Mikkeller 黑 (Black)

Pricey bottle, via trade, so I kinda sorta paid for it. Poured in my Reidel Snifter, black with a light brown 1 finger head that chilled out and turned into some islands. Nose is malty with a a lighter fluid coffee, nail polish remover heat. Taste is sweet, very hot very very hot with lots of rich deep malts. This is a weird super hot beer, that has joined the hype train for Mikkeller, once again for me Mikkeller is hit or miss. Sometimes amazing, sometimes okay, sometimes strange and sometimes not so exciting, this is in some of those camps.

375 ml bottle corked and caged. from my secret santa ( summer 08). best before 12/12/17. im assumng this is pretty fresh. pours black with a short lived tan head. aromas; coffee, chocolate, anise, alcohol, sweet black malts, alcohol. the flavours is similar but man this has a hot finish. i guess i should have cellared this in the hopes that the 17.5% abv would have been somewhat hidden. as is i love it but the continued sacrafice of my sobriety on the second brew of the night is somewhat discouraging. oh well i knew what i was getting into! thx santa!!

Bottle (375ml - green, corked & caged). Shared with blankboy and garthicus via trade with Glouglouburp. Pours like thick black motor oil with a lasting brown mottled head. I loved the aroma - totally over the top, booze, cream, turkish coffee, molasses, smoke, more booze, and yeast. The taste - well, it certainly delivered what the aroma promised, but yikes thats a burn - huge, insistent alcohol, grassy cream, burnt malt - with a dry bitter bitter bitter booze finish. Thick mouthfeel, and sadly, I have to say too thick, mostly left the impression of vodka and burnt cereal on my palate. Impressive, but way, way too big, messy and one-dimensional.

Sampled a split of this at my first imperial stout tasting. Pours a very shiny, oily black with zero head. I shook it a little right before opening and it even looked like it had almost no carbonation in the bottle too. Smells like booze, like cheap vodka mixed with kahlua and cola. WHOA! Hot in the mouth and on the tongue. Way to much heat from the alcohol which takes away from any beer flavors you could have gotten. Once you get beyond the booze you get a little burnt toast, some coffee and... booze. Hot hot heat on the end and not a lot else. Just a bit too extreme for my taste, not subtle in any way.

(6/29/08) Bottle sample at RBESG08 grand tasting in Plzen. Black-colored with a brown head. Aroma has burnt malt, coffee and lots of alcohol. Flavor of burnt malt, dark chocolate, coffee and loads of burning alcohol. Full-bodied.