I don't know why, but I expected a beer called Mars to be red. I know, this is a DIPA, not a red ale, but that's what I expected. Instead, this is a copper colored beer with a sticky white head with big bubbles and the lacing is tremendous. The aroma is citrus and bread dough. I don't mean like bread or like biscuits or anything else. If you had a handful of wet bread dough in the middle of being kneaded, you would know what this smelled like.First sip is snappy. It has the citrus and then there is some pine kind of adding a special twang. The bitterness is very prominent, but it's still not entirely off-putting. The malt is kind of like flour in the air, and I actually found myself coughing lightly as it hit the back of the throat, it seems so dry.
Tip-in is grapefruit and mango with a bread base and carbonation highlights. The middle is a little pine added to the citrus and the bread becomes more doughy; it is at this point that the unusually high alcohol content also becomes clear. The finish is bitter hops of the pine and citrus variety with earthy undertones.
Bottom Line: Solid and complex, this is a good beer from a company that also makes fantastic beers.
3.75/5
