KOTBR Review #17: Bell's Hell Hath No Fury Ale

The Knights of the Beer Roundtable met up on Indy's better (south) side with special guest Jim Schembre of World Class Beverages to check out the amazing selection of beers on tap at Shallos. My notes said it well enough: "I'm overwhelmed."

Chris got lost on the way to reviewing the Hell Hath No Fury thanks in part to Shallos' amazing selection and the 21% ABV of his warm-up beer, Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA. He added " I'll give it 5 mugs based on ABV, but I can't really remember what it tastes like!"

Jim safely made his way to the Hell Hath No Fury, which he gave a 4 mug rating: "It's dark brown in color with a fruity nose.... aroma I got was a slightly spicy, raisiny one... I expected the Fury to have a little bite to it. But to my surprise, the Fury is quite drinkable."

Jason lauded Shallos selection, thought up a new name for the Hoosier Beer Geeks, and agreed with Jim in giving a four mug rating: "I think there were plenty of roasted malt scents, like coffee, chocolate, caramel, and the like... in a way, it smelled like a chocolate-covered orange... Bittersweet. With a little bit of spice. And I found some clove after the beer is swallowed... I was surprised with how creamy smooth it was, making it easy to swallow. Makes me think of a nice porter."

Kelly was last to weigh in - she was too busy being a successful human being. But after all the bragging she shared her thoughts and gave the Hell Hath No Fury 3.5 mugs: "Wow... totally opaque, very thin head that dissipated almost instantly... could smell the toasty, malty smell before I even got my nose near the glass... I was expecting a pretty bracing and snappy beer. Not so with this one... it went down smoothly with a lot of coffee, caramel, and a bit of spice and fruit... this beer... was the perfect thing for me on a happy spring evening. I give it 3.5 mugs, with another .5 mug for the completely awesome server who name-dropped with me about people we both knew from my hometown."

All the Geeks wish to again extend our thanks to Jim Schembre of World Class Beverages, who bought us a round, and taught us about the business side of craft brew distribution in Indiana. For more about that, and further pearls of wisdom like you've come to expect from the Knights, click on the individual reviews.

The Exciting Ride to Hell

Thanks to a couple of exciting pieces of news last Thursday afternoon (new car! promotion! gratuitous use of exclamation points!), I arrived at Shallo's a bit bouncy and a bit behind schedule. I settled in quietly with a Brooklyn Brewery 2006 Winter Ale (the warm-up beer of choice, it appeared) while Jim Schembre of World Class Beverages gave an incredibly interesting discussion about the mechanics of craft beer distribution here in Indiana.

I'll admit, I'm next to clueless when it comes to the technical aspects of craft beer. I know what I like, I'm lucky enough to have easy access to it (thank you, Hop Shop!) and my friends are all pretty well versed in the good beer realm. But Jim's statistics on precisely how much of a death grip the Bud/Miller/Coors trifecta has on our state were eye-opening. Thanks to folks like World Class Beverages, though, the market hold is shrinking and more people are starting to be exposed to the good stuff. Easy does it, I suppose.

So back to the (yeah, I'll say it) exciting stuff: the beer! My Brooklyn Winter Ale was a bit underwhelming. I was expecting more of a spicy, wassail-type nose. Unlike Jason, I like that type of thing. :) And like Jim, I was expecting a little more... something... to make it rival the other BB brews I've had in the past.

After finishing up the discussion with Mr. Schembre (and scoping the awesome calendars he gave us!), we settled in for a round of the Bell's Hell Hath No Fury Ale.

Wow.

The dark glass I was handed was certainly not what I was expecting-- totally opaque, very thin head that dissipated almost instantly. I could smell the toasty, malty smell before I even got my nose near the glass, so like Jim, I was expecting a pretty bracing and snappy beer. Not so with this one-- it went down smoothly with a lot of coffee, caramel, and a bit of spice and fruit.

It's no secret that I'm a fan of the malty-type beers, and haven't yet garnered the appreciation for the hoppy end of the spectrum like my KOTBR counterparts. So this beer, with its drinkability, it's unusual taste and distinctive smell, was the perfect thing for me on a happy spring evening. I give it 3.5 mugs, with another .5 mug for the completely awesome server who name-dropped with me about people we both knew from my hometown.

Now that's exciting!

Hell Hath No Fury like a trademark infringed

Thursday's review presented me with my first ever trip to the malt-and-hops mecca of the southside, Shallo's. There are some pretty impressive beer selections in Indy, but Shallo's is the largest selection by far. To top off the experience, we were joined by Jim Schembre, World Class Beverages guru extraordinaire. For those not in the know, WCB is the red-headed step child of Monarch Beverages, a large distributor of large beers. WCB's mission: to preach the word of good beer. And while Indiana, as a whole, has a long way to go, Jim and his crew have done a pretty good job so far. Just consider the beer selection at Indy area restaurants, bars, and liquor stores.

Before we get to the heart of the matter, I want to mention something. While talking to Jim, and getting a sampling of his vast beer knowledge, he mentioned that they have a resident Beer Geek and that, in fact, "Beer Geek" is trademarked. "Beer Geek" is trademarked? That can't be right. But a quick check of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office website shows that it is true: "Beer Geek", trademarked by Vision Concepts LLC, which just so happens to share an address with Monarch Beverages.

So what's a Hoosier Beer Geek to do? We haven't been told to cease and desist, but just in case, we better get our house in order. We could argue that "Hoosier Beer Geek" is completely different from "Beer Geek". Will that hold? We'll have to ask our resident HBG attorney. If not, we may need to search out a new name. One that doesn't infringe on anybody. My suggestion:

The Brew Man Group

Nope, no intellectual infringements there.

Okay, now to the serious business.

Like my comrade Jim, I too started with Brooklyn's Winter Ale, which was on special that night. I found it to be tasty and simple, not overly wintry with the usual hints of pine and juniper and all that crap. Nope, just straight forward.

I finished the night with a Hoppin' Frog Hoppin' to Heaven IPA. The brewery is new to me. It was at Jim's suggestion, who mentioned that they just delivered a bunch of Hoppin' Frogs to Shallo's. It's a surprisingly sweet IPA that doesn't pack the spicy punch that I come to expect from IPA's. Probably a good starter for those new to IPA's.

The beer of the evening, though, was Bell's Hell Hath No Fury. A beer brewed and released in October, meaning it is at the end of its availability cycle. So if you like what you see, you probably won't be able to get it for very long. We're big teases like that.

HHNF is classified as a Belgian Strong Dark Ale. And dark it is. Its color is comparable to the dark sludge found in the bottom of a coffee urn after a long day of use. I mean it is dark. And it pours with a thin, dark tan head.

I had a hard time defining the aroma. I think there were plenty of roasted malt scents, like coffee, chocolate, caramel, and the like. Also a bit of a citrus hint. So, in a way, it smelled like a chocolate-covered orange.

The taste certainly continued. Bittersweet. With a little bit of spice. And I found some clove after the beer is swallowed. Not overwhelming, like clove often is, but it is there.

I was surprised with how creamy smooth it was, making it easy to swallow. Makes me think of a nice porter. Which, at 7.7% ABV, could make for a dangerous situation should you drink too much, which would be easy to do.

I am assigning a four mug rating to this based on the fact that I gave another Belgian Strong Dark Ale (Unibroue's Trois Pistoles) a 3.5 mug rating, and if memory serves me correctly, I liked Hell Hath No Fury more than Trois Pistoles.

Of course, that review was way back in November. I suppose I should try Trois Pistoles again to verify my statement. What kind of Hoosier Beer Geek would I be if I didn't pay due diligence?

The perils of choice - Bell's Hell Hath No Fury at Shallo's

Conventional wisdom is that choice is a good thing. The more options available, the happier the person who may exercise those options, right? Well, psychologists are actually questioning this premise. In other words, they postulate that the more choices we have, the less happy we are. Just ask any New Yorker.

So that brings us to Shallo's Restaurant and Brewhouse, a beer-lover's sanctuary tucked into an inconspicuous strip mall on the extreme southern border of our beloved Naptown. As Chris has already mentioned, the beer choices at Shallo's are unbelievably impressive. Staggeringly impressive. Mind-blowingly impressive. In fact, they are so impressive that I felt a little bit of anxiety creeping in to my mind as I perused the beer menu. The thought echoing around my cranium was, "So many choices. So many choices. Hmmm...oh crap."

But then our special guest, Jim Schembre of World Class Beverages, thankfully demonstrated that the conventional wisdom about choice being good prevails. In other words, Jim showed me that the shrinks are full of dookie, at least when it comes to beer choices in Indiana. How did Jim do this? Well, aside from being a font of knowledge regarding fine malt beverages, Jim let us in on the business side of craft beers in the Hoosier State. According to Jim, the percentage of the market that craft beers hold in Indiana is minuscule compared to the markets in other states. Why? Well, there are a number of factors involved. Ultimately, it all boils down to knowledge, or lack thereof. We Hoosiers won't try what we don't know. After all, we're not a very adventurous lot. We like what is familiar to us. And, by and large, we Hoosiers are simply not knowledgeable about craft brews because they're not available in very many places in this state.

Fortunately, this is changing as more Indiana liquor stores and bars venture into the craft beer market, upping the collective beer knowledge of us Hoosier folk. The number of brewpubs in Indiana has also helped to broaden craft beer horizons here. In short, Jim got me to see that I should cherish the Hoosier drinking establishments that have lots of beer choices because these establishments are not many.

So, with peace of mind, I started with Brooklyn Brewery's 2006 Winter Ale. As I've noted before, BB's beers have always impressed me. However, I wasn't blown away by the Winter Ale, which is a Scottish ale according to ratebeer. It certainly was malty and dark like a Scottish ale, but it was lacking some "oomph" for lack of a better expression. Not a bad beer, but nothing special. BB's other brands are more reliable in my opinion.

Then, upon Jim's recommendation, we went for Bell's Hell Hath No Fury Ale as our feature beer. We were happy to find that Shallo's has this beer, which I'll call "the Fury," on tap. The Fury is a dark Belgian style ale that is 7.7% alcohol by volume. It's dark brown in color with a fruity nose. The prevalent aroma I got was a slighlty spicy, raisiny one. As a consequence, I expected the Fury to have a little bite to it. But to my surprise, the Fury is quite drinkable. It is what Jason would call a "chewy" beer because of the chocolaty, malty flavor, but it goes down easily. The fruity aroma also produces a raisiny flavor, yet the Fury is smooth stuff. I found that I had to slow down because I was drinking it a bit too quickly. Because of this smooth quality to the Fury, I found myself thinking of Spaten's Optimator, which is a KOTBR favorite. While the Optimator is a lager, the Fury is a pretty similar beer in my book, but is perhaps slightly fruitier in nose and taste.

My rating for the Fury: a solid 4 mugs.

So, Shallo's--you rule. Your beer selection rules. Jim Schembre and World Class Beverages rule. And unless things change soon, Shallo's is the undisputed heavyweight beer selection champion in the Hoosier State. What's more, Shallo's wears the title extremely well.