Bell's Hopslam Ale

Bells Hopslam - Has been getting a lot of hype online and it rates at the moment #13 on beer advocates top 250 beers.  This is a seasonal release Double IPA which comes out to a 10% abv.  Bell's Brewery is located in Michigan and has been rated one of the best craft breweries in that state.  Some of the staples which Bell's is known for is their Two Hearted Ale, Oberon & Expedition Stout.  I am excited to try this and see what my Michigan friends keep talking about and find out for myself if it is a beer worthy of this praise!

Appearance - Pours a light brown/hazy yellow color and when poured it has minimal foam head only as high as seen in the picture.  After the foam dissipates it leaves some foam around the glass.  On the bottom of the glass i see continuous bubbles forming telling me this is going to be a nicely carbonated ale.

Smell - Cantaloupe, honey, citrus peel & grapefruit are some of the characters that i pick out from the initial pour.  Closer up smell i can smell the sweetness coming off of the honey and it has a small undertone of flowers coming out as if you were in a car for a long time and just opened the door next to a garden store.

Taste - Liquid hop cantaloupe bomb!  The hops linger around in your mouth way after you drink it and you are left with this sweet honey and some awesome dank hop flavor in your mouth.  This is an exceptional tasty beer where the hops and the sweetness are balancing each other out and do not overwhelm the palette for a hop forward ale.  Compared to many high abv hop bomb double ipas this hides the hops and the abv well and almost too well just like their two hearted ale.

Mouthfeel - Low carbonation but enough to feel a little bubbles in your mouth.  This stuff is way to easy to drink for a 10% abv beer.  I believe i drank this pint in about 6 gulps because of how smooth and well carbonated it was.

Overall - I am blessed that i am able to try this beer and if this was in my distribution zone i would pay off a bartender to let me drink this nectar from the tap!  I started to feel the 10% abv after a good 30 minutes and it does kick in.  This is one of those beers which i would classify as a creeper because how easy it drinks and how high the abv is because i can see someone buying a 6 pack of this and dropping it off at a party and the person who is not a craft beer drinking would have the worst blackout and hangover the next day.  If I could buy more bottles of this I would say without a doubt and would compare this to many of the top rated ipas and would say it just hit my top 10.  Bell's has not disappointed me yet and this has proved they deserve the hype and still wish that they would distribute out to the West Coast.