Bell's Planet Series: Mars - The Bringer Of War
The first release in Bell’s Planet Series, Mars (The Bringer of War) is a double IPA with a complex hop character and a malty backbone. Notes of tropical fruit, citrus, pine, lemon, lime and pineapple are all present in both the aroma and flavor. Hopped at a ratio of about 3.4 pounds of hops per barrel, the recipe for Mars was developed from a trial batch called Larry’s Latest Double IPA brewed in our original brewery located adjacent to the Eccentric Café in downtown Kalamazoo.
3.8
327 reviews
Comstock, United States
Community reviews
Bottle. Tropical fruit hop aroma with notes of grapefruit, pine resin and caramel malt. Pours opaque caramel colored with a large tan head that has excellent retention and some lacing. Starts with caramel malt and tropical fruit hop flavors. Finishes dry with grapefruit and pine resiny hop bitterness that lingers on the palate after each sip. Good, but would like to try a fresher one.
Bottle@ 5.24.2017. Clear amber body with lasting ivory head. Pine, grapefruit, juicy fruit aromas. medium body. Big grapefruit, pine, tropical flavors with some malt sweetness to balance--big boozy drying finish__ good
a true double IPA at 10.1% abv; deep amber color; lots of citrusy hops in the aroma with some herbal notes; strong, dank, citrusy, fruity hop flavor with herbal note; slightly sweet, bready malt with some light caramel notes; a bit of warm alcohol
Amber color with a short lived off white head. Huge tropical fruit and sweet citrus hop nose. This is a big, chewy, alcoholic hop bomb. Great pineapple, tropical fruit and citrus hop flavors with caramel and a warming alcohol finish. Nice IIPA
Pours hazy reddish gold with a leggy off white head that foams nicely. Aroma is steeped in roasted caramel malt and a dip in the dank tank. Taste has depth but balance seems a bit off. Very focused on sweet caramel and German malts and dank pine hops with boozy finish. Citrus is subsumed a bit until the aftertaste. An inventive effort, but a bit muddied - though this beer opens up with warming.
Orange pour tight head. Aroma is resiny with large malt. Flavor is sweet malt, dried fruit and resiny hops. Medium body with with smooth carbonation. solid beer btl 4/13/17
On tap at City Works. Golden pour, nice head and good lacing. Fruity aroma. Deep boozy fruity flavor. I could have been convinced this was barrel aged. Super delicious and well balanced. It super hoppy. Well done.
Bottle. Pours a reddish amber color. Aroma and taste are citrus, pine, sweet malts. Very balanced.
From tap. Pours hazed orange amber with a frothy off white head. Full aroma of tropical fruit snd pine. Flavors are grapefruit, tangerine, thick sweet malt. Slightly syrupy texture. Long lingering bitter orange finish with an alcohol hit. This one’s a big dog for sure.
Truly one of the best double IPAs. Strong yet clean finish. A beer deserving and worthy of the name Mars.
Bottle from State Line, PKG 04/13/2017. Nose heavy pine and caramel, dough, a little spice, sweet. Pour rich reddish amber with a large and dense foamy beige head. Taste is very sweet, very rich, strong dough, strong and slightly singing alcohol, booze getting up into the grape areas, foamy and lightly soft full body, not all that crisp, quite heavy caramel and pine. Don’t know if there was more fruit two months ago, but there isn’t all that much right now. Still getting some melon, tangerine, aloe in with the other notes, lightly green/vegetal. Mouthfeel is very fine and Bell’sian, clean, concludes with a ringing finish of perfume. [2017.07.04: 3.1]
Bottle. Holy perfect beer. Rusty and ruddy orange, with a giant head. The aroma is downright angelic, rife with rich hops and seduction. The beer drinks with an incredibly well-balanced full-on malt basis and generous, well concocted hop recipe. This is some exceptional stuff. (#6676, 6/27/2017)
pours a cloudy orange gold with a thick beige head. Floral citrus aroma. Thick oily mouth feel. Pleasant bitter from start to finish with some orange citrus and tropical fruit notes. The bitter slowly fades after the finish. A good double IPA.
Bottle (12 oz) shared with JulienHuxley. Slightly hazy orangey-golden with a medium off-white head leaving some lacing. Aroma is of pine, alcohol and a bit of citrus. Taste is harsh with pine, alcohol, citrus, spicy malts and medium bitterness. Medium to full body. Medium-moderate carbonation. Oily mouthfeel. Piney and warming finish. This is quite swilly, I don’t understand the high ratings on this one.
Bottle shared with Tom, bottled April 7th 2017. Clear copper pour with thin white head. Aroma is malty, leafy hops, caramel, pine resin. Taste is sweet, boozy and bitter. Wtf is wrong with you guys? Are we in 2017? This beer came out less than three years ago and you still make it average 3.85 definitely not up to a modern standard of IIPA.
Beautiful amber golden pour with a nice tight white head and a lovely aroma of tropical and floral hops. The taste includes more malt than I expected, but it’s kinda nice because of it, but it makes the bitterness on the backend maybe a little more present than it needs to be. Overall, definitely a good DIPA.
Copper pour with great big off white nose. Big dank fruity nose. Flavor of apricot, citrus, pine and touch of bread. Great mouth feel and alcohol is well hidden.
Bottle.
A- Dank, grassy, pine, apricot, papaya, mango, citrus.
A- Orange color, clear liquid, off white head.
T- Caramel, pine, citrus, mango, bitter.
P- Full body, average texture, average carbonation, bitter finish.
O- Shockingly not aggressive at all. Now, there is still plenty of bitterness but it’s not abrasive at least. Tons of dank tropical fruits on the nose. More caramel malt as it warms. Not really my thing but I could appreciate it.
Cloudy orangish amber with a white head. Aroma is orange, grapefruit, citrus, caramel, alcohol. Medium bodied, moderate bitterness, alcohol present, orange and PNW hop flavors dominate. Some similarities to hop slam but this isn’t nearly as good.
Mars has a medium, off-white head, a semi-opaque, orange appearance, bubbles, and not much glass lacing. The aroma is of some apricot, some dankness, some strange sauce notes (marinade?), and bread. Taste is of quasi-barley wine, bordering of turned fruit, low bitterness, and lots of booze. Mouthfeel is medium, and the finish is mostly dry. RJT
Bottled. Pours amber with a very pretty head and sticky lace. Grainy, malty aroma with an herbaceous hop aroma. Uncomplicated but big flavors, malty with a good bit of bitterness on the full finish.
Bottle. Moderate to heavy roasted and caramel for the malt, moderate cooked orange, light to moderate soap for the yeast, with dates, fig and brown sugar in the background. Head is small, frothy, off-white, with good lacing and good legs, and is mostly diminishing. Color is slightly hazy copper. Flavor starts moderately to heavily sweet, then finishes moderately sweet and slightly bitter. Palate is medium to full, verging on syrupy, with a soft carbonation and a lightly astringent finish. Not really my style of DIPA because of all the malty sweetness, but it is a well crafted beer nonetheless.
Slightly hazy medium copper with a lasting white head. The aroma has a strong alcohol presence, with pine, resin, grapefruit, orange, caramel, and the familiar Bell’s yeast character. There is a lot of sweetness upfront, that is slowly balanced with bitterness, but the alcohol keeps this a bit boozy. Hop flavors nice throughout.
Tap at Barcade. It’s Humongous. Pours copper unclear. Big and malty sweet, a lemony tea flavors.
Bottle pour..bottled about 2 months ago, pours a golden orange tinted hue with 1 finger worth head, active carbonation rising, looks slightly hazy, nose is familiar but new after not having many West coast dipa in some time, first aroma is malty bomb, takes a bit off then getting some booze infused dried apricots, some other fruit, but the malt does return with some sticky sweetness, surprisingly quite medium bodied on first sip with little notice of 10 and, but there is some heat at conclusion,this is an interesting double to say the least that is a hybrid of many ipa styles n profiles, ok, however glad I only picked up 1 bottle of this, cool bottle cap as well, which will be kept in the collection...
Good double IPA. Well balanced citrus hops with a smooth finish. Overall a great brew.
Cloudy amber color. Medium-sized, off -white head. Pine , tropical fruits and caramel malt in aroma. Same notes in taste. Lasting, bitter aftertaste. Heavy body with moderate carbonation.
Finally get to try this. I love the theme. thin fading head. Aroma is a blanced hop citrus in nature with California hop balnced focus. Very much a red malt forward focus. A nice beer overall. Easy blance.
Draught @ 4th Avenue Pub. Cloudy dark orange with foamy off-white head, faint orange peel aroma, high carbonation, initial faintly sweet taste turning bitter soon with grapefruit flavor, smooth body, long bitter finish with a harsh throat burning ending as befitting the bringer of war!
Amber hues, decent white head, touch of lace. Nose is floral and malty. Bitter. Middle is carmel malt, orange marmalade, bready body, pinch of alcohol. Finish is warm, little boozy.