It's not always fun and games here at BrewChief.com, no matter what the police reports might lead one to believe. There are days as a beer reviewer when things can actually get pretty daunting. You find yourself sitting there with a glass full of beer that you have to figure out how to describe, when all you can think about is how hard it is to drink or how terrible it tastes or what an overall catastrophe it is. But fear not my friends, because today is not one of those days. Today is a good day. No, scratch that. Today is a great day. Today is a Bell's Brewery Day. Today...is a Bell's Porter day.

In the glass, Bell's Porter has an opaque brown coloration that allows for a few highlights of ruby red to peek through when held up to a very bright light source. The head is a light latte color, and though it doesn't have much of a retention rate as far as volume goes, it does leave some nice spotty webbing throughout the session. Getting your nose in the glass allows you to pick up on some clearly distinct layers of cocoa powder, chocolate and coffee. With some patience, fresh buttered biscuits, toffee, and sweet yeast can be found. If you are really careful, you can pick up on just the slightest hint of hops laying buried beneath everything else, and at times a tiny hint of fruit seems to pop up on occasion just to keep you on your toes.

When you go in for the first taste of it, you are instantly reminded that the people at Bell's Brewery not only know what they are doing, but that they are masters at it. The mouthfeel is almost velvety, with just a bit of a hops tingle on the tongue from start to finish, which does a good job of keeping all of the rich flavors from becoming too overpowering. There are no surprises as far as the malt flavors go, with the flavor train following very close to the nose. The cocoa powder is right up front, with the coffee coming through just a bit more noticeable than the dark chocolate. There is a bit of an earthy taste laying just beyond the malt flavors that comes really close to a chicory flavor, and it works surprisingly well here. The hops come through only at the very end and add just enough bitterness to keep things in balance, as well as add to a very crisp finish.

At this point, nothing about Bell's Brewery making a delicious beer surprises me. Actually, I think the only way they could surprise me would be if they somehow managed to make a bad, or even mediocre beer. They just seem to ''get it'' when it comes to making awesome beers, and the Bell's Porter is another great example of them doing just that. All levels of drinkers should add it to their ''Must Try'' list. The more experienced drinkers could really enjoy it as a highly drinkable session brew with plenty of character and flavor, while those new to the game get a chance to continue crossing over with a beautiful example of a higher level bridge beer. Personally, I'm just glad this review is almost over. Now I can go drink another one. And another. And...another. Be jealous. It's justified.