Mikkeller 黑 / Black

Bottled 375ml. Courtesy of Bov. Aroma: Shōchū, Christmas pudding, wood, marzipan and sherry in the nose. Flavor and palate: Walnuts, Christmas pudding, marzipan, cherries and late roasted impressions showing up. Full bodied, complex and warming. Reminiscent of cough syrup and Shōchū. Wonderful salty finish. An atypical Imperial Stout. Thanks Bov!

375ml corked bottle. Suprised its a green bottle actually. BB 12/12/17!!! Served at room temperature in a goblet. At a fortifying 17.5%alc/vol, this is a good amount (standard beer strength!) stronger than any beer i’ve ever laid eyes on, so i’m really not entirely sure what the expect! Cork is a bit of a struggle to get out, i’m expecting the contents to be reasonably low carbonation though. Tempted to get a cork screw! Pops open without a great deal of sound, and i’m presented with a dense, oily, opaque black liquid with shortly lived dark ring of lace that is probably darker than most stouts! Has legs that cling onto the glass for what seems an eternity! Aroma just screams potency up my nostrils. Warming fortified wine-like alcohol tends to dominate, but seems to keep a common theme of vinous character that seems more relevant to a port; dark berries, dried fruit, woody spice, characoal, bitter citrus, soy sauce, dark roast coffee bean, burnt toffee and roasted nuts. I’m kind of a bit afraid to take a sip! As expected, the body has the initial weight of a forified wine, but quickly dries out with a huge drying from tannic grain astringency and alcohol. Carbonation is low, thick oily texture seems almost enough to distract one from the ridiculous abv. Intense flavour is probably an understatement. I can (and have) see some people taking a sip and not even bothering, but I like to think i’m a bit more adventurous. Alas, it is hard to look beyond the alcohol, roasted grain and general bitterness, but underneath reveals layers of liquorice, roasted nuts, toffee, brandy, rich bitter chocolate, vinous dark fruits and citrus. And the list just goes on, and does the after taste! However, at the end of the day, this is a seriously brutal beer, and as the Best Before suggests, this has a good number of years left on it. So it’s be my recommondation to leave this bad boy in the cellar for a few years to mellow, because i can really see good things coming to those who wait!

(Preface: I’ve been wanting to try this one for a long time. Let’s see if this is all that I’d hoped for.) Pours an oily black with no head or lacing and little apparent carbonation. Aroma is profound: Can’t hide the booze, no surprise, but other characteristics are apparent; Dark fruit, unsweetened chocolate, espresso all on the nose. Wow, flavor is strong, tarry yet fruity, chococlatey, high-quality espresso again, and booze of course. Just makes my neck and shoulders shudder with every swallow. The booze overpowers, which is something you usually don’t hear me saying. That is not to say that it isn’t delicious. Palate is oily, liquidy, could’ve been more carbonated, though likely not possible with the rest of the package. More of a novelty; I mean, even if I could afford it, I couldn’t see myself drinking this everyday. But I’m still glad I got it, tried it, experienced it. I will have this again sometime. Overall, excellent. Thanks Mikkeller.

Bottle. Pours black with a really dark head. Smells of chocolate and roasted barley. Complex taste with notes of chocolate and roasted barley, alcohol is quite present, it is a little over powering for me. A little much for me, but I can still enjoy it.

Used this beer in a beer and food session. Great with blue cashel cheese, fresh acidic goat cheeses. The beer is very strong in bitters and the acids in food will solve this one dimension aspect of the beer. Solo it’s even a bit boring. Witf food exciting.

Thx to Henrik. Black sirope-like beer with a very dark head (never seen such a dark head by the way). Siropy, roasted, porto, coffee, mokka and dark fruits in the nose. Very complex taste with at the end an overwhelming alcohol warming and a very nice bitterness.

Pours almost like black syrup. Beige head, mostly lasting. Lots of aroma, dark, roasted, port, alcohol. Flavor is heavy sweet, warming alcohol, a bit sticky too, chocolate, coffee, yeasty. Syrup texture. Soft carbonation.

Bottle. Poured midnite black. The nose was sweet, and boozy. Definitely a beer to sip, 6oz took me almost an hour. Flavor was also sweet with obviously lots of alcohol. How do you hide 17%? As it warmed the burnt flavors became more prominent, and easier to drink. I liked it, but would order and drink carefully. Very strong bite in the finish.