Mikkeller 黑 / Black

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

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.

First rating
(375 ml bottle that my lovely wife bought for me in Denmark)
On May 10, 2008
BB 12/12/17
Black color, brown head. Salty, roasted, chocolate, coffee and alcohol scent. Oak, dry, malty, roasted, alcohol taste. Hot warming alcohol feeling. Smooth mouthfeel, medium bitterness. Some dandelion inside (when you lick it). There were 7 of us on this, we didn’t finish the bottle. My wife ended up drinking it to her pizza. Nice smell, but the taste was very harsh and very unbalanced, I’d say for my part it’s very overrated at the moment while this young.
7/4/4/2/7=2.4

Rerate
Bottle from a friend
On February 14, 2009
Black color, brown head. Smoother scent than last time, but all the more so a smooth taste than last time. Still way too evident alcohol in both scent and taste. Also the harshness and the roasted is too much for me. It’s easier to "drink" than last time, but we still poured most of it out.
6/4/4/2/7=2.3

Shit.
Bottle (EBF2008) - thanks M0rhi!
Boozy and burnt. Over-burnt. Over-boozy. A pitiful victim of the inane ’some is good, therefore more is better’ syndrome. I’d rather chew on a lump of coal and mainline turpentine than take a third sip of this complete freakish disaster. (Yes, I took a second sip to make sure that the train-wreck I witnessed on the first sip was real. It was.) This may be big in some people’s eyes, but it’s about as far away from being clever as it’s possible to get. Shit.

Had this at Thorsminde Campsite, Denmark 20-09-08, got from Phil L’s Beer Merchants Cave Direct Co’, cheers Phil Pours shark eye black with a tan head. Some tiny bits of yeast are present in suspension and peer out of this gimping mire of blackness. Bittersweet on the tip of tongue and then on the back of the mouth. Really coffeeish, alcohol is quite forceful its not too bad though but it s always there. Thick hoppy, oily, really quite fiercesome stuff. There is no denying that this beer is quality but for me its just a bit too much. Well done to Mikkeller for having the balls to do summat like this, chocolate, coffee and port on the nose.

Bottled. Thx gnoff. Pitch black with a beige head. Very roasted with notes of some solvent. Thick and oily, raw and unbalanced. Wood, sugar, leather, stable, tar...

Bottle. Increble aroma and flavours in this beer. Powerful bitter finish. Full bodied. Find someone to share it with.

Bottled. Thanks Gnoff. Black colour with pale brown head. Gasoline aroma, with green pepper, tar and chamomille. Immensely sweet in flavour and fiercely alcoholic, it is extremely edgy from the high abv. Very unbalanced this young.

Green corked and caged bottle poured an opaque black with a lasting brown head. Aromas of ALCOHOL, pepper, shoe polish, dark chocolate, alcohol, carmel, coffee, a hint of vanilla and did I mention alcohol. Palate was medium to full bodied and smooth with a HOT finish. Flavors of dark chocolate, ALCOHOL, carmel, pepper, roasted malt and vanilla with a smooth HOT lingering alcoholic finish.
This is the HOTTEST beeer I’ve ever drank. I still tried to rate it fairly.