Mikkeller Big Worse Barley Wine

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

Serve in Snifter

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Bottled (brewed 14/08/2007)
Ruby red, small off-white head. Dark bread and dark fruits in the nose. Toffeish, liquerish palate. Fudge, dark malts and fruits and some licorice in the flavor. Finish is quite alcoholic. This is much sweeter than the original "Big Bad Barley Wine". With 12 % needs cellaring, propably beer will be more complex after 2-3 years.

Bottle. Hazy amber colour with a small creamy head. Rich malty aroma and taste with strong fruity notes. Very aromatic barley wine.

Bottle. Medium head with medium duration. Color is hazy brown. Aroma and taste are rich with fruits, berries, hops, alcohol and malt.

UPDATED: FEB 27, 2010 Bottle, generously shared by myrup. Poured with a clear, copper body, and a small, beige head. The aroma was lovely and heavy, with hops playing first violin, but givinig room for the alcohol to rinse your nose, and also to let some aromas reminiscent of the ones you find when entering a tea- and coffee-shop find its way into your nose. The flavor is heavy on the hops and heavy on the malts, balancing quite nice, but with a stinging hoppyness trying to muscle it’s way to the top. There’s also a slight alcohol burn, but it’s not very evident considering the ABV. Full, sweet body. Having tasted this one rather fresh, I’m pretty curious what some time in the cellar might do. Rating: 8-4-8-4-17-4.1. 071005

Bottle, 375ml corked. Vintage 2007. It pours with a minimal layer of beige bubbles, soon disappearing. Hazy, copper to brown body. Lightly oxidized nose with alcohol, malts and a good dash of hops. Three and a half years of cellaring has certainly mellowed it quite a lot, but there’s still citrus peel and resin. The flavor is still very hoppy, a good biting bitterness has company of alcohol warmth and a good addition of malty sweetness. Dried fruits and fortified wine. It has a lasting finish with lots of bitterness, but it’s the alcohol that stands out. The oxidation found in the aroma follows you all the way to the very end, but at pleasant levels. It’s full-bodied and quite flat, giving a nice alcohol burn. Still a lovely beer, but I think it was better fresh, and probably would have benefited from shorter cellaring. 100227

50 cl bottle from Capone’s. Turbid ruby coppery pour with 1-finger off-white head. Aroma is fruity, with berry, caramel malt, and some funky notes, along with some hot whiskey wafts. The taste is heavy malt, cherries, cognac, some hops, and funk. Complex, pretty rich palate that gets hot as it warms. Very good, but not elite.

12.7 oz bottle dated 14/08/11 on the faux cork. At first, the beer has a slightly vinous aroma. Just a hint of crushed sour grapes. This soon fades and opens into luscious notes of rich toffee and sweet sticky caramel. Apricot and peach notes from the hops. The candy sugar begins to show a greater presence on the nose as the beer opens and warms. Just the slightest hint of alcohol. Pours rich dark amber with a fluffy white head with a decent amount of sticky lacing. The flavor has lots of dry pine and citrus zest hops at first. this is quite a hoppy barleywine. There is some sweet malt presence but the hops seem to dominate right now. Lots of flavor and I think that as it ages and the hops start to fade a bit the beer will balance out a bit more. This is a very big beer. Mostly full bodied and creamy with a lingering dry finish.

Bottled. Thanks to ekstedt. Redish-amber colour. Compact, malty/fruity/hoppy aroma with delicate notes from exotic fruits and blood grape. Flavour is very much tropical fruits with big hop influence and pleasantly bitter. The residual sugars are probably toned down by the bitterness. Felt a bit dry. Good balance here. Nice mouthfeel, like jelly.

UPDATED: NOV 30, 2012 Bootle (50 cl ) from Ølbutikken, Copenhagem, Denmark. Dark reddish amber/mahogny with a small creamy off-white head. Intense fruity malt aroma with notes of mango & papaya, along with earthy and dusty yesty notes, some asperagus earthy vegetativ notes. Medium bodied with soft carbonation. An initial weetness is followedd by a firm bitterness.

Good fluffy cream-amber head over chestnut-brown beer. C- or Amarillo-like hops, quite grapey, sultana’s, vineleaf and a touch of tobacco. Bitterish, hoppy flavours, rounded by sweet (almond)cake, rosewater, lytchee. Further more fruity touches as strawberry, fruit icecream, but with a background, resiny, near-metallic bitterness. Quite slick, obviously very well-bodied, creamy-smooth; alcoholwarming in a very pleasant way. It appears quite young, and I think the little harshness in the bitter compartment might wear of with a little aging.

Bottle sampled. Pours brown with an orange hue and a thin off-white head. Aroma of caramel, floral hops, and fruit. the flavor is sweet upfront, caramel, fruit, alcohol is well masked, and finishes bitter. Great brew.