The Collegian

Issue date: 11/5/09 Section: Down the Hill

Media Credit: Maria Schmitt

Media Credit: Maria Schmitt

The entrance to the café and bar at Bell's Brewery is around back, past a long, artistic bike rack and through a quietly decorated door.

Just inside the threshold, patrons are greeted by a wall of beer-related license plates and a small staircase dropping down into an eclectic, cozy and inviting café.
The café and bar at Bell's is aptly called "The Eccentric Café."

The café and bar opened in the early '90s, while the brewery was founded in 1983 by Larry Bell, who is still very involved in the business.

One wall inside the high-ceilinged, stone-floored café is covered in framed insects - giant things that look like they should be in the jungle, not Kalamazoo, Mich.

The wall above the bar boasts a giant map of Africa; another, faded paintings of rural countryside.

Patrons may choose their own table and order food and drinks at their leisure; the bar's servers do not make rounds throughout the restaurant.

On Halloween, employees behind the bar and in the retail shop sported costumes (including one very accurate William Wallace) and the menu boasted four specials.

The Eccentric Café leaves it up to the visitor to order and pick up their food from a small window next to the bar. Drinks and food are purchased together and the whole café is cash only, with an ATM conveniently located just inside the entrance.

The menu struck me as small, but each item's price proved very reasonable - especially the specials, which hovered around $6.

I ordered the shrimp pasta special with feta cheese, tomatoes and basil, which arrived in perfectly-portioned bowl adorned with three pieces of garlic bread.

The first bite of pasta was cold; it was a rather unexpected twist to the meal and threw me off at first, but I eventually warmed up to it, pun intended.

With my pasta I enjoyed my first brew of the day, the well-known Two-Hearted Ale, an India Pale Ale (IPA) that was delicious and not overly-strong, or hoppy, as most IPAs can be. It was light, refreshing, and a great way to start my tasting.

The café/bar had 12 beers on tap Saturday, ranging from porters to IPAs to an Oktoberfest brew. Beers can be purchased in either 12 or 16-ounce options. I chose 12 ounces so that I could taste more beer for less money, and the portion was perfectly sufficient for tasting and enjoyment.

The infamous orange-labeled Oberon was still available, but only in bottles.

The brewery's bar and retail manager, Jason Reicherts, said the brewery always keeps 12 beers on tap and varies them often. On Sunday Nov.1, the café hosted "All Stouts Day," serving 14 different brews.

"We've never done that before," Reicherts said. "We had a good, successful day. It was amazing."

The best part of my visit came when I tasted a brew whose name describes exactly its smell and taste - the Golden Funk.

Fellow brew-tester Joel Vanderworp, a Hillsdale senior, accurately described the Belgian pale ale in this way: "It smells like a delicious swamp."

Indeed, the beer didn't smell like beer at all but rather, weakly of a rotting pond with a whiff of something delicious behind it.

The beer's golden color deceived me; it tasted like Christmas - spicy, cinnamon-y, full of flavor.

Reicherts said the brew caters more to those who understand its specific process - wild fermentation - and will expect its flavor.

"The people that know about it and can appreciate it really dig it," he said.

John Mallett, the brewery's eight-year production manager, said the brew was a six-man effort. The brew underwent wild fermentation, a process that allows non-cultured yeasts and bacteria to take the brew through the fermentation process.

Among the fermenting agents: lactic acid, which adds sour character, green peppercorns and galangal, a plant similar to ginger.

"It was the first time we made that particular beer," Mallett said. "We used some pretty interesting, generally uncommon herbs and spices."

The brew crew will continue to work on the beer in hopes to perfect the recipe.
Sadly, this specific batch of Golden Funk will only be available for another four months or so - and only on tap at the Eccentric Café. Be sure to call ahead to see if it is on tap that day, as the bar rotates through approximately 60 different beers each year.

Other beers enjoyed by my companions last weekend were the Mild Ale and the Red Nose Extra Special Bitter, which was at first bitter but then had a fruity, berry aftertaste.

After satisfying ourselves in the café, my friends and I wandered over to the brewery store, which offers much more than the average T-shirt. Biking wear and a collection of bottle openers are second only to the massive home-brew supply area in the back where adventurous (and perhaps slightly tipsy) beer-lovers can plan their own recipes.

"We have the ingredients and equipment to set people up for basic brewing or to start a small brewery in their garage," Reicherts said.

The shop also features a walk-in cooler where patrons can mix-and-match six-packs and purchase mini or large kegs of a favorite Bell's brew.

The one-and-a-half hour drive to Kalamazoo will definitely not hold me back from attending Bell's again at my earliest convenience.

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