Mikkeller Santas Little Helper 2008

Mikkeller
Brewed at De Proefbrouwerij
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Copenhagen V, Denmark

Bottled. Brownish with a red gleam. Light brown head. Ripe fruits, sweetness, vanilla and caramel in the aroma. Flavour as well full of prunes, vanilla, sweetness and marzipan. Medim to full bodied. Sweetish and warming end. Very nice.

75 cl bottle at my garage-tasting May 8th. Black color, lovely brown head. Aroma is roasted malt, dark fruit, hops, yeast and spices. Flavor is much the same, with a fine discret sweetness. A very fine mixture of fine tastes.

Pours dark brown with a finger of mocha head. Extremely sweet aroma with notes of plums, wine, cola, and chocolate. Flavor contains far less sweetness, with notes of chocolate, dark fruit, spices, and belgian yeast. Not exactly sure how i feel about this one, though it certainly isnt a bad beer by any means.

Bottle. Pours a brown nectar with a tan 2 finger head. Chocolate and coco, sweet sugar with a hint of citrus and spices. Big warming alcohol and a coco spicy finish. Good beer!

Pours deep mahogany into a trappist glass. Off-white head recedes to hug rim. Cocoa and pit fruit aromas. Sweet chocolate syrup and orange upfront turning to peppery cinnamon with a hint of hops and a nice alcohol burn in the finish.

(bottle - corked & caged 750 ml) Dark brown pour with a fluffy tan head. Aroma is spice and chocolate with lots of dark malts and sugar. Flavor is smooth and malty at the beginning with a nice flavor of chocolate and spices mixing with a light hop finish and some dark fruit sweetness.

Bottle: Poured a deep cloudy brown color ale with a medium size foamy head with good retention but minimal lacing. Aroma of chocolate malt mix with some cookie dough notes. Taste is also somewhat dominated by chocolate malt with notes of cookie dough and light dry fruits. Body is fuller then average with some filtration and good carbonation with no appearance of alcohol which is appreciated considering the brewer has sometime issues with masking alcohol taste.

This is beer making in it’s truest art-form. A great beer, but surprisingly not as spiced as I had expected for a christmas beer. I mean, it’s not much more complex than the B.G. Brunch for instance. Definite choco malts on the nose, some terry’s chocolate orange, some spiciness, followed by some good hops right at the tale end. Appearance is a as good as you’d expect from these guys. It’s amazing how you can all most tell a Danish beer from it’s head and appearance, there’s something specific about the foamy head as you swill the glass, a density and superior carbonation technique that you simply don’t see every day, a head that reforms like the T-1000 in Terminator 2. The flavour is tremendous, choco malts all the way, alcohol is hidden in ways I did not think possible, more orange but not much, some elements of Grand Marnier, and also Cointreau, elements of liquorice but right in the background thankfully, as it’s not my favourite flav when it’s in your face. Some coriander, but I have to struggle to find it, but it is definitely there. Then a nice hop burst that takes it’s time arriving but once it settles in it brings a refreshing balance to the beer and leaves a good amount of dryness setting you up nicely for the next mouthfull. Good structure, I think I find it hard to ascertain the coriander as they are blended so well with the hops in the finish. Overall a great beer and good value when you think its 11% and double the amount in volume of the B.G. Brunch but only a couple quid more. But I find it a little disappointing that the beer doesn’t go over the top spice-wise. I’m drinking this beer in July I may point out and as a Stout it scores very highly but as a Christmas beer I feel it lacks the big flavours that one comes to expect from such beers - but don’t get me wrong, a fabulous beer in it’s own right and once again superbly crafted.