Mikkeller 黑 / Black

Mikkeller
Brewed at De Proefbrouwerij
Style: Imperial Stout
Copenhagen V, Denmark

Pitch black pour with a thin brown head. Rich aroma of chocolate, molasses, fruity esters and roasted malt. Good flavor of chocolate, molasses, fruity esters, roasted malt and strong bitterness in the end. The body is medium with a vinous texture and gentle carbonation. Very good.

Bottle about 1.5 years aged. Pitch black body with absolutely no carbonation or head. Aroma is like pinot noir but also has some balsamic vinegar and dark chocolate. The alcohol is still noticeable in the nose though I’d hoped it would have subdued by now. It starts off with a wallop of sweetness and alcohol. The sugary sweetness is almost unnatural and the alcohol is mostly noticeable due to the burn in the mouth. A coffee roast dominates at the finish and in the aftertaste. It’s very thin on the palate and the lack of carbonation doesn’t aid this at all. I can’t envision a scenario where this would be en enjoyable choice.

App: Small brown head, colour black as night, some lacing. Ar: Soy, smoke, burnt wood, alcohol, charred coffee, heavily roasted malts and brown sugar. F: Mother......!!!! This is intense! Sweet sugar, coffe burnt so bad that it would be as licking directly at my espressomaker, fruity and crazy heavy roasted malts, then the alcohol mercilessly attacks your tastebuds! I like it! M: Thick, oily, sticky and very smooth. T: What a ride!!

Draft @ Blind Tiger. Black pour with brown head. Whiskey, coffee, paint thinner, and a bunch of etoh warming. Slightly better on draft then bottled.

Bottle. 2009 vintage. Pitch black with a surprisingly big beige head that actually shows some retention and leaves nice lacings. The aroma is almost cloying with lots of fumy solvent-like alcohol notes. Rich fruity notes, powdered cocoa, chocolate, burnt coffee, brown sugar and heavy roasted malts. The flavor is just ridiculous. There’s big intense alcohol notes everywhere and it’s massively sweet in the mouth. Sugar, alcohol, molasses, alcohol, cocoa, alcohol, dark fruits, alcohol. Big roasted aromas, espresso, raisins... and alcohol. The finish is hot and warming and thankfully quite bitter with notes of salt licorice, burnt wood, brown sugar, solvent-like alcohol and death. The massive flavors and aromas are accompanied by an equally massive body and creamy smooth texture. Thank good this one is carbonated. Intense, but I kind of like it. If good and the Devil were to brew a beer together, the Devil would tranquilize God with this one in order to brew whatever he wants.

On TAP at ChurchKey DC. Courtesy of Travlr. Thanks!! Pours used motoroil black with a thin, yet sort of rocky deep brown head that has excellent retention and lacing. EricE and I were discussing how a lot of these imperial stouts have such a high alcohol content that the alcohol thins out the body turning the beer more akin to whiskey or bourbon rather than a thick, viscous syrup that you would expect. Think of Dark Horizon 2. 16% abv but super light bodied and thin- nearly watery on the palate. But this is a little different. The flavor is absurdly malty, roasty, with lots of coffee liquor. Because it is light bodied from all the alcohol thinning it out, it takes like an incredible cappuccino. The beer is light and fluffy on the palate with some oily whipped cream and buttery goodness. It is really incredible and simply hilarious to drink and behold. I tried this with two novice beer drinkers who both loved it! I have heard that the Hei out of the bottle is undrinkable so I lucked out finding this on tap.

Easily the worst beer I’ve ever tried, knocking off the WWS ’02 by a large margin. At no point was this beer even remotely enjoyable, except for the hilarity of how bad it was. Disgustingly sweet with loads fusel alcohols and enough burnt plastic to make a fire in a Fisher Price factory jealous.

Drank this at an ultimately low point in my micro career. $5/bottle due to an inaccurate price system. Only one, unfortunately. $13.99+ otherwise. Insanely fresh. What a shame. It was like ink. The thickest of the thickest. Smelled quite nice. Flavor was a sense overload. Just huge. Flavor was quite savor able- though I did NOT savor. And it was extremely heavy, but for a cheap price point, I would say was WAYY drinkable from a geek perspective. WHY THE FXCK does Mikkeller charge so MUCH?!?! Need to look up my original rating. Which may not have been so generous. But this was a great, big, beer indeed.