The last in our Batch series is being packaged today and tomorrow. While we are excited to free up some brewing space for other creative projects, the end of the Batch series marks a major milestone for us, and is a little bittersweet being the end of an era. Batch 10,000 reflects our homebrewing roots and was inspired by the the last homebrew of the season. Our owner Larry Bell remembers going through his brewing supplies and making the last homebrew out of whatever malts and hops were left from his brewing months. With this being the motivation behind our last commemorative batch series beer, we combed through the catalogs of many malt and hop suppliers to source 100 different malts, grains, and other fermentables. This is balanced by the addition of 60 different hop varietals between the kettle and dry hopping. The resulting beer presents a deep, chocolate brown hue and offers roasted and caramel notes from the malts mixed with an assertive hop character. Feel free to drink it fresh, or vintage age it as you please.

We lift our glass in appreciation to Bell's drinkers who have helped us reach this moment in our brewery's history. Cheers to you!

As part of our 25th anniversary celebration in September, we gave away free wort to homebrewers as the basis for our first ever homebrewing competition. Homebrewers from near and far took the same base wort and put their own personal spin on it to create a unique beer. We judged approximately 90 entries and from those, chose 12 finalists. The winner of the competition will get to brew their recipe with one of our brewers at our pub brewhouse in downtown Kalamazoo.

There were eight honorable mentions (in no particular order):

The Culmination

Hoppy Holiday Ale

Last in Line Double IPA

Poor Pete's Poison

New Moon IPA

Pure Michigan #30

Brown Dog

Chocolate Cherry Cordial

And the winners are...

4th Place: Ginger Bells

3rd Place: Raspberry Punch

2nd Place: Black Hops: A Covert Exbeeriment

1st Place: Oscar's Folly

Thanks to everyone who participated in the competition. It was truly incredible to taste so many different beers that all began with the same wort. We look forward to doing this again next year!

On Sunday, November 7^th, 2010, Bell's Brewery will be devoting all of the taps at the Eccentric Café to a wide variety of our stouts for the entire day. The draft list will include:

• Kalamazoo Stout
• Cherry Stout
• Special Double Cream Stout
• Expedition Stout
• Java Stout
• Milk Stout
• Oatmeal Stout
• Rye Stout
• Smoked Stout
• Harry Magill's Spiced Stout
• Trumpeter's Stout

In addition, there will be a firkin of something fun, as well as several food specials paired specifically to the event. We will also be taking the opportunity to announce the finalists & winner of the Bell's 25^th Anniversary Homebrew Competition at 3pm.

Doors open at noon. We look forward to seeing you there.