The employment status of current University of Michigan football coach Rich Rodriguez isn’t the only national headline going on in the Wolverine State. The Kalamazoo-based brewery, Bell’s, has recently announced the arrival date for the excruciatingly limited edition of their most newsworthy brew, the Hopslam Double India Pale Ale.
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| Last year's Hopslam |
January 10, to be exact.
Let’s face it: Bell’s makes some damn good beer. Plain and simple. While credited with being the brewers of one of the top ten India Pale Ales in the world, the Two Hearted Ale, plus an ever-growing roster that exceeds 60 variations, the Bell Fam has also mastered the art of virtually starting shopping riots that rival Black Friday annually thanks to their American Double IPA, the Hopslam Ale!
A few website entries ago (see “I’m Baaaaack”), I mentioned how Bell’s had a heartless knack for making us beer lovers scurry to find their product from time to time. In fact, just a few weeks ago they had us in training for another one-time release, the Batch 10,000, which I scooped a couple of bottles of before it ran out in one day. Admittedly, I find it a fun challenge to get novelty beers and one-timers, but scoring the Hopslam is a whole different league; playtime’s over because copping this baby is a necessity, not a family picnic scavenger hunt. This delicious, potent Double IPA at 10% abv is an attractive, deep orange concoction that tempts the nose with citrusy hoppiness followed by an initial taste of sweetness thanks to the addition of honey. Its malty backbone coupled with grapefruit notes, amazingly subtle alcohol punch and smooth, viscous mouthfeel seals the deal. Ultimately, the Hopslam’s, well, slaaaaamin’!
A pain in the ass to get but blissful when sipped, find out who’s carry this year’s batch. It’ll be worth it. I mean, hey, I am sipping it in the photo and logo above, so it has to be gangster, right?
Here is the official press release straight from Bell’s website, http://www.bellsbeer.com/ that came out yesterday.
Keep cruisin’ for the brewsin’.
Ale
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Hopslam Ale release information
Bell's Brewery
01.04.2011
The 2011 Hopslam Ale season will begin the week of January 10th. We are currently shipping to our various wholesale partners and will fill as many trucks as we can fit onto our loading docks this week and next. The beer will be released to the market on Monday, January 10th, but depending on when they receive it at their warehouse, as well as the delivery schedule for your local retailers, you may not see it until sometime later in the month. Rest assured: we're moving to deliver all of our Hopslam Ale to you as swiftly as possible at every level in the logistics chain.
