Mikkeller Monks Elixir

Corked bottle.
Pours a nice, thick mahogany with a heft beige head. Aroma is Norse Nut, which is the aroma I will henceforth give to the scent that is a sweet, buttery nut in a northern European beer. Hints of toffee and Butterfinger in there as well. Flavor is a Norse-esque buttery toffee nut, with hints of raisin and dark cherry. Nice mouthfeel; full, coating, and thick. An interesting quad; not what I would expect but something I wouldn’t mind having again.

Bottle. Poured a hazy brown color with an average frothy brown head that mostly lasted with excellent lacing. Moderate to heavy toasted malt, caramel, chocolate and small alcohol aroma. Medium body with a smooth sticky texture and flat carbonation. Medium to heavy chocolate sweet flavor with a medium to heavy sweet finish of moderate to long duration. Solid complex brew.

Brown with a tight off white head. Aroma is raisin, alcohol, yeast, malty, caramel, brown sugar. Taste is light alcohol, raisin, prunes, caramel, yeast.

I just don’t know about this one. I think what sticks to me most is the price I paid v. what I got in return. A solid enough brew, but nothing that wowed me and for the price, I was looking to be wowed.

Pours a deep brown with a perfect medium beige head. Aroma is full of cinnamon, brown sugar, spice, gentle malt. Smells sweet, smells good. Flavor repeats the aroma theme, and adds cream, yeasts, and a touch of hop. Not as sweet as anticipated, which is just fine in this case; there’s enough going on anyway - very complex. The alcohol is pretty evident, surprisingly; usually Mikkeller isn’t known for that (except in the case of Black, of course). The mouthfeel is just average, a little thin for the style, but decent overall. Okay, so it’s not one of the Big Three (Westy, Bernie, Rochefort), but it is an easily likeable and accurate impression of them and the style. Pretty authentic and not a bastardization, in other words. In the end, I could dig this over and over. I would rank this 4th in all the quads I’ve had thus far, above De Koningshoeven/La Trappe and the others. Easily. Overall, excellent to world class.

A dark brown colored beer, with a thick beige head. The aroma of dark malts, with coffe candy with some chocolate. Some sweetness with spices. The taste of dark fruits like prunes and raisins. There is chocolate bitter with some sweet. The aftertaste is bitter with a little sweet and chocolate.

BB 04-14. Pour is a hazy, sediment-filled, chestnut-maroon color with an average, foamy, beige head which diminishes to a thin, lasting layer and leaves tight lacing. Nose is quite pleasant with a nice fruity tone of figs and dates, plenty of spice notes and a warm, toasty note reminding me of cinnamon toast, caramelized notes, and hints of chocolate. Flavor is very similar with a plenty of malt notes and complementary fruit; cinnamon toast is again quite prominent, some chocolate richness reminiscent of chocolate cake, dates, raisins, dark caramelized sugars, faint anise, and very light hints of mild Kona coffee in the end. The yeast is great lending some nice fruity notes and some bready/cake-like notes. The palate is good but not as full or chewy as great abts; nearly full, soft to lively, velvety, and surprisingly not warm. Finishes with mild bitterness from the faint coffee notes, the chocolate which is almost dark chocolate-like now, and maybe some mild hop bitterness; other notes of spicy cinnamon, toast, and cake notes lingering. Only on the very, very end of the flavor after the beer is almost at room temp do I notice some spicy alcohol notes. Really a very good abt with all the right pieces just not exceptional at one of them, from appearance to finish. A better palate and a tad more complexity would make this one truly great. But everything was balancing, the use of yeast was exceptional, and I found that every drink was better than the last. I usually like more of an alcohol presence in these biggest of the Belgian spectrum but the drinkability almost made up for it. Truly an experience from Mikkeller to imitate one of my favorite styles.

Birthday Brew! Pours a beautiful plum color with a thick white head. Sweet, fruity, candy, with hints of dark chocolate. Taste has sweet malts with the hops present at the finish. I get plenty of rasin, candy sugar, mellow alcohol, and spices. Mouthfeel is big with plenty of carbonation. Better than a birthday cake!