Uranus (The Magician)
Bell's Brewery - Eccentric Café & General Store

Uranus (The Magician)Uranus (The Magician)
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From:
Bell's Brewery - Eccentric Café & General Store
 
Michigan, United States
Style:
Black IPA
ABV:
9.5%
Score:
93
Avg:
4.17 | pDev: 6.71%
Reviews:
127
Ratings:
622
Status:
Retired
Rated:
Jul 04, 2021
Added:
Jun 28, 2014
Wants:
  53
Gots:
  154
The sixth release in our Planets Series, Uranus, is a Black Double IPA. It is also our first large release of this style of beer. The hop profile is enormous and complex with help from Citra, Galaxy, Polaris and other hard to find hops. The use of de-bittered or de-husked black malt lends color without the overly astringent or roasty flavors normally associated with stouts and porters. Don’t let the illusion of The Magician deceive you. Dank, tropical, stone fruit, citrus, floral and pine hop characteristics with a touch of light chocolate are all revealed.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by HiWire:
Photo of HiWire
Rated by HiWire from Florida

4/5  rDev -4.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Jul 30, 2015
More User Ratings:
Photo of feloniousmonk
Reviewed by feloniousmonk from Minnesota

4.14/5  rDev -0.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
2016 notes:

I haven't been on top of this Bell's Planets series as well as I wish I had been. But I don't haunt the stores with much frequency or regularity, either. If I don't need any beer, I don't go shopping. Which was how I fall out of the loop on stuff like this. I've had Mercury, Venus and Mars, but missed out on Saturn and Jupiter, and now finally I am about to taste Uranus. And then Neptune. (What did you think there should have been a joke back there? I didn't.)

So, here we are, planet # 7. Big gas giant. Discovered in 1787 by William Herschel. Has five moons, Miranda, Puck, Oberon, Ariel, Titania. Coldest of all the planets. I'd like to visit, from a distance, but wouldn't want to live there.

And Bell's Uranus The Magician, for the sixth movement in Gustav Holst's Planets symphony, is a Black Double India Pale Ale. 9.5% by Vol. Let's drink it.

Fully ebon, with a vast, long-lived tan head, looking proud and beautiful.

Aroma: malty, hoppy, sweet, smooth, complete and bold. This is so many things, blended marvelously into one. Mmm!

In the mouth: Chocolate meets grass, hoppy bite plus malty sweet and succulent. Big, rich, chewy. Bold, full, large in body and flavor, with a persistent hoppy bite. Never too bitter, though, Like the musical piece, it's bombastic, almost garish and a little bit loud, but never less than harmonizing and never far from melodic. Spills over in places, but mostly keeps it together and drives it's message home. Damnably delicious, and deceptively strong.
Jul 04, 2021
 
Rated: 4 by MJSFS from Florida

Dec 07, 2019
Photo of GuyFawkes
Reviewed by GuyFawkes from Illinois

3.75/5  rDev -10.1%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
Bottled 5/24/15; drank 6/19/15 @ the Yarchives.

Brown appearance.

A rough pour yielded a huge tan head; a thick curtain of tree-rung lace.

Fresh orange citrus & faint milk chocolate notes in the nose.

Medium mouthfeel.

Orange citrus flavor up front; roasted coffee & mild bitterness on the finish. As this warmed, faint booze heat emerged.

Nice enough, but not very memorable.
Nov 18, 2019
 
Rated: 4 by Griffith from Connecticut

Jun 07, 2019
 
Rated: 4.25 by dafla67 from Pennsylvania

Jul 13, 2018
 
Rated: 4 by Eziel from Ohio

May 01, 2018
Photo of macrosmatic
Reviewed by macrosmatic from Florida

3.57/5  rDev -14.4%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5
Reviewed from (very long-standing) notes. I didn't specifically date the review, but the bottle was consumed about a month after the beer showed up on shelves in Florida. Poured from 12 oz. bottle into a Russian River pint glass.

A: Pours essentially opaque and black, with a foamy two-finger tan head that has average retention. Minimal visible carbonation.

S: Pretty low amount of aroma for a DIPA. Resin, chocolatey malt sweetness, and a touch of grapefruit rind. That's it. Disappointing here.

T: Chocolate, both dark and baker’s. Citrus pith and sticky resinous hops. Bitterness from both the hops and malt roastiness. A touch of roasted coffee, vegetal hop bitterness, and ethanol burn. It finishes nearly balanced with residual sticky chocolate malts and alpha bitter. Meh.

M: A nice heavy body, although the alcohol seems somewhat overly prominent. Low carbonation sensation.

O: Thoroughly disappointing, though not a terrible beer. Overly boozy, and underly hoppy – there’s more alpha-bitterness than hop flavor here. Just a disappointment…though, to be fair, about equally as disappointing as the other few Bell’s Planet series I've had. I'd tell you not to seek it out; but honestly, I’d probably tell you to avoid it unless the completionist in you (or the 12 year old laughing at "Uranus" like me) objects to missing out. A big fat meh.
Jan 20, 2017
 
Rated: 3.5 by Hayley_86 from Netherlands

Dec 25, 2016
 
Rated: 4.51 by Blackop555 from Michigan

Dec 16, 2016
 
Rated: 4.19 by MI_beerdrinker from Texas

Oct 17, 2016
Photo of Jadjunk
Reviewed by Jadjunk from Georgia

3.53/5  rDev -15.3%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5
"This is one of a seven part series inspired by Gustav Holst's musical composition, "The Planets." Strap in and embark on a flavor tour of our solar system - in the order of Holst's piece, Mars to Neptune." Brewed in the style of an American Black Imperial India Pale Ale. Available in 12 oz. bottled 6 packs and on limited draft.

Poured from a 12 oz. bottle to a tulip glass.

(Appearance) Pours a foamy frothed head of a sandy tan color over a black body. Retention is good and lacing is light and patchy. 4.25

(Smell) Chocolate malt, caramel grains, bread malts, soft black patent bitterness, delicate fruit and moderate hop bitterness, generating aromas of vibrant fruit, trace citrus and delicate pine. Potency is moderate. 3.75

(Taste) Bread malts and caramel grains with subtleties of chocolate and roast, but a hotly exposed graininess throughout. Finishes grainy and sharp with a strong hop bitterness, yet no discernible hop character. The initial impression is jarring, although with some time and warmness the beer comes around slightly for the better, with the graininess fading out somewhat. 3.25

(Mouthfeel) Texture is slick, silky, lightly oily, moderately dry. Carbonation is light, generating a light frothiness and a lightly crisp finish. Body is medium for the style, medium+ overall. Balance is slightly grainy and hoppy bitter over sweet. Alcohol presence is moderate and there are no off characters. 3.75

(Overall) One of those bottles that hid deep in the cooler for well over a year, there isn't much left to speak about in The Magician. Pretty grainy and sharp malt characters with a shallow malt profile and no remaining hop flavor, although the bitterness is still there. No doubt this was a more enjoyable beer a year back. 3.5

Bell's Brewery, Inc.'s
Uranus: The Magician
3.53/5.00
Oct 01, 2016
 
Rated: 3.99 by Mista_Carta from California

Aug 19, 2016
 
Rated: 4.43 by InfragilisBrew from Illinois

Jul 20, 2016
 
Rated: 3.77 by biggoon16 from Indiana

Jul 10, 2016
 
Rated: 4.23 by goblue30 from Michigan

May 28, 2016
 
Rated: 4.6 by Alphazon from Michigan

May 02, 2016
 
Rated: 3.77 by DanGeo from Michigan

Apr 03, 2016
 
Rated: 4.25 by red94tt from Michigan

Mar 25, 2016
 
Rated: 4.25 by brittanylicious from Indiana

Mar 06, 2016
Uranus (The Magician) from Bell's Brewery - Eccentric Café & General Store
Beer rating: 93 out of 100 with 622 ratings