Bells Mars Double IPA

The Bells Planet Series was something I found enjoyable and underwhelming all at the same time. In most cases, I remember something about each of the beers I tried. I remember sitting with my wife drinking Venus, while she cringed through each sip. I looked at her confused because somehow the bizarre blend of ingredients in a blonde ale worked for me. I remember being excited at the price of Saturn for being Bourbon Barrel Aged and then disappointed the more I drank of it. I remember sitting quietly after a long day of work drinking a Uranus and thinking it was a really great Black IPA. Then I remember reading the list of ingredients for Neptune and wondering what the brewing process for that was like. I imagined the brewers were looking at a list of every adjunct they had on hand and saying 'dump it in”. With the laundry list of adjuncts in the beer, barely any of them stood out in the flavor. Still, I thought Neptune was a good stout. I never got around to trying Mars: The Bringer of War because it was sold out every time I tried to buy a bottle. As you can imagine, I am thrilled Bells decided to brew it again and give me a second chance to try it.

Right off the bat, I loved the beautiful reddish-orange color of Bells Mars Double IPA. In beer form, it seemed to perfectly match a photo of the “Red Planet”. The aroma was nice, but from it I knew  I was in for a big beer. Huge notes of grapefruit, resinous pine, caramel malt, pineapple and candied orange stood out with a nicely. The first sip started out with a nice caramel malt sweetness before a massive rush of citrus and pine. Notes of pineapple, orange, and mango complimented those flavors before giving way to a sticky pine, grapefruit rind, slightly spicy, dry, boozy finish. When I say boozy finish, I mean it. The 10.1% is not even remotely hidden. I like a little heat on the finish but this was a bit too much. Still I thought Mars was a fairly good Double IPA, it's just nothing memorable. By the end of my glass, I was happy I only purchased one bottle. It's definitely on the syrupy side and that began to wear me down the further I got into the beer. I am happy I was able to try Mars, but I can't say it is something I could or would want to drink another bottle of.

Overall I would rate Mars a 3/5. I'm glad I got to try it and I hope to see other reissues in the future from this series.

Rating Scale:
1 - Repugnant and undrinkable
2 - Acceptable but forgettable
3 - Good, worth a purchase
4 - Excellent, a step above the norm
5 - Truly Exceptional. Drop everything, BUY IT NOW!

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Thanks for reading. Sláinte!