Mikkeller 黑 / Black

Bottle @ Nordals Festival 2008.
Pours utter pitch black with a tiny, creamy, beige film head. Aroma is very vinious at first, but really settles into an impressive (and soft) aroma of chocolate, hard roasted malts and coffee with slight vanilla notes. Quite high in carbonation, making it less creamy and more lively than expected. Which is quite nice. Flavour is very vinious, sugary sweet with lots of hard roasted malts. Good coffee and dark chocolate notes. Lots of super dry hops in the end. This is impressive, but very much over the top.

12.7 oz, cork and cage, cork stamped 12/12/17 (what does that mean?). Dark, opaque pour that’s a little red around the edges, dense tan head that fades - excellent lacing. Aroma is boozy but less so than I was expecting. Rich, deep chocolate, espresso, cream, hops. Ok, there is a lot of alcohol in there. Not a hugely complex aroma - the subtleties are lost on me and dominated by the aromas above. Maybe some cherry, and definitely some vanilla and bourbon. Flavor is quite sweet, and acridly bitter. Feels like hot coffee in your chest, and leaves the espresso astringency in your mouth. Tastes like the darkest dark chocolate you’d ever have. Harsh and alcoholic finish. The end of this so ridiculously long and hugely bitter. I’m putting this back in the fridge to cool down so I can actually drink it... Pretty huge beer, needs some serious time to mellow, like 3 years. I’ve got one to hang onto for a while, but for now, this beer is killing me. Totally unbalanced.

Pours black with a thin tan head. Aroma of coffee, chocolate, and straight booze. It has kind of a burnt chocolate flavor to it. It tastes a little bit like a syrup. It is also a little sweet and boozy for me. I thought it was okay, but I had a lot higher expectations. It is a sipper.

Bottle. Really dark black color! Aroma is really boozy with some coffee notes. Flavor is warm with lots of chocolat,coffee and vanilla. Finishes with a strong burning alcohol finish. Unbalanced.

Held directly up to the Miami sun there’s nothing but black, not even around the edge of the glass. Fat, almost iodiney nose, with accents of bicycle inner tube, burnt chocolate and a whack of alcohol. This stings. It has a smokey taste - very intense - with rich roast, wood, and a big fat alcohol finish. Really, it’s all intensity and not an ounce of nuance. Not well made at all. After a couple of drops it gets obnoxious.

Black with a frothy brown head, nice lacing. Huge, boozy roasted malt, cocoa sweet aroma. Thick viscous surprisingly smooth mouthfeel. Big, boozy blackened malt flavors with an earthy chocolate sweetness. A nice after supper sipper here.

bottle from Stone. A great beer. Deep dark brown with a fizzy brown head. Huge alcoholic nose, sweet caramel and chocolate aroma. The taste is not overly sweet for a 17.5% beer. Thick syrupy palate. Chocolate, caramel. mild coffee and vanilla taste with a huge alcohol presence.

Special thanks to OSLO for sharing this imperial darkie. Pours an ace of spades black brew with a thin tan head that slowly dissipates to a fine film and no ring. Aroma of dark molasses, heavy rum, raisins, dark chocolate, vanilla and even a touch of wintergreen. Taste is fork-caliper thick or BBW to the nth degree, syrupy, with flavors of dark chocolate, molasses, brown sugar, and a hint of pine. Finish has a syrupy texture that sticks to your tongue with some black licorice and dark chocolate aftertaste. The alcohol warmth really comes out after the finish. Quite different than most other imperial stouts I’ve tried. This is the kind wither you enjoy this or not.