Mikkeller Single Hop East Kent Golding IPA

Mikkeller
Formerly brewed at De Proefbrouwerij
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Copenhagen, Denmark

Serve in Shaker, Tulip

330mL bottle, enjoy by 22/12/11. Light green label. Light copper color, thin light tan head. Dark orange label. Aroma is light herbal. Taste is herbal and of autumn leaves. Fruity finish.

On tap at Night after Monsters. Pours an orange gold with a small off white head with spotty lacing. The aroma is floral hops and grapefruit. Medium mouthfeel with citrus and resin with a nice lingering strong hop bite finish. A very good IPA from Mikkeller.

Name: East Kent Golding Single Hop
Date: June 01, 2010
Mode: Draft
Source: Taco Mac, Fred
Appearance: cloudy orange, creamy off white head, sticky lace
Aroma: sweet fruity aroma with a nice woody pine aroma
Flavor: sweet malt flavor, nice growing fruityness, hint of citrus, lots of earthy woodyness, long bitter finish
Aroma: 6/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 6/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 13/20
Rating: 3.2/5.0
Drinkability: 8/10
Score: **+ /4

Unclear gold-orange with a beige head. The aroma is citrussy with little caramel. The aftertaste is a little bit bitter.

Tasted from bottle into nucleated pint glass. Poured a deep amber-orange color with off-white foam, good retention with some lace. The basis for the beer is a standardized strong American style IPA. The overall aroma, flavor, and heightened alcohol percentage were reminiscent of Stone’s Arrogant Bastard or Bell’s Two-Hearted Ale, for instance. Mikkeller’s Single Hop series is really fun for us beer nerds because you get to see what a familiar beer would taste like if a single hop cultivar was used for bittering, flavor, and aroma. I love, love, love the delicate, earthy, flowery aroma of East Kent Goldings (duh, it--or a closely related variety of it--is used in many of my favorite English Ales, ESBs especially, such as St. Peter’s Organic Ale). I even prefer Goldings’ aroma over the finest German noble hops. It’s fine for bittering; after a 60-90 minute boil, I have a hard time believing any expert can name the cultivar used for bittering. Although the low alpha acid percentage of Goldings requires the brewer to use a huge quantity of them, thereby also increasing the grassy, vegetable impression more than neccessary. But here’s the most interesting thing I learned today: I don’t really like Goldings for flavor hops, they’re not very smooth or tangy or citrusy like superior flavor varieties. For that reason, this specific beer is not as good as it could have been with a super high alpha for bittering, a better tasting flavoring hops, and East Kent Goldings for aroma hops. Now I know why Goldings is only ever advertised as an aroma hop. Duly noted. Thanks Mikkeller, keep up the great experiments!

Bottle from the Hope Valley Bottle Shop, Durham. To me, one of the least impressive of the single hop series (though maybe I just don’t like EKG too much). Nice enough pour, a deep murky orange with a fluffy head and a real stickiness to it. Nose was a bit overly pungent, with sweet malts not quite meshing with the leafy notes. Mouthfeel was full but the palate was a bit too treacly to me. As with the nose, the taste had its moments but the beer was especially well integrated or balanced to me.

Amber lively body with a white rocky head. Aroma has pine, lemon, very small hint of acidity. Flavour is a bit underwhelming and bitter, dusty, with a dry grassy finish.

Bottle 33 cl. Slightly hazy amber pour with a huge off-white head of long duration. Aroma of malt and hops with notes of pine and grass. The taste is slightly maltsød and good hoppy with notes of citrus and grass. Let dry and moderately bitter mouthfeel and finish