Mikkeller 黑 / Black

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

(Bottle) Compact black colour with brief, foamy, brown head. Roasted, malty nose with ashes, burnt wood, liquorice, cola, dried fruit, raisins, tobacco, brown sugar, dark chocolate and espresso. Sweetish. Intense, roasted, malty taste with sweet liquorice, ashes, sweet espresso, prunes, raisins, molasses, cough-medicine, liquorice root and dark chocolate. Lots of brown sugar sweetness. Full body with oily texture. Some coffee bitterness, but it’s overshadowed by everything else. It’s probably a bit over the top and way too sweet, but I still like this uncompromising beer. Seriously heavy stuff and obviously with a certain bite. I’ll probably save my second bottle a couple of years, a little more balance wouldnt’ hurt.

Appearance: Pours a black, intimidating, perfectly still body, but, man, check out those legs! Smell: Scent of blackstrap molasses, prunes, and espresso reinforced by cutting whiffs of fusel alcohol. Taste: Sharp roasted malt taste with concentrated molasses, espresso, and an altogether jarring, wincing sweetness. Heavy pour of dark fruit liqueur. Caustic bitterness in the middle. A few drops of soy sauce. Plenty of hot reckless alcohol from beginning to end, particularly on the sweet, roasty finish. Mouthfeel: Medium-plus body. Sans carbonation. Drinkability: This one is crude and unrefined, just as it was when I first had it nearly a year ago. I would certainly rather have a WWS, but that’s just me. Let’s set a tentative revisit date of, oh, let’s say 2018. Though, I’m starting to wonder if this one will actually improve.

Bottle: The aroma is pretty intense and consists of molasses, chocolate, black licorice, burnt notes, dark fruits, and definite alcohol. It pours black with no transparency and a small brown ring for a head. The flavor starts with a big sugary sweetness with some black licorice. It finishes with some black coffee bitterness, some burnt notes, and alcohol. The alcohol is definitely noticeable, but I didn’t find in as overbearing as some. Full bodied with an oily mouthfeel.

Makes a better chili than a drink. The beer pours to a deep brown/black body with a thin brown head. The aroma is like a super alcoholic light espresso stout. The flavor is super concentrated with charred black malt. Tons of fusel alcohol. The palate is super sharp with tons of alcohol and nasties. Fuck me, this is bad.

Bottle. Big alcohol on the nose. Also some molasas and tobacco, coffee roast. Black body with dark tan head. Thick impy stout flavos of coffee, and wet tobacco. Nothing to really peak my interest here than normal stout with abundance of alcohol.

A great super thick stout in all area. Lots of chewy flavor. Actually doesn’t seem like the alcohol is at 17.5%, more like 10 or so. An expensive beer for sure, but it made a great finish to the Christmas party!

Hard to get cork out - not seemingly pressurised, although it looks it once poured. Nice pitch black coloured body with a thinnish, one-centimetre light brown head. Fully-opaque, no light getting through. Aroma of strong roasted malt, coffee, fresh hops, alcohol, pit fruits, cherries and sour milk. Full-bodied; Strong astringent full flavoured roasty malt tastes with a lactic and overly bitter and pungent alcoholic warmth. Potent fruits and spices, but too much alcohol and roasted malt and it overshadows everything. Aftertaste is too potent and showing too much alcohol, too much malt and not enough complexity. Even though it’s not aged to what Mikkeller wants, I don’t think it would improve too much during that period. Overall, worth trying just because of the brewery, but definitely not one of my favourite beers from them. Glad I sampled it, but if I saw someone pick this up, I’d definitely tell them not to waste their money ($16 for me) on it. I sampled this 375 mL ’split’ bottle purchased from Merchant’s in Dearborn, Michigan on 03-August-2008, sampled at home in Washington on 13-February-2009.

12.7oz bottle, courtesy of acrdz. Thanks, Mike! Pours a very very dark black color; textured, creamy medium brown head with solid retention and fine-bubbled lacing. Loads of nougat, licorice, and dark chocolate liquor in the aroma; not a ton of alcohol; lots of charred / burnt malts; pretty nice nose, actually. Huge amounts of alcohol in the mouth: full mouthfeel: loads of booze, intense coffee, jarringly bitter chocolate; just huge, boozy, messy, and abrasive; soy sauce and coffee grounds and alcohol; completely over-the-top and barely drinkable right now, even as a sipper. Nothing held back here. Age forever.