Bell's Planet Series: Saturn - The Bringer Of Old Age
The fifth release in the Bell’s Planets Series is strong, robust and complex. Saturn is a bourbon barrel aged barleywine loaded with notes of toffee, caramel, oak and vanilla that finishes with a warming touch. The first beer brewed for this series, Saturn has been aging in casks since July 2014. True to its name, this beer is well suited for vintage aging.
3.8
189 reviews
Comstock, United States
Community reviews
Bottle share, thanks Darrel. Copper orange, thin ring of head. Nose is sweet, oak, vanilla, honey. Something says Graham cracker... Taste is sweet, rich. Honey and vanilla. Great beer.
Bottle... Pours clear and amber with a small, creamy, white head. Great retention. The aroma is an awesomely fantastic mélange of vanilla, caramel and toffee with a light kiss of cinnamon. Medium to full-bodied with busy carbonation. The flavor doesn’t live up to the promises made by three aroma, but isn’t shabby. It’s malty and minerally with a balanced finish. Enjoyable. Bottle supplied by darkguardian!
I always make the mistake of not pulling these bottles out of the cooler with enough time for them to warm around the edges a bit. On the other hand, I can experience something like a barley wine or imperial stout from the very beginning and enjoy the changes as it opens wide to my senses. This Saturn starts out at 42 degrees. Faint caramel and vanilla are tough to find, even with my nose buried in the snifter. I’ll let it sit.
- At 53 degrees, I take a deep breath and inhale the sting of caramel and vanilla laced bourbon. With the right temperature, there’s sweet biscuit in the aroma; something right out of the oven; soft and warm. The beer is the hue of watered down bourbon, the head a blasé beige and the 98 pound weakling of beer foam, but it does rise a bit with a deft swirl. The body is crystal clear, and I can read my comments here through a full glass. Its translucence seems like a bit of an anomaly.
- All that being said, the deScription of the flavor is consistent with the aroma; a mild caramel and oak with shades of vanilla and a hint of bourbon, and this is quite lovely. It’s not going to be my favorite barley wine, but it’s a nice beer in a barley wine style. The body is slightly sticky and moderately thick; not so that it contains the shy liveliness of the carbonation and it plays gently with the tip of my tongue. A mellow experience and one I would definitely have again. This doesn’t pack a punch in flavor, it’s gentle, playful and slow. This is a night by the fire, a breathy whisper in your ear and a crooked smile directed right at you.
- If you haven’t tried it, try it. I know what I like. Do you?
Bottle shared by Marcus. Pours light brown with no head. Taste is roasted malts with a sweet bourbon finish.
Tasting at Matt’s
Amber color, small head. Smelly footy puckery boozy bourbon aroma. Oily mouthfeel, strong, sweet, boozy, with woody astringent final.
Unpleasant.
Bottle from Locke’s. Pours orange brown with a modest beige head and a fruity aroma. There is a full-bodied toffee flavor with a dry bitter finish and a warm alcohol trail.
Bottle shared by Marcus. Pours clear copper with a slight beige head. Aroma of Kraft caramel (not the chocolate version). With a touch of heat! Thick and full bodied. Flavor is caramel with a little bitter hop and some vanilla. Finishes with nice oak astringency. Good stuff.
Sample at the Far Out! Space Tasting #2 on 10/01/2015. Hazy copper-orange color with a thin foamy white head that diminishes steadily. Short strings of lacing on the glass. Aroma of oak, dark fruit and malt. Full-bodied with flavors of oak, caramel malt, raisin and vanilla. The finish is boozy with an oaky and fruity aftertaste. Pretty good overall.
12oz bottle to snifter. Flavors of toffee, caramel, oak and vanilla. Finishes with a little heat. Great dessert beer.
12oz bottle, courtesy of JPDurden24, pours with a clear copper body that supports a light tan head of foam. The aroma offers up inviting molasses, toffee, some vanilla, smooth bourbon booze and some spicy oak. The taste starts with a blend of vanilla and spicy oak flowing into boozy bourbon and sweet molasses mixed with a mild marshmallow sensation. To midway it picks up a thin sweet toffee sensation but the booze and bourbon just steam roll right into the finish. Pretty nice but the barrel character basically crushes the beer notes.
Aroma is barrel, vanilla, toffee, caramel, light hop presence, nice. Appearance is like apple cider, off white head. Taste its vanilla, barrel, lots of booze, caramel, toffee, hops. Mouthfeel is booze, harsh carbonation, medium carbonation. Overall, this is decent but very boozy.
think nathan provided this .. caramel, toffee, dirty undies, and bread crust with sugar burnt .. . we are strong warriors .. . mouth is rounded, warming effect .. nice but below the mark .. .
. Describe yourself in three words:
1. Lazy
Bottle. Heavy to harsh roasted and caramel for the malt, moderate orange for the hops, light to moderate dough, leather and broth for the yeast, with notes of raisin, date and brown sugar. Head is small, wispy, off-white with some slippery lacing and is mostly diminishing. Color is dark orange/tan. Flavor starts heavily sweet and lightly acidic, then the long finish is heavily sweet and moderately to heavily bitter. Palate is medium to full, oily with a soft to lively carbonation, and finishes moderately astringent, heavily to harshly alcoholic and quite mouth coating. A big and bold Barley Wine, a bit harsh in spots, but mostly an enjoyably complex beer.
12 oz. bottle, pours a hazy dark amber orange with a small white head. Aroma brings out notes of vanilla, caramel, oak and a touch of bourbon. Flavour is quite hot, with loads of bready malt, some bourbon, oak and caramel. Loads of bread on this, along with heat. Seems quite overrated, with the booze taking over. It’s okay.
Bottle - Caramel and light butterscotch notes with a touch of stone fruit. Cloudy gold with a small head. Sweet caramel, butterscotch and a ton of heat.
12 oz bottle. Pours a hazy, dark orange color and topped by a small layer of off white foam that slowly fades to a thin film and leaving streaks of lace that show nice legging on the glass. The aroma shows notes of dark fruits, toffee, toasted caramel, bourbon, and oak laden vanilla. Big, boozy, and malty without a doubt. The flavor follows with more dark fruit, sweet and toasted caramel malts, toffee, raisins, and boozy bourbon. Oak laden vanilla comes through on the back end to add more depth. Medium bodied with balanced carbonation that leads to a lengthy sweet, malty finish with plenty of boozy warmth. Really well done and tasty barrel aged barely wine.
12 ounce bottle. Pours a somewhat hazy orange color with some red hints, a medium white head. A big fruity caramel, burnt toffee, berry nose. Big sweet vanilla, bourbon is clear and fits into the big malty base, sugary, toffee, some brown sugar. Light strawberry. I think this would age very well. A bit of oxidation would work fine with this. 1.5 or 2 years probably peak.
Bottled 4-3-15, consumed 9-21-15, so I waited a minute to rate this. Pours what would be a largely clear orange-crimson with a dense sediment suspension and a smaller khaki head that quickly settles to a ring and film, leaving some spots and splotches for lace. Nose involves vanilla, whiskey, butterscotch, charred oak, sultanas, coconut, dates, some wafts of alcohol, touches of earth and pine, hints of stone fruit, and rich fruitcake. Pretty sweet but not overly so, fairly bitter. Full bodied, soft toward limp, quite oily, finishing lengthy with toasted oak and warmth. A nice sipper, though perhaps lacking some dynamics.
Bottle from total wine. Nose is lightly buttery with hints of toffee. Not much malt complexity. Taste is a moderate booziness with some vanilla. Moderate alcohol warming. Just a strong and sweet beer aged in barrels. Not much chewiness or complexity. Just wet and boozy. Some pepper as well. Meh
Bottle shared by Tom - thanks! Hazy copper orange pour with a small foamy head. Oak, sweet caramel, some booze, vanilla - quite tasty!
12oz bottle shared. Hazy copper pour with minimal head. Strong boozy aroma with some raisin and sweet notes....reminds me of a boozy quad. Taste follows with a little heat at the end. Very good.
Pours a dense and slightly murky orange amber with two fingers of sandstone head. Nose shows sharp oak and bourbon with rich and dextrinous malt. Dark caramel and toffee with raisin, alcohol, and some oxidized malt notes. A bit sharp in the flavor. Tannic oak and sharp booze from the barrel. Rich dark fruit and toffee. Medium full bodied with a bite on the finish.
The Planets series with musical accompaniment. Golden / amber body with a small collar. Sweet malt, oak, fruity esters. Tasty, with some warming alcohol in the back.
355 ml bottle from Nathaniel Square Corner Store, in Rochester (NY). Pours a hazy dark copper colour with a small beige head. Aroma is syrup, caramel, alcohol, some dark chocolate. Taste is similar. Delicious!
Bottle. Orange amber with a short white head. Aroma is very boozy and sweet with toasted malt, coconut, vanilla and caramel. Taste is big bourbon notes with vanilla, coconut notes, toasted malt, caramel, sweet malt and alcohol. Body is medium with a strong, bubbly carbonation. Slightly dry during the finish with a strong boozy warmth. Ends with more bourbon, vanilla, coconut, toasted malt, light cake notes and caramel.
Dark burnt orange. Smells great, there’s a lot going on with this one. Certainly vanilla and raisins and there dark fruits on the aroma. Like a dessert with a lot of pale malt ,caramel, vanilla, white chocolate.
12oz bottle from trade with umich03jm. Thanks, Jason! Held on to these so I could do the whole series together. Pours orange brown with an off white head. Aroma is quite nice. Honey, toffee, bourbon. Flavor follows, nice and smooth with honey, toffee, vanilla, bourbon oak.
Bottle thanks to Willrunforbeer. Dark Amber color. Aroma has a very nice bourbon element with toffee and oak.
Flavor shows a nice warm lingering bourbon flavor that gives the pleasing warming after the swallow. Alcohol is here but not in the flavor. Mild vanilla and mild coconut with toasted grain and the caramel / toffee is not syrupy. I still love the hell out of this style. For me above average overall.
Poured from bottle thanks Willrunforbeer for the Ratebeer Camp extravaganza. Pours nice caramel color with a fizzy white head. Aromas of toffee vanilla oak and alcohol. Taste is somewhat boozy medium sweet with nice caramel and toffee notes.
Loads of toffee, caramel, vanilla, oak, and a significant amount of alcohol heat. Needs a lot of aging and not sure even that will help. Uncomplimentary flavors, distracting heat, and heavy bourbon influence. Meh.