Mikkeller Monks Elixir

Mikkeller
Brewed at De Proefbrouwerij
Style: Abt/Quadrupel
Copenhagen V, Denmark

My Bottom Line:
Dried fruit of all kinds thrive within the molasses-laced chocolate as warming alcohol and bready yeast sweep into a finishing wooden hop bitterness for a healthy and most generous Quadrupel.

Further Personal Perceptions:
-A generous layer of foam stays atop the heavily-sedimented dark brown.
-The dried fruitiness is redolent of black cherries and dates.
-Dextrins are levelled throughout, helped towards a valiant big-beer mouthfeel.
-I wish I had another bottle to age longer. A little maderization will surely be gorgeous for the aroma and the flavor profile could gain from being more cohesive. But this beer’s already very satisfying for the style as is.

Bottle; 19/03/11 was written on the plastic cork.

Thick, creamy, beige head leaving a fine lacey film above dark brown beer, fully opaque. Very fruity nose with background hints of both chocolate and coffee. Dark, ripe fruit as plums, grapes, but also peaches and medlars; alcohol and some serious fusels. Fruity, sweet background malts at first, followed by serious bitterness, on the verge of metallic. Bitter dark chocolate, overripe plum, pipe tobacco. Long bitter, chocolatey aftertaste. Full bodied, velvety MF, hint of alcoholwarming. Rich ideosyncratic Mikkeller brew: overhopped, powerful. Aromatically speaking fruity-estery, but flavourwise, the full bitter chocolate dominates.

Bottle, thanks Marsiblursi. Brown colour, with a thick, yet diminishing light brown head. Almonds and dough in aroma, as well as chocolate and canned fruits. Dewy and fresh. Very smooth in mouthfeel, yet vineous and full-bodied with candi sugar/syrup, X-mas spices and chocolate. Full bodied, and pretty complex.

Bottle. Body-dark almandine body with a medium patchy ring of bubbles. Nose-raw, leather, sweet metal, tobacco, wheaty, licorice, brown sugar. Taste-abrasive, low sweetness, odd, raisin, light cherry, starts off rough and abrasive but gets better as it warms. Has the typical Mikkeller low key flavor profile that is hard to describe (like a mix of metal, berry, apple, cherry, must, and unrefined brown sugar). Kind of thin and light smoke.

Tap, Olfestival. Clear redbrown color, short brown head. Aroma of caramel malt, cookie, some roasted notes, candy sugar. Good strong taste, quite sweet from the candy sugar, nice mix of caramel and roasted malt, some dried fruit even. Slight alcoholic palate. Reminded me of the Pannepot.

Bottle. Spicy, woode, light milk, cherry. Red cloudy, golden head. Spice - nutmeg, wood, cherry pits. Mellow mouthfeel. Spicy aftertaste. Almonds retronsal.

For me this one seemed like it was going to be great and then fell down. Pours mahogany with a bit of a small tan head. The aroma has buttermilk biscuits, dense semi-sweet toffee, vanilla and cream - very nice. It has a medium body that is on the sharp side. The taste begins with thick alcoholic malt, some acidity and lots of burn ~ this was nothing like the aroma. The finish has more burn and is on the medicinal side.

750ml bottle, as Monk’s Brew. Cellar aged for about 8 months. Nose is comprised of dark, sweet malts and dried fruits, full and estery with notes of raisin, date, black cherry, dark brown sugar, cookie, milk chocolate and faint licorice. Deep, dark mahogany color, mostly clear, with a very fine head. Flavor is similarly sweet and fruity, some cocoa and dark bread up front, turning fruitier and showing hints of alcohol before the very lightly bitter, warming finish. Lingering suggestions of watermelon and peppery spice. Mouthfeel is smooth, somewhat thin, coating and low in effervescence, body is quite full. Very quaffable for the strength, and a good attempt at a Trappist style overall, even if it lacks the mind-numbing complexity of the world-renowned brews that inspired it.