Mikkeller 黑 / Black

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

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!

Pours an oily opaque with dark mahogany edges and a spotty-lacing dark tan head. Aroma of rich, sweet caramel and dark chocolate with a good amount of licorice and molasses. Body starts dense and dark malty sweet with a big amount of burning alcohol toward the finish. Also has some lingering dry roasty notes and bittersweet dark chocolate. Sort of a brute-force, over the top imperial stout that doesn’t really have the finesse of a Dark Lord or Expedition. Nonetheless, all the malt and alcohol fumes help to boost the aroma. I’d say the peak will come in 10 to 30 years, not 1 to 3 years.

courtesy of Per Forsgren - pours a pitch black colour with a little brown foam; aroma of almonds, black chocolate and black cherries, the all thing being brutalized by aggressive notes of alcohol; strong initial dextrose-like sweetness, low carbonation and very cream mouthfeel, oily and with an unbelievable bitterness; aftertaste of burned plastic with whisky notes and burning alcohol - this stuff has an incredible alcohol presence and looks like 40% to me; aggressive and totally offside, this is really too much for my senses

Bottle. Rich and intense, lots of licoricey flavours, with some dark chocolate, heavily roasted malt. Tarry mouthfeel, with a lot of alcohol noticed in the finish. Packed full of flavour but perhaps a little OTT for me.

Thick greige head over for all purposes black beer indeed - a purple shine upon pouring, maybe? Deep alcoholic, brandy or brandycake, chocolate, dark fruit as plums, sauced tobacco. Complex, but rather sharp roasted taste, black breadcrust, coffee. Alcohol is amazingly hidden - relatively speaking at least. Nice sourish lining, nearly fruity. Bitter dark grapes flowing. Extremely viscous, oily, nearly solid texture and body. Another indeed extreme beer from MIkkeller/De Proef. Certainly out of the ordinary, and well worth trying despite its not inconsiderable price.

Bottle (@ RBESG 2008): Pours pitch-black with a stable, brownish head; liquorice, dark malt, sherry, dried fruit and leather in the nose; full sweet-bitter flavour, full bodied; lingering, warming, first sweet, later bitter finish with traces of leather and coffee. Very good, but very sweet, indeed......

Bottle, thx to fonefan, 37.5cl corked. Pours a black, slightly oily body with a dense tan head. No carbonation. Soy sauce, some alcohol, coffee, dark bitter chocolate and a little salt in the aroma. The flavor has a wonderful sweetness, chocolate, an intense hoppyness and salty licorice notes. Oily mouthfeel, and a finish with lots of bitterness, fruityness and coffee. A lovely, big beer, but it will probably be a better big beer after some time in the bottle. Still I loved it. I loved it enough that I have later on enjoyed a bottle on my own, and will do that again. (080412)

My Bottom Line:
This Mega Imperial Stout remains a noble sipper despite its heft, aligning plenty of dark chocolate and caramel malt flavors which end up in a gripping roasted malt bitterness, itself emboldened by poignant alcohol.

Further Personal Perceptions:
-A veil of foam skirts the darkness.
-The body is thankfully not too heavy, making the mouthfeel rather classy.
-A touch of elderberry-like fruitiness works quite well with the malt profile and the alcohol vapors.
-That intense finish is a tad too much to make me want to revisit this beer often.

Bottle.