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Bells have filed all the paper work ness. and have been approved to start selling again in Illinois.
They are using the name "Kalamazoo" (though underneath it states "Bottled by Bells Brewery") and will be distributing a pale ale, red ale, porter, and stout. They should be in Illinois by the first part of December.
I know Sam's will be carrying it.
I love having one more excuse to venture up to Kenosha, but now my excuse just has to do with New Glarus.

EDIT: Just saw this posting by Larry Bell:
Bell's is currently in negotiations with two wholesalers to bring beer into Illinois. These two wholesalers would cover a very specific territory and distribution would not cover the entire city of Chicago. Initially, a handful of draft accounts will be started. At that time we expect to be sued by National Wines and Spirits of Indianapolis to stop distribution. The Executive VP of NWS has told me he intends to make a lawsuit as lengthy and as costly as possible. It will be up to the judge. So.. we may be back as Kalamazoo, we may be back as some other name, or we may not be back at all. Thank you to all who have been driving to Woodman's and others in WI, IN and southern Michigan. Just stay tuned as this thing plays out.

Larry Bell
President
Bell's Brewery, Inc.

I certainly do hope you just failed to mention they will also be distributing one of the best IPAs made. If not, they must just be looking to punish Illinois

Jamie

I have to say, one of the questions I had when I heard the news is if they will be changing any of their recipes/formulas. As a brewer, I trust them for general quality but it sure would be nice.

Where was that posted?

EDIT:

I found the posting on Beer Advocate

There is a robust discussion of this issue going on there.

I have to agree that if Two-Hearted (or a Two-Hearted clone) is not one of the offerings, that would be sad indeed. However, this may be a calculated part of Bell's legal strategy. When I spoke with someone in the industry a while back, he said that when the new distributor picked up the Bells distribution rights, it informed Larry Bell that it was planning to distribute Two-Hearted and Oberon only. Note that those two beers (or styles of beers) are absent from the list of beers to be reintroduced.

I take that comment on the IPA back. Note the "Brewed especially for the people of the great state of Illinois" on the back label.

Labels (from U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau searchable label files -- with a big tip of the hat to the BA thread referenced above):

Front:



Back:



Larry Bell rocks.

Awesome. Though, those 2 Hearteds won't taste quite as sweet in MI anymore.

There was no "new distributor" for Bell's because NWS never sold the rights to anyone. NWS tried to sell the rights but Bell's decided to pull out instead. But I am excited that Bell's is coming back.

Thanks for the clarification.

I think LB's strategy is to bring in 3 completely new beers with 3 new names and new labels under a new brand and logo. You will still have to travel out of state for a two-hearted ale. An interesting legal strategy, will it work? I wonder who will dare distribute it, when doing so, almost assures being named in the NWS lawsuit? If and when it hits the shelves, I will buy a few cases, gambling on it becoming a collector's item when NWS gets an injunction against Bell's halting distribution.

I was thinking I would do the exact same thing. Also, I would really want to taste the Kalamazoo IPA next to two hearted to see if he really did develop a whole new recipe for this scheme, or it is simply packaging.

All that being said, I am going to Wisconsin next weekend and hoping to find the Two Hearted keglets that Bell's was supposed to produce (like the Oberon keglets they put out each summer).

What has your experience been with those little keglets? I had a (regular, half) keg of Oberon for a party this past summer. I wanted 2-Hearted but Oberon is the only keg made available outside bars/restaurants according to the relevant MI distributor. The draft Oberon was markedly tastier (hoppier) than the bottled stuff, which always tastes like the entry-level Bell's to me. It made me wonder if I'd find the same to be true of the little kegs. Now I'm even more interested, given the 2-H angle.

I'd like to know how many hours or days the mini keg can hang around before the beer turns. I was this close to picking up a growler of Dead Guy at the Jewels yesterday, but held off for the same reason. I don't need an excuse to (literally) race to the bottom of a big jug of high-octane suds so I don't waste it.

I find the keglets to have closer-to-draft quality than the bottles, but it is not the same as having a true keg. I am with you on draft Oberon being better than bottled. The keglet is somewhere between the two.

I have always gotten them for times when there are enough folks around to finish the keglet the day it is opened, so I have no experience with how they hold up up day two, day three, etc. With Two Hearted having a considerably higher alcohol content (7.0%), I am going to either need more people if (I am not sure I will be able to find one) and when I have one of those keglets, or I will find out how they hold up over multiple days.

I also have to admit, I just like the novelty of them. They are a fun way to have good craft beer at a gathering. My understanding is that the Two Hearted fish wraps all around the keglet.

Of course, when I told this to my wife (who is a good beer lover as well) with great excitement in my voice about the fish on the keglet, she replied "Really? You are excited about a wrap around fish?" To which I replied, "Well, its Bell's."

Thanks! If you do score the 2H keglet, let us know how it is. And if you need help, I'm sure some kind of BBQ or Thai meeting can be arranged with LTH volunteers.

Oh, and by the way, when I was at Kuma's a few weeks ago, I noticed a car with MI plates, Kalamazoo and Bell's stickers out front. I'm not suggesting any particular conclusion. Would be nice, though.

It has been ages since I have had one of those mini-barrels but from what I remember you pump them to keep the flow going, no? If so you probably want to get through them in one sitting. Once oxygen is introduced it will degrade a beer fairly quickly.

Jamie

Of course, it is most likely a fellow Bell's enthusiast, but it is nice to dream.



Actually, it is just a matter of twisting the top to break the seal and allow air to flow. It all works on gravity, which, now that I think about it, definitely speaks to finishing it in one sitting. Oh, the crosses we must bear...

Bells is good, but frankly we have a wonderful selection of beers in the area that doesn't make me think that we really need to get Bells- there are plenty of good wheat beers to compete with Oberon, their flagship as well as many of their others.

I WOULD like to see Stone here though! Arrogant Bastard is such a drinkable beer with some flavor and punch. I've got a few bottles of their various anniversary beers in my wine fridge I think (I think those made it out from DC)

The fact that you consider the seasonal Oberon to be Bell's flagship beer, indicates you may not be that familiar with the brewery's offerings. I really dislike Oberon (and most other wheat beers except gumball-head), and I am not very fond of Bell's Amber Ale, but their 2-Hearted Ale is my favorite beer, and my standard for all American Pale Ales. In my book, along with many other hop-heads, 2 Hearted Ale, named for the river in Michigan's U.P. where Ernest Hemmingway would go fishing as a youth from Oak Park, is Bell's flagship. No other beer comes close to duplicating the complex flavor and texture.

The Bell's Lager is also a wonderful example of the once ubiquitous Midwestern lager style that was available from a dozen, now shuttered, Wisconsin breweries. The Cherry Stout (made with Michigan cherries) is an excellent malty yet tart dessert beer that pairs well with anything chocolate. Many of their other specialty beers are notable also, like the doppelbock, Hopslam and Oktoberfest.

Chicago's love for Bell's goes beyond the products themselves. Bell's was the first Great Lakes regional micro-brewer, and played a big part in the rebirth of beer culture in Chicago. Larry Bell personally cultivated the Chicago micro-brew market. Without him, there may not have been a Goose Island or 3 Floyds, or even a Hopleaf, for that matter. While some of Bell's products seem a little mainstream now, when they were first introduced, they were revelatory. Yeah, it would be nice to be able to get some of Stone's fine brews, but do we really need yet another California brewery distributing in Chicago? The return of Bell's would be like welcoming the return of an old friend.

Well said. When I returned to Chicago from Seattle in the late '80s I found the beer situation to be pretty pathetic (it's still far from great). Goose Island had just started and frankly their beer wasn't very good. Bell's was one of the few bright spots in the entire Midwest. I remember Larry Bell delivering kegs of stout to Sheffield's. Back then Sheffield's and Quencher's were nearly the only places with decent craft beer selections. Quencher's remains a good place to drink and also deserves a lot of credit for its part in reintroducing quality domestic beer to Chicago.

I can hardly wait to have Bell's back.

There's an article in Crain's today that sheds a little more light on this subject. They also reveal the beers Larry Bell hopes to bring in. I'm intrigued by the idea of Royal Amber Ale -- what makes it royal?!

What's wrong with the Chicago beer situation? If you have a car you're a short distance from some great brewpubs in Three Floyd's, Flossmoor Station, GI, Piece, and others. Despiste a crappy distributor situation we have a pretty strong selection of national and regional craft beer as well as international beers available at large chains like Sam's and Binny's as well as great small stores like West Lakeview Liquors, Lush, and others. The Chicago area has one of the best beer scenes in the country!

this simply isn't true. Yes - the part about getting beers, imported or not, from the large chains (as well as the little guys whom i only support) is true. Every large city has these offerings.

But to say that the chicago area has one of the best beer scenes in the country is going a little far.

Goose Island, while good, is nothing to write home about. The accessibility to craft beer is increasing because peoples' standards for beer are probably rising (unless this is just a fad). Stores like Binny's and Sam's carry a lot of different beer - but how many of them are both:

a.) spectacular
b.) locally produced?

chicago doesn't have a beer situation. If you want to drive out to the burbs to Two Brothers, great. If you want to drive down to Hammond to go to Three Floyds, great.

Other'n that, you've really got nothing that great. cities like Portland and Boston laugh at chicago. On top of the fact that the distribution laws make it so it's really hard for local breweries to distribute product.

As much as it kills me to say this - Chicago's beer situation is pathetic.

Isn't that a little severe? I'll admit, other than GI, and the specials at Rock Bottom, there isn't much brewed within the city limits, but what about Flossmoor Station, Mickey Finn's, and others? And if you know the right people, you might even get a chance to sample some of the excellent brews from the Buckapound brewery (inside the city limits).

Sure, there may be other cities with more robust brewing scenes, but to describe the scene her in Chicago as "pathetic" ... that's just pathetic.

I simply do not agree, and Three Floyd's is in Munster. When I think of Chicago I don't only think of the city limits, but even so there are great beer bars and stores in the city of Chicago itself that sell great beer from all across the country, regionally, and locally.

Thanks for the belly laugh. Do you work for Bell's?

The Goose was brewing long before you could get any Bell's products in Chicago. Local distributors wouldn't touch his beers for years, especially with its terrible inconsistency in the early years.

BTW, the lawyers are waiting for Bell and his "in your face" return. You can't just slap a new label on a beer and think the former distributor won't retaliate. Bell won't win.

Well, I don't have a car but that doesn't stop me from visiting Three Floyds and Flossmoor every chance I get, though it's a real pain. Even with a car both are about a 60 mile roundtrip drive from downtown (not ideal after sampling). Flossmoor is accessible by Metra but that's a minimum of an hour and a half on the train plus the trains are infrequent (an hour apart in the evening, two hours all day Sunday). Still, I do it because both are better than what the city has to offer. This is precisely one of the things I had in mind when I said the Chicago beer situation is not great.

In the city proper there are three brewpubs and one of those (Rock Bottom) I personally don't care for. One for every million inhabitants seems too low to me. Other Midwestern cities like Louisville and Indianapolis are better served (and I don't mean proportionately; the absolute numbers of brewpubs are higher than in Chicago). I'm excited about Revolution Brewing but that sounds like it's at least a year away (if it opens at all).


I don't disagree that the big stores do a decent job stocking a variety of bottles but I wish there were more stores that cared. And a large stock isn't everything; proper storage is important too. I've lost count of the times I bought undrinkable, improperly stored beer from supposed specialty shops.

The beer selection in most bars leaves a lot to be desired. We're lucky to have places like Hopleaf, Map Room, Quenchers and Clark Street Ale House and I visit as often as I can. What I find lacking at most neighborhood places is a decent selection of fresh, local draft beer (I long ago tired of Honkers Ale). This is where I feel the absence of Bell's most acutely. Why is it so rare to see a Three Floyds tap other than Alpha King (or even more rarely Gumballhead)? How many taverns serve cask conditioned ale via hand pump?


There's a fair amount to like about the Chicago beer scene but it should be so much better, especially for a city this size and with such a great brewing heritage. Every time I visit Seattle I'm reminded how far we have to go.

So, chicago's beer scene isn't bad, even though there are only a couple places you can tell me to go and the other one i have to know the right people? And how many of those (GI, Rock Bottom, Mickey Finn's) are really noteworthy?

common....travel to the west or the pacific northwest and tell me you have to know the right people to get your hands on massive amounts of good beer.

Let me rephrase - Chicago's beer scene, imo, is pathetic.

Compared to the West or Pacific Northwest, yes, it's awful. I couldn't believe how great the selection of beers was in Seattle at any average local convenience store or bar. Beer lover's paradise.

I don't think Chicago is bad, though. I'd say it's pretty middle-of-the-pack as far as major American cities go. There's lots of room for improvement, though, and it has been getting better. I'm seeing cask conditioned pulls at more and more bars that aren't the standard beer bars (Map Room, Quencher's, Village Tap, etc.) I was at a joint called Tuman's the other day and they had Alpha King on a hand pull.

So, I think we're getting there. And I do hope Bell's comes back. They are my favorite brewery, period, with Three Floyd's a close second and perhaps Dogfish Head a third.

And, hell, I love Goose Island, too. Their Bourbon County Stout and Imperial IPA rank among my favorite beers--I'd say they are among the best examples of the imperial stout and imperial IPA style. (Beer Advocate ranks the Bourbon County stout as the ]22nd best beer in the world, ahead of any Bell's brew, and the IIPA as #74.) Ratebeer.com rates Goose Island as the #11 best beer brewer in the world. (Bell's is #3, which I agree with).

I don't necessarily agree with all the ratings, but I do agree with the fact that GI is a world-class brewery. If you've never been to the pub on Clybourn or never have tried any of their specialty beers, I don't think it's fair to diss them. We should be proud of Goose Island. They do brew some spectacular beers, but they also brew some very variable ones, like their flagship Honker's Ale.

312 is also incredibly average. I do agree with most of your post, however. GI makes their best beer in-house and they keep it that way which is both a good thing and a bad thing in my opinion.

Like i said earlier, i think peoples' standards for beer are going up (unless, of course, it is just a fad, but i don't think so). Craft beers are definitely becoming more popular - and hopefully we'll see more integrated locally.

Chicago's beer situation is getting better, no doubt. We do have good options - but i think i did need to put a qualifier on there that i forgot to - we, as chicagoans, have to remember that we're the 3rd largest city in the U.S. (and L.A. should really count since it's laid out like a HUGE suburb, so we're like 2nd ). For the second largest city in the country - we should be able to say a lot more for our beer. And we can't.

With the size of our city, the history behind it, the various culture, we should be a beer lovers paradise but we're far from it to a terrible degree.

I really hope bell's is coming back. I went to Michigan last weekend for the Michigan/OSU game and got some Two Hearted. That is such a beautiful beer i can hardly drink it knowing that i cannot get it anymore here in Illinois.

I agree (then again, the American wheat style is not my bag). But it is a crowd-pleaser, and a good beer for large parties with people whose tastes span the spectrum. It's kinda like Fat Tire in that respect. I don't particularly like it, but exactly the kind of beer I would bring to a party because it doesn't seem to be actively offensive to anybody in particular.



I suppose, but I also don't think of, say, New York as a terribly great beer town either, and it's at least twice the size of Chicago. When I think great beer towns, I think West or Pacific Northwest. I don't really think there's any sort of correlation between the size of city and how many local breweries and varieties of beer available they are.

Interestingly enough, this article has New York and Chicago tied as the #9 best beer city in America.