Bell's Planet Series: Mercury - The Winged Messenger

Today you get your first look at one of a seven part series of beers inspired by Gustav Holst’s musical composition, “The Planets.” The series will follow the sequence of Holst’s piece from Mars to Neptune. Today we get to see Mercury, The Winged Messenger and it is a Belgian-Style Ale.

3.2

200 reviews

Comstock, United States

Community reviews

3.0 355 ml bottle @ hotel room, Los Angeles. Bottled on 04.12.2014. Pours hazy pale golden color with a small head. Lemony aroma, mild spices and yeast, some hay too. Toffee flavor, yeast, spices and mild sweet fruits. A bit bland and boring. 4234

3.1 355ml bottle Pours clear golden with a small head. Aroma of spices, fruits, lemon and citrus. Taste is sweetish, stuffy and slightly fruity with hints of lemon and spices. Finish is stuffy, yeasty and sweetish. Decent.

3.2 35,5 cl bottle @ hotel room, Los Angeles. Bottled 04.12.2014. Aroma has grassy hops, some apricot and mild mineral tones. Fflavour has apricot, some sweet fruity tones and soapiness. A bit too foamy palate and slightly watery.

2.8 Bottle from December 2014 Meh....Pours lite orange hue slightly hazy with a small fizzy white head and no lacing. Nose is grainy husks, cereal and just boring. Flavors are pretty much along the same lines. I did a blind buy on this one since it was in a closeout bin (single bottle). Nothing much going on here, muddled malt profile, yeast is really bland. Just boring.

2.9 Very pale yellow. light head. has an old pale ale smell. a little peach and tropical fruit and a faded hop bitterness. A little fruity, faded american hops, some copper and graham cracker.

3.4 Poured from bottle thanks Willrunforbeer for the Ratebeer Camp extravaganza. Pours hazy light golden with fizzy white head. Aromas of hay straw and honey. Taste is light and has a nice belgian yeast.

3.4 12oz bottle from trade with umich03jm. Thanks, Jason! Held on to these so I could do the whole series together. Pours orange gold with a white head. Aroma is banana, wheat, a bit of pepper. Flavor is dry, wheat, pepper in the finish.

3.1 Bit of yeast, touch of honey, hint of biscuit, smidge of spice...light and refreshing but not a lot going on here. Perhaps it was too close to the sun and the flavors burned off.

3.3 Bottle - pours gold with a white head. Solid Belgian ale, if a little boring.

3.3 Bottle from Wegmans fairfax. Pours golden with a thin white head. Leaves trace lacing in the glass. Solid Belgian yeast notes on the nose and tongue. Finished clean. Solid example of style.

3.1 A little disappointing for a bells. The alcohol was low and it really didnt lend to the belgian style i like. Grassy with some hay. Yeast was tasty though.

2.8 Pours hazy yellow color with white head. Grass and cereal malt aromas. Slightly sweet and bitter grassy flavor with a hint of malt and yeast. Medium body with lively carbonation.

2.7 A fairly average Belgian, not a lot going on. Pours a bright yellow, average head. The aroma is Belgian yeast, primarily, some spice, some bread. The flavor isn’t bad, it just isn’t anything revolutionary. Bananas, slightly floral hops, etc, etc.

3.1 Kinda plain for the style. Spice notes, kind of grassy or herbacious, little bit of cilantro maybe? Just decent.

3.1 Bottle 355ml @ ChurchKey, Washington, DC Pours hazy golden with a white head. Aroma has notes of malt, yeast, dried fruits and orange. Taste is medium sweet and light bitter with a long malty, orange and fruity finish. Body is medium, texture is oily, carbonation is soft.

3.0 Bottle at Church Key, DC. A hazy pale golden beer with a small, white head. The aroma is grainy and fruity with hints of chicken farm. Fruity flavor too, grainy and with some spent grains. Low on bitterness, but it’s quite dry so that’s ok. Medium body, soft carbonation. Oranges and some spent grains in the finish. Decent, nothing more. 150620

3.1 Bottle at RIBCO, pours a clear gold with a thin white head, the flavor has a crisp light front end with some spice and banana, maybe some lemon thrown in there as well, the flavor has some banana at first but the fruit really doesn’t come through like I was expecting it to after smelling it, thin mouthfeel, not as great as I was expecting.

3.5 Hazy yellow color but not opaque.white head. Lots of carbonation and bubbles. It smells like a Belgian ale, also some lemon peel. On the sry side, some mineral flavor but the yeast stands oit. A little citrus flavor.

3.6 12 oz. bottle from Market Wines. Pours a cloudy yellow gold with a small white head that leaves a ring, island of film, and ropes of lace. Notes of pale and cereal and cracker and doughy malts, straw, lemon, faint esters, banana, grains, and mild spice. Light-bodied, with medium carbonation and a malty, lightly fruity, mildly spicy mouthfeel. Solid malt-forward Belgian ale.

3.4 Bottle. Hazy yellow with small white head. Aroma of citrus (lemon), floral hops, and slight yeast notes. Medium/light body, moderate to heavy hop bitterness, strong spicy yeast notes, and a dry bitter finish.

3.1 Great aroma of Apple and pear. Appearance is lacking with no head and light amber like watered down apple juice. Taste is sharp but very mild and not complex. Overall a easy to drink but weak beer

3.1 Aromas of bread and slightly grassy hops, with a fairly distinct skunky aroma. Maybe some basement aromas from the yeast. Fairly good sized off-white head. Light golden color with a touch of cloudiness. Taste is slightly sweet and moderately bitter. Light to medium body; texture a bit slick; average carbonation; medium bitter, skunky finish. Overall tastes more like a lager to me than a good Belgian single. Not my style.

3.4 It poured a hazy golden color with an off-white head. The aroma was of fruits, some leather, yeast, spices and nuts. The taste was of yeast, bread, grapes, nuts and spices. It had a medium body with mild lingering spice. Good stuff.

3.7 Right beer at the right time. Poured from the bottle hazy wheat yellow. Funky citrus nose with a light grapefruit tartiness. Dry on the first bite fades through sweet in the middle and finishes clear and almost like a sweet champagne.

3.6 Not sure why so many bad reviews here. Nice light Belgian with touches of hay and citrus. Like a saison. Pours orange with OK head. Light bitter finish with some grassiness. Bottle.

2.6 After savoring Jupiter, I found Mercury a little disappointing. It wasn't bad at all, but really wasn't anything special either. Just a nice crisp Belgian style ale. That's about it.

3.2 Location/Date:Bottle on 3/1/2015 split with Dave. Appearance: Pours a yellow clear. Aroma: Light lemon aroma. Taste: Light lemon flavor, light hay yeast. Palate:Light body. Summary: A decent experiment, okay brew.

3.1 Cloves, pears, a bit of sour funkiness in the nose. Appearance is pale, cloudy, bubbly, thin head stays around. Silky mouthfeel is nice, velvety. Dry palate and finish. Taste is biscuits, fresh fruit. Nice.

3.6 12 oz bottle. Pours a clear unfiltered deep liquid gold with a small white head. Lots of particles floating around. Aroma of light cloves, mild banana and hints of bubble gum. Hints of clove, banana and bubble gum in the taste. A bit watery, but a good warm day brew.

3.1 Pours a liquid straw color with a thick white head. Aroma is full of malt and fruit. Taste is prototypical Belgian. Very fruity, bubble gum, and a tad bitter on the backend. This is a nice beer.