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his beer divides opinion. Some find it too dry and bitter, too assertive, too crude, too muddled with high citric American hops placed against roasty chocolate and coffee. Others find they enjoy it despite these flaws.
I think I understand why someone might enjoy it, as I do enjoy character in a beer myself, but I’d be interested to hear from someone who enjoys this beer, to explain the pleasure they get from it.
Beers which divide opinion always get my interest.
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Me too.
I love this one, point being it is providing a rollercoaster ride of flavours. Sometimes malty brews with strong hops flavours taste as if I’m drinking two beers at once that doesn’t really blend well. I think the blend is good in this one and flavours to me seem to come in a nice sequence rather than all mixed up.
/Jesper
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I think if I had experienced some kind of progression I might have appreciated it more. My experience with the beer is that the flavours did not emerge like that, but were rather muddled, and the juxtapositions of flavours didn’t quite work.
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Flaws? These aren’t flaws!
I think where you might see a swaggering dick, I see a young artist with a palette full of life that he’s not afraid to use - yes brash but without offense. I find that in terms of technique and execution, it’s completely flawless. No off flavors or damage - even over here. Almost clean to a fault.
Aesthetically it’s like what I mentioned initially above. For me in all arts - music, painting, writing and brewing - there’s this exuberant, youthful phase of genius before the limiting self-restraints of mastery begin to take hold. It’s my favorite thing in life. I think Mikkeller is right in there in a strong way.
Unfortunately this might look like a whole lot of yeehaw to some.
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hmmm, now ima have to pick me up one next time im at bottle barn.
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Worth your short trip. To me it’s a hoppy wonder.
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A flaw isn’t necessarily a bad thing. A lambic is technically a flawed beer. A vintage beer is technically a flawed beer. Yet some people enjoy these flaws.
So I’m not using the term "flaw" as "failed", but as "this combination of flavours, and this assertiveness, is not technically meant to be appreciated by the human palate". I understand that people will enjoy flavour experiences out of the norm - I am part of that group myself. In the case of this beer, it is a flavour experience I do not enjoy. I looked at a few reviews and I understood why those who didn’t like the beer didn’t like it as they articulated their dislike quite clearly. I failed to quite get why those who liked it liked it as the comments tended to be a rather generic "This is great". So I thought I’d ask the question here on the forum and generate some discussion.
A similar kind of beer is Oakham’s Hawse Buckler. Oakham is one of the UK’s more interesting and acclaimed breweries. John Bryan, Oakham’s head brewer, has said of the beer: "It’s a dark ale, it’s quite strong by British standards, and the taste is quite aggressive – it’s like espresso compared with instant coffee. It only appeals to confirmed fans of dark beer and is not a huge seller. When we first brewed it, people had ’Marmite moments’ with it. They either hated it or raved about it."
There is an acceptance that such a beer will be either loved or hated. Hawse Buckler was acknowledged as a successful beer at Beers of the World’s World Beer Awards last year. So such extreme beers can be acclaimed.
However, Hawse Buckler, while being bold, did not go so far out of what is acceptable as Mikkeller’s Jackie Brown.
Hawse Buckler’s dark hop load was more in keeping with the dark malts and so complimented and enhanced it. Jackie Brown’s hop load would work with pale malts. While I find extreme hop loads in a pale malt to be unacceptable to my palate - I have a clearer understanding of why beers with this flavour profile are appreciated.
I am genuinely puzzled why some flavour combinations are appreciated - like vinegar and chocolate, pork and vanilla ice-cream, dark, roasty malts and acidic citic hops.
It may be that such an experience is unarticulatable, but it would be nice if somebody could attempt it.
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