Third Coast Old Ale<\/p>\n

With the focus on independent craft beer, it\u2019s great to see a company like Bell\u2019s that keeps a focus on family and community while making consistently great beer. Bell\u2019s employs more than 400 employees, and thanks to the father-daughter combination of Larry and Laura Bell, continues to be a family-run business making some of the best beer around.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bell\u2019s Brewery Ringing in More than 30 Years of Brewing Craft Brewing today is all about what\u2019s new. The newest brewery on the block seems to get all the attention, and while we can\u2019t blame anyone for needing to check out the new kid on the block, it\u2019s the pioneers of craft beer that are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1839","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P8aPSh-tF","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nightwire.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nightwire.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nightwire.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nightwire.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nightwire.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1839"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nightwire.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1839\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1840,"href":"https:\/\/www.nightwire.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1839\/revisions\/1840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nightwire.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}