Mikkeller 黑 / Black

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

(Preface: I’ve been wanting to try this one for a long time. Let’s see if this is all that I’d hoped for.) Pours an oily black with no head or lacing and little apparent carbonation. Aroma is profound: Can’t hide the booze, no surprise, but other characteristics are apparent; Dark fruit, unsweetened chocolate, espresso all on the nose. Wow, flavor is strong, tarry yet fruity, chococlatey, high-quality espresso again, and booze of course. Just makes my neck and shoulders shudder with every swallow. The booze overpowers, which is something you usually don’t hear me saying. That is not to say that it isn’t delicious. Palate is oily, liquidy, could’ve been more carbonated, though likely not possible with the rest of the package. More of a novelty; I mean, even if I could afford it, I couldn’t see myself drinking this everyday. But I’m still glad I got it, tried it, experienced it. I will have this again sometime. Overall, excellent. Thanks Mikkeller.

Bottle. Pours black with a really dark head. Smells of chocolate and roasted barley. Complex taste with notes of chocolate and roasted barley, alcohol is quite present, it is a little over powering for me. A little much for me, but I can still enjoy it.

Used this beer in a beer and food session. Great with blue cashel cheese, fresh acidic goat cheeses. The beer is very strong in bitters and the acids in food will solve this one dimension aspect of the beer. Solo it’s even a bit boring. Witf food exciting.

Thx to Henrik. Black sirope-like beer with a very dark head (never seen such a dark head by the way). Siropy, roasted, porto, coffee, mokka and dark fruits in the nose. Very complex taste with at the end an overwhelming alcohol warming and a very nice bitterness.

Pours almost like black syrup. Beige head, mostly lasting. Lots of aroma, dark, roasted, port, alcohol. Flavor is heavy sweet, warming alcohol, a bit sticky too, chocolate, coffee, yeasty. Syrup texture. Soft carbonation.

Bottle. Poured midnite black. The nose was sweet, and boozy. Definitely a beer to sip, 6oz took me almost an hour. Flavor was also sweet with obviously lots of alcohol. How do you hide 17%? As it warmed the burnt flavors became more prominent, and easier to drink. I liked it, but would order and drink carefully. Very strong bite in the finish.

Makes a better chili than a drink. The beer pours to a deep brown/black body with a thin brown head. The aroma is like a super alcoholic light espresso stout. The flavor is super concentrated with charred black malt. Tons of fusel alcohol. The palate is super sharp with tons of alcohol and nasties. Fuck me, this is bad.

Bottle. Rich and intense, lots of licoricey flavours, with some dark chocolate, heavily roasted malt. Tarry mouthfeel, with a lot of alcohol noticed in the finish. Packed full of flavour but perhaps a little OTT for me.