Mikkeller Big Worst Barley Wine

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

Serve in Snifter

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375ml bottle from Batch 1, 17.6% ABV. Consumed at about 1 year of age. The body is a hazy, dark, dusky looking orange-amber color with a hint of a golden glow. A small beige blanket sits at the head, quickly settling to a thin outer ring. Thick, drippy sheeting coats the glass with its sugars, slowly forming a scant few small, rounded spots. The aroma is big and boozy, no way around that at nearly 18% alcohol. Despite that, there is a good amount of depth, as notes of dried, concentrated fruits emerge. Apple reduction, dried dates, and oily citrus rind hops all make a showing, accompanying sugar glazed nuts, caramel, and candy sugar. Flavors are again quite fruity, showing a reduction of sweet blonde fruits, golden raisin, dates, and a bit of acidity from apple sauce. Caramel goes toe-to-toe with bittersweet orange peel. There’s definitely a huge hop billing here, though it has alot of sweetness to overcome. Surprisingly, the palate comes off as big, but not huge. It’s only lightly syrupy, with low to moderate carbonation, but it comes across as more of a sticky-dry consistency. Obviously this is a once is a blue moon type of treat, more apertif than beer, but it is fairly enjoyable in ultra-small quantities.

375mL bottle, Batch 2. Poured crystal-clear honeyed golden with a short-lived off-white head. The aroma was strong as expected.. no doubt about that.. warm honey, vinous notes, and figs in there, with black pepper and light floral accents.. boozage on the back of the nose came across as something between mead and Port wine.. intriguing. The flavor found more honey than anything else at the core, with molasses and vinous notes also playing major roles.. peppery and assertive on the boozy finish.. not much room for hop influence, as the syrupy sugars and alcohol fought for the attention. Heavy-bodied and syrupy as mentioned on the palate.. low carbonation.. this was hot, but it carried its huge ABV quite well.. it was a chore to drink the whole bottle, but I enjoyed it.

Bottle First Batch. Frothy white fair mostly deminisihing head. Amber colour. MOderate malty and hopy aroma. Exstremely vinius. Alcohol just present. Average moderate bitter and sweet flavor. Long powerfull moderate bitter finish. Creamy palate.

Draft at Red’s. Poured a clear gold color with an off white head. Distinctly fruity nose with plenty of ethanol. Smelled of pear liqueur with a hint of banana candy. Medium bodied and sweet with low carbonation and a warming (burning) alcohol effect that ascended into the nasal passages ala Vick’s VapoRub. Pear liqueur, vanilla cake, subdued caramel, and light banana flavors. A little fierce for me, but interesting.

Bottle. Clear dark yellow with almost no head. Sweet apple and vanilla aroma and taste with a sugary finish. Tastes like a huge apple cider.

Sampler at CBF 2011-05-27. Clear golden with no head. Spicy Belgian yeast, esters, alcohol and banana on the nose. Heavy sweet, alcoholic, fruity and malty flavors. Full body, alcoholic warmth. Dry finish.

Draught at Copenhagen Beer Festival 2011. Golden colour with a small white head. Aroma and flavour of alcohol, fruit, caramel and malt.

Bottle @ home. Burgundy, Dr. Pepper colored appearance with really no head. Strong, sweet, berry, vinous, boozy nose. Strong, boozy, sweet berry, incredibly malty flavor with a big warming finish. Not really my cup of tea.

Aroma is grapefruit, citrus, candy. Pours a very transparent light orange. Flavor is very much fruity hops. Very tropical fruits, mango, orange, pineapple. Alcohol burn is minimal, surprisingly. Very juicy, malty center. Good hop finish. Surprisingly drinkable and hoppy for a barleywine of this magnitude.

This has a hard to detect aroma, maybe mint or paint?? Very pale for a barley wine, golden with red highlights. The flavor has a very noticeable alcohol burn to it, with some heavy malts and hops behind it. At the beginning I didn’t care for this but it sort of grows on you, its subtle in that the alcohol dominates initially but the depth of it is in the pale malt.