Mikkeller Stateside

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

Bottle. Real good citrus ipa aroma hits the nose. Copper body with lot of carbination bubbles and creamy foamy head. Decent lacing. Flavor has that quality citrus hop to it. But also with the juicy citrus a bitterness that hits hard mellows out and comes back. Dryness lingers on the palate along with the oranges. Good brew.

Bottle, 2006 RBSG, provided by Ungstrup (Thanks Jens!). Pours a cloudy orangish hued body with a whispy film of off-white head. Aroma is earthy and hoppy with some sweet toasted malt below. Flavor is earthy and bitter but very soft and well rounded. Quite a bit of yeast cloudiness, but it didn’t really seem to affect the flavor at all. Mouthfeel is very soft and has wonderful carbonation making for a great mouthfeel. This won’t blow you away, but it’s very well done with a perfect mouthfeel.

Bottle. Hazy orange-amber with a moderate sized white head. Aroma and flavour of sweet tea and honey, with hints of citrus (or marmalade, to be accurate) and pineapple. Body is a bit sticky, but still nice. Finish is a bit warm, which works well with the flavours. Very nice stuff.

Hazy golden tinted amber/copper coloured body with a dense tan head. Aroma of fresh grapefruity and piney hops with a bit of flowers thrown in the mix - all with a good malt smell. Medium-bodied; Strong astringent and bittering hops in the taste with a good floral and citrusey taste at the end. Aftertaste has a good malt backbone and a very potent bitterness throughout - perfect for hop heads alike. A bit of sweetness and alcohol to round out the beer, but the hops are the real show here. Overall, good to try and easily one of the best IPAs i’ve had - my favourite style and one that I think shows more trueness to the style than a lot of American breweries. Definitely worth trying if you can find this! I sampled this 500 mL bottle purchased from Ramsey Liquors in Ramsey, New Jersey on 19-January-2009 (for US$9) at home in Washington on 10-March-2009.

Courtesy of Unstrup(?), RBSG 06. Sweet, hoppy nose filling the glass. Nicely balanced bitterness from the hops. Citrus; demonstrates slightly more prominent maltiness than Weyerbacher’s Double Simcoe. Very enjoyable overall.

Bottle shared at DLD while waiting in line in front of some generous Danes - Pours amber with a fair tan head. Aroma of floral and pine over some caramel malts. Flavor included much pine a little grapefruit, caramel, and some spice. Good light palate with ample carbonation. Quite tasty...

Pours with a frothy, initially four-finger thick, light tan colored head that leaves a nice lacing pattern on the sides of my glass as it slowly recedes. The beer is brilliantly clear and shows a multitude of carbonation bubbles in this well carbonated brew. The beer is a full, red-toned, copper color. Aromas of hops and sweet caramelized grain intermingle in the aroma. Though the hops dominate the malt still plays a significant role. Aromas of pine, sharp grapefruit, lychee, berries, lightly toasted bread, soda crackers, sweet malt and caramel are all noticeable. The aroma has enough malt to make this beer seem quite appetizing.

Sharply bitter from the start, the bitterness proceeds to get even bigger through to the finish. There is a fair amount of malt to offset this bitterness though. Chewy, with a medium fullness to the beer, this is definitely not on the dry side for an IPA. I like the residual malt sugars here though as they add a much needed balance to the significant hop character. This is an IPA after all, and the hops do dominate the flavor profile; flavors of bergamot, lychee and ruby-red grapefruit play a significant role up front, but then a substantial pine / menthol / green-herbal note start to kick in towards the middle and finish, where it mixes with the substantial, slightly astringent bitterness. The malt flavors are perhaps not as noticeable despite the important role it plays here, but still flavors of honey-like malt, toasty grain, biscuits, slight toffee and a soft fruitiness are all noticeable before the substantial, lingering, bitterness wipes the palate of their presence.

This is a nice interpretation of an IPA. As expected the malt played a fairly significant role here, though I have had many an American IPA that overplayed the malt, which this one has not done. I still prefer a slightly lesser malt character in a standard IPA; this is not quite as quaffable as it could be, though it is certainly quite drinkable and enjoyable.

Purchased via mail order: <a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/Places/ShowPlace.asp? Solutions

Bottle from Zinister, shared at the October Houston tasting. Thanks!
Pours average amber with spotty head and lacing. Aroma is malty rose. Flavor is strong floral hops with a hollow finish. Average mouthfeel. Good beer, but it’s just ’’there.’’