Mikkeller 黑 / Black

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

To celebrate my Danish beers rating #1000!!! It’s more than pitch black, more black than pitch black and the head is nice and creamy and dark brown - amazing! The aroma - oh, where to start. It’s very complex with a lot of different notes, among others hard roasted malt, coffee, licorice and dark fruit - and still quite a bit of alcohol, but it’s still very young (April 2008). The mouthfeel is like engine oil, but the flavour certainly isn’t! It has sweetness, alcohol, hard roasted malt, licorice, coffee, dark fruit and a roasted bitterness. The finish is long, long, long... It’s still rough, wild and raw, almost brutal - but at the same time it’s very exciting and nice and challenging for your taste buds. I’m happy to have more of this stuff in the cellar, and I look forward to tasting it some years from now.

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)

Bottle @ Maria tasting. Black colour with a tan head. Aroma is roasted, malt, coffee, licorice. Flavour is roasted, malt, licorice, coffee, hop, alcohol. The finish is hop, coffee. Very nice after dinner beer.

Black. Thin dark brown head. Aromas are rich sweet dried prunes, coffee, leather, chocolate, raisins... WOW! Alcohol is there, but not aparent. Flavor is initially big black licorice, sweet dark chocolate, figs - no, scratch that - black strap molasses with raisin tar. Then finishing back into black licorice with a touch of astringency. This beer just doesn’t finish! Roasted nuts, tobacco, leather, dark rum... should age well for 20+ years if anyone has the patience... Tasted May 21, 2008 - Bottle from John’s Market Place in Portland.

375 ml bottle from Systembolaget shared with a friend. Wonderful chocolate/sweet candy smell. Taste is huge and feels almost brutal of chocolate, coffee, vanilla, fudge, liquorice, port, honey, brown sugar, some roasted malt and alcohol with a slightly hop bitterness at the end (but most of all I think the beer is sweet, probably due to both malt and alcohol). I expected to feel the alcohol even more though, it feels pretty well balanced and brings a warming feel. In a couple of years this beer will improve even more, I think. I’m lucky we’ve got one left for cellaring.

Pours black like you shut off the lights of the world and wore sunglasses taped over with duct tape. tan head is deep and could probably catch a parachuter with a broken chute. nose is sweet with a dark espresso, chocolatey burnt roast blast. taste? um, like heaven if it were made of sweet goodness. tastes just like it smells, roasted and chocolate with sweetness. mouthfeel is velvety smooth and perfect heaviness, but the aftertaste zaps your tastebuds with a lazer of crisp alcohol. some high-alcohol beers taste like a stout with a shot of rubbing alcohol in it, not ’black.’ an amazing marriage of alcohol and taste that makes enjoying a beer of the calibre that much more enjoyable. not if it weren’t $19 per bottle, we’d be set.

Had this one in the fridge for awhile and felt i had to psyche myself up a bit before i could finally crack it open. Once i did pop the bastard little cork, i carefully tilted the mystical bottle and poured myself a sipping glass of black wonder. Witnessed a ruby dark black that shifted to pitch midnight tone once fully poured. No head rested on top, just a glass of "what the hell am i about to drink?" Shifted my nose towards the rim and was treated to a very complex array of smells...cherries, port, brandy, raisin, tar, cigar, pavement, grease, fig and plum. Taste was amazing...dropping (not just hints) but full blown novels containing roasted cold chestnuts, almonds, various forms of candied fruit, fig cake, whiskey pies, grandaddy’s rum, copper (like the taste of a penny). Flavour was very complex, somewhat overwhelming, highly alcoholic, and strangely, not hard to drink and enjoy. The finish is a real kicker, settling back in the inner valleys of the downtown part of the tongue and, like tiny scorpions, just sitting there for a while and lashing their tails...what a beautiful sting. By the end of this bottle I felt like I was living inside of a Melvins record.

A fascinating aroma of soy source; mustard, coffee and caramel. Herbal spices too. Poured into a ESB glass from a bottle. WOW. Lovely dark rich texture with little head. A small head swirl around the middle which looks fantastic. The overpowering aroma before taste entry is awesome. An excellent winter beer. Can taste figs; caramel, dark liquerish, dark chocolate, cofee and whiskey. WOW. What flavour. Leathery yeast on the palet and soy source too. One amazing beer. It does not hide the alcohol at all. A really great intense craft beer but do not have during a session. I am having this with my duck. Good luck in hunting this down.