Mikkeller Stateside

Mikkeller
Brewed at BrewDog
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Copenhagen V, Denmark

A nose of american hops and citrus. Taste is of spruceneedle, yeast and hops. It has a belgian character, like mikkellers simcoe, and is acidic and complex in a way. Palate is fizzy. Finish is bitter and a bit flat. I think this was a bit too old. A good brew, but simcoe is way better in every aspect.

Nice pop. Sounds promising. This has been sitting on the store shelf for 4-6 mos @ least. Hazy orange amber with a thin, still-standing off white cap. Smells a tad past prime, earthy, caramel. Still some juicy citrus, strong pine and sugary sweetness in the nose. Mouth is satisfying. Flaked oats lending to the creaminess, I’m sure. Very light & smooth, with a resiny punch. Pale malt finish with bitter citrus, and limey taste. Should have grabbed this fresh. Still not bad.

Bottle. Pours an orangish copper with a dense finger of head. Aromas are a nice mix of tropical and citrus fruit with a little bit of biscuit and caramel sweetness. The nose is just slightly better than the flavor, but still, this is a fine beer. It has a pretty substantial malt presence, which maybe lends just a bit too much sweetness, but there are still a nice buffet of hops there. Quite a bit of grapefruit and apricot or some other light sweet fruit in there as well as a bit of pine in the finish. All told, this sits nice and has a very good progression of flavors.

Bottle courtesy of Boutip
Damn, just cracking off the cap made me drool. Dumped out beer into Budweiser chalice. Slight hazy orangy amber something, acceptable white cap with tons of lacing. Jesus, this beer is going fast! Stiff and eye opening aroma that demands my attention. Huge citrus - candy peach, ruby red grapefruit, lychee - all very sweet but no hint of that being a distracting thing. Good chunk of caramel malts and toasted multigrain bread, weak pine. Maybe even melon. Man, I love IPA’s! Damn fine amount of flavors but something holds this back from rising to the top of the stack. The thick malts hit the ’buds first followed very quickly by grapefruit, pine, more caramel, peachishy something (peachishy is a word, look it up), floral hops (is that a taste??). Each sip is a blast of flavor. On the thick side, leaves a minor coating in my mouth but a permanent piney bitter lingering. Perfectly carbonated, great swish and a shit load of hops. The malts were really good in this one keeping it fairly balanced. Aspects of this remind me of a couple of barley wines from the states. Finishes with the bitterness turning into grapefruit rind. Bottoms up! Homo.

330ml bottle from Beers of Europe. A very clean brew (cold filtered?). This is assertively hopped but not aggressive. The malt is clean, sweet and pleasant, providing a decent backbone to the generous American hops. As this is not too extreme in malt or hops (and especially both) I am finding this more pleasant and drinkable than most IPAs - though it is slow progress. My personal inclination is for less hops and more drinkability. It’s a clean, slightly boring IPA with a slight burn. Acceptable.

500 mL bottle from Beer Run in Charlottesville, VA. Pours a hazy copper color with a large frothy head. Good head retention and lacing. Big aroma of syrupy citrus hop notes. Floral and herbal hops notes and toffee are in the background. Taste is much more dry with toffee and bitter, resiny hops with a bit of a candied citrus finish. Medium-full bodied. Quite nice,.

500ml bottle from grape & gourmet. pours a beautiful, slightly cloudy, dark copper with a half inch, white head and great lacing. aroma is excellent with slightly sweet, floral hops up front with notes of lemon zest, orange peel, caramel malts, apricot, and red grape. flavor is wonderful with big, bitter hops, grapefruit, lemon, and pine notes up front backed by dry, roasted, caramel malts and grassy earth. palate is smooth, medium bodied, and slightly resinous with a dry, bitter, citrus hop finish. overall, an very good IPA.

Pour is a hazy golden amber (12 SRM), Rocky head dies quickly leaving prodigious lacing. Smells of muskmelon, maple, grapefruit, pine, and ever so slightly wet cardboard. Taste lightly sweet, finishing with lots bitters.