Mikkeller 黑 / Black

Bottle. Pours like motor oil-viscous, opaque, black. The lasting head is tan and creates nice lacing, there just isn’t much there. The aroma is very smoky, very roasty. A lot of wood notes complemented with tart dark fruit notes and some lighter coffee and molasses qualities. As the brew hits the tongue, lots of sweet, molasses and brown sugar notes cover the palate. The alcohol becomes apparent and builds up, quickly causing a warming sensation in the esophagus. As the brew passes, this is where the beer excells. Tons of hops explodes. Smoked wood and coffee becomes apparent behind the hops. Hops just continue to escalate creating a very bitter finish. The brew is so viscous and malty that even with the massive hops flavour, it’s still rather smooth. The alcohol becomes more apparent as it warms the chest. This beer is big, really big.

Bottle split with BossHossBikes.. . .thanks, man!!!! Pours black. Seriously, black, not much head. The aroma is powerful and reminds me of liquor. Lots of burn and wood in the nose along with coffee and a bit of molasses. The carbonation is low and the mouthfeel is semi-thick. Alcohol burns throughout but the other flavors are just as strong. The finish is nicely sweet with hints of creamy coffee and smoke, that’s the tamest thing on this one. The initial palate is rife with powerful alcohol notes, but it all seems like a fine sipping whisky just with more molasses and coffee. This is a beast of a beer, but I don’t think I could enjoy more than one of these at a time. No grace or subtly or attempt to hide the alcohol on this one. Still, for a sipper it is very nice.

bottle from cloud skipper. A little sweet and very hot with oak, smoke, oatmeal, and bitter chocolate undertones. Nice, but a little too much.

Bottle... Miami Beach Spring Beer Fling ’08 ... Black ale with a mid-sized, creamy, beige head. Fantastic retention. The nose proffers Flemish notes followed closely by cocoa, blackstrap molasses, smoke, tire rubber, charcoal, tobacco and, of course, alcohol. Full-bodied with an acerbic mouthfeel and lively carbonation. Sweet, but very burnt and bitter as well. Berries of some kind. Sweet, charred, dark berry finish goes on and on. Thanks to mgumby10 for the sample!

Bottle. I had this beer sitting in my cellar for the past 2 months and it got me thinking "will this beer be any better in 3-8 years?". Only one way to find out and that is to open it now and see if I could somehow predict if it will cellar well, meaning will it be better with some age on it?

Poured a deep thick, oil like black liquid and formed a thin head leabing some foam resyting around the sides of the glass. Looks great.

Aroma - a combination of coal, soy sauce, hops, and chocolate. I debated giving this a 7 or an 8 but felt that the 8 best represented my overall feel of the aroma. In short - I liked it.

Flavor hits right away with a soy sauce similarity fading into a very hoppy, and robust stout. Slightly dry with some roasted coffee being present. Alcohol is present but not as over the top as I wouold expect from a 17% beer. Much smoother than I thought it would be, especially from all the roller coaster reviews I have read comparing it to a fresh World Wide Stout. Will this age and mellow out well? I think so. I may have to pick up another bottle to find out...

(375ml bottle, cork stamped with 12/12/17) Small but persistent brown head atop a jet black body. Nice lacing. Aroma is moderately sweet, dark chocolate, coffee/roast, plum, some alcohol, light smoke, soy. Taste is sweet, brown sugar, coffee, alcohol, vinous, chocolate, some smoke/peat, pine/grapefruit, soy. Both alcohol burn and warming in the finish. Full body, but even it cannot contain the overpowering alcohol. More power to anyone who can enjoy an entire body of this.

I don’t know what to make of this. It’s a very intreresting beer indeed, pours pitch black and stards imimdiatly to spread a nice aroma. There is tar, roased malt, coffee and more. The problem is that this beer is almost completely undrinkable. At first there a really wierd sweetness to it, almost the same kind a diet soft drink can have. Then the alcohol starts to burn and not in a nice warming way, but rather in way as bad bourbon burns. Lastly there is bitterness, this beer is so bitter in the finnish that you have on hour after tasting it still feel as if you licked an ashtray. Bizarr to say the least. Beeing ridiculously unbalanced it may gain from storing. Have another bottle in the storeroom, may try in two or three years or so.

Bottled
Pitch black, small brown head. Strange aroma: black tyre, alcohol, brandy, licorice - very unique. Flavor has tyre-rubber, sherry, licorice and alcohol - it is a volcano explosion in the finish. Some sweetness too. Aftertaste is loooong, roasted and alcoholic. This is demanding beer, propably changes after few years cellaring, but now it is a bit too much to drink liquid tyre. I can’t say that I enjoyed it.