Mikkeller Big Worse Barley Wine Red Wine Barrel Edition

Mikkeller
Brewed at De Proefbrouwerij
Style: Barley Wine
Copenhagen, Denmark

Serve in Snifter

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Pour ruby red, with a small fizzy carb. Aroma of dark fruits, malts, caramel, and oaky, red whine-bitterness. Taste is pretty sweet, with some bitterness in the aftertaste. Medium bodied, with a slight fizzy carb.

Bottle, 12%. Unclear amber/copper with small tan head. Aroma is malt, fruit, caarmel, wine and dark fruits. Flavour is malt, sweet, caramel, toffee, little wine, little rip fruit, little bitter and a little vanilla.

27-APR-2012, bottle @home, from "Ølbutikken". Red/amber with lasting beige head that laces. Nose is tart almost sour-like with oak’y notes, alcohol, red wine, berries. Very dry. Taste is much the same. Not much big worse lesft. Dry, red Wine like and fantastic. Lovely. Even more so ón warming.

Rating #728, bottle from Toft Vin. Brown beer with a small and dissapearing head. Excellent aroma od vanilla, chocolate, coffee, cocoa, moisty wood and alcohol. Flavor of vanilla, hops, a touch of red wine, wood, smoke, citrus and it is quite dry as well. Finish is roasted and warming with a bit alcohol, smoke and wood. Nice bitternes. One of the most complex finishes I’ve witnessed so far. Could be sweeter and less dry. Nice carbonation but could use just a notch of more sturdy body. Really great beer all in all, though.

Draught at Mikkeller Bar, Copenhagen
Cloudy dark amber and ruby color. Wonderful aroma, the classic malt of the Bad Worse merges perfectly with light red fruits, berries, and very light vanilla and oak. Strong malt and caramel flavor, evident but not excessive sweetness, some vanilla, with a mild note of red fruits and light acidity; the strong bitterness is maybe a clash here; there is some expected alcohol warmth; light impression of nuts too in the final.
The wine barrel adds an interesting note, but it’s not very cohesive, and doesn’t stand up against some best examples from memory (Fish Tale…).

37,5 cl bottle from ØlKonsortiet. Pours deep ruby red with a nice off white head. Aroma is very spicy and very dominated by the barrel treatment - I'm thinking a spicy Temperanillo. Unripe red grapes, oak, sour red currants, raspberries. The classic barley wine characteristics if caramel and dark fruits are completely absent and have been replaced by a wealth og ripe red fruits and berries. A brief hoppiness when it's swirled. The taste is quite perplexing. The barrel is also the main attraction here, and it seems that it as brought some brettanomyces into the beer. A bit funky and then just full of unripe red grapes, red berries and then an astringent side to it, spicy and red wine-ish. This tastes more like a strong Belgium brett infused ale with raspberries aged on spanish wone barrels than a barley wine. But I quite like it. Very unique and interesting.

Dark rusty red color, fairly big cream head. Aroma is quite sour, actually, like a well-spiced spanish red wine. This is balanced out by some sweeter stuff like strawberry and grapes. The oak is quite strong and adds to the sourness. Lots of red currants and some raspberry. The whole thing is surprisingly belgian. Very interesting. Upon incessant swirling, the aroma reveals a cautious hop presence. Taste has the same fruity and sour characteristics with a strong sweetness. I haven’t tried the original Big Worse, but from what I hear it is quite hoppy. This is quite the opposite. Perplexingly, really All the different elements balance out neatly, rendering this beer entirely enjoyable.

Draught at Mikkeller Bar. Hazy orange-reddish with virtually no head. Aroma is intensely woody, slightly tart, quite sugarcoated malty, with notes of caramel, toabacco, red wine barrels and hops. Flavor is rich and sweet, medium bitter with strong notes of oaky barrels, toabacco and wine grapes. Long lasting finish with quite an alcoholic touch. Complex, dificult to describe.

375mL bottle, split with Matts_Property, pours a dark mahogany with a small beige head. Aroma brings out the red wine barrels, with loads of caramel malt, raisins, dates, figs, candied sugar and booze - quite hot. Flavour has been nicely massaged into a dry vinous dominated one, with dried fruits, toffee and booze. Dry, vinous, boozy palate, with a sort of muted aftertaste. Excellent.

Bottle. Dark amber beer with a tan head. Caramel and red wine aroma with oak and vanilla. Caramel and light toffee flavor with oak, earth, and vanilla. Medium-plus bodied. Caramel and light fruitiness lingers with oak and earthiness.