Bell's Brewery

Larry Bell incorporated the Kalamazoo Brewing Company, Inc., in 1983 as a homebrewing supply shop in Kalamazoo, Michigan. In September 1985, the company began to sell its own beer, brewed in a 15-US-gallon (57 L) soup kettle and fermented in open fermenters covered with plastic wrap. The company produced 135 barrels in its first year. In 1993 the company opened an adjacent brewpub, the Eccentric Café.

In 2003, Bell's opened an additional brewing facility in nearby Comstock, Michigan. The company legally changed its name in 2006 to Bell's Brewery, Inc., reflecting the name by which it was popularly known. A larger production facility in Comstock opened in 2012, increasing the company's brewing capacity from 180,000 barrels to 500,000 barrels per year.

In late 2012, the Bell family repurchased all stock held by outside investors, returning the company to full family ownership.

The company opened Upper Hand Brewery in the Upper Peninsula city of Escanaba in 2014. This brewery produces UPA (American pale ale), Upper Hand Light (lager), Yooper Ale (pale ale), Escanaba Black Beer (black ale), Upper Hand IPA (India pale ale), and a variety of seasonal and specialty brews. Initially sold only in the U.P., it began limited distribution in the Lower Peninsula in 2020. Upper Hand Brewery was sold to California-based Seven Beverages, Inc. in 2024.

In 2021, Larry Bell sold his controlling share of the company to the Japanese Kirin beverage group subsidiary, Lion, an Australia-based international producer of alcoholic beverages that also owns Colorado-based New Belgium Brewing Company.

Bells produces nine year-round packaged beers, seasonal beers, and numerous limited-production beers, most of which are Kalamazoo Exclusive beers, available only at the Bell's General Store.

Honors

Two Hearted IPA (an India Pale Ale named for the Two Hearted River in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan) has been ranked by the American Homebrewers Association as one of the best beers in the United States, in its magazine Zymurgy. They rated it #2 from 2010 to 2016, and #1 from 2017 to 2019. Hopslam, a double IPA, is very popular among craft beer drinkers and sparks a backlog of demand at its yearly seasonal release; it has also placed within the Top 10.

Availability

Bell's brews its Two Hearted IPA, Hazy Hearted IPA, Big Hearted IPA, Light Hearted IPA, Amber Ale, Porter, Lager for the Lakes, No Yeah, and Kalamazoo Stout year-round. Many other beers are sold seasonally, such as Oberon Ale from late March through September (year-round in Florida, Arizona, and Puerto Rico), Oberon Eclipse in September through February, Octoberfest in late July through October, Hopslam in early January, and Christmas Ale in November and December. Specialty stouts such as Expedition Stout and Special Double Cream Stout are released in the autumn months. Additional beers are sold on tap at its brewpub.

Bell's beer is distributed in all fifty states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

In 1998, Bell's changed the name of its flagship summer beer from Solsun to Oberon as a result of legal action by Mexican brewing company Cerveceria Cuauhtemoc Moctezuma, makers of a beer with a similar name: El Sol ("The Sun").

Bell's was temporarily pulled from the Illinois market in October 2006 when Union Beverage (its distributor to Chicago) attempted to sell its distribution rights to a competitor that Larry Bell did not trust to adequately represent the brewery's full product line. In 2007, the company re-entered the market through new distributors by creating two new beers: Kalamazoo Royal Amber Ale and Kalamazoo Hopsoulution. In August 2008, Bell's was able to return its primary brands to the area, after Union Beverage's parent company quit the Illinois market.