Mikkeller 黑 / Black

Mikkeller
Brewed at De Proefbrouwerij
Style: Imperial Stout
Copenhagen V, Denmark

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.

Asphalt after a rainstorm. Sure, there’s the high-alcohol hairspray nose, and it’s hot as hell, and there’s the pine. Okay, fine, maybe it smells a little like Mr. Clean. Yes. But it’s 17.5% alcohol - have you tried Samichlaus? This makes Samichlaus taste like rocket fuel. Once your palate adjusts (or perhaps once the outermost 100 layers of bacteria have been decimated), fruit appears. The roast rises to the top. The sugar remains though ... one reason to age this for awhile ... or serve with ice cream. I had mine at room temperature in a Riedel brandy glass - my favorite.

Thanks to OSLO for sharing this one from Joebrew’s tasting the previous week. Black color with a thin head. Big array of aromas... roasted malt, wintergreen or mint, oak and madeira. Quite an overwhelming flavor. Rum and raisins. Crushing alcohol. Some oak and vanilla. Very astringent grain. JK compared this to DFH WWS and rightfully so. Definitely needs a year or two.

(bottle, thanks OSLO!) Pours black with a tan head. Aromas of chocolate, roasted malt, prune, and raisin. In the very beginning I could smell the asphalt that others have noted as well, but the smell disappeared for me as the beer warmed. The taste, when cold is very sweet, with a lot of chocolate. This taste is good enough, but the finish is just a bracing blast of green pepper, harsh charred malt, and alcohol. This god awful finish only intensifies as the beer warms, and the alcohol begins to dominate every little thing that was remotely good about the beer. If you let this thing warm for more than ten minutes, all I can say is good luck. I know OSLO drank this for a longer time than I, so I’m glad I finished it fairly quickly, and was not subjected to the alcohol bomb it becomes. This is just awful.