Mikkeller 黑 / Black

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

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.

Bottle, my porter/stout rating # 500. Black coloured with a lacing beige head. Roasted aroma of liquorice, alcohol, dried fruits and pine needles with notes of soy sauce. Sweet and roasted flavour of liquorice, dried fruits, hops, pine needles and grape fruits with notes of grass, soy sauce and alcohol. Warming alcoholic and very dry roasted and hopy finish, that lasts for hours. Think it would be better with a few years ageing.

Creamy lightbrown good mostly lasting head. Black colour. Intense malty aroma. hoppy. Incredible strong burning flavor. Long power power power full finish. Fantastic brew. What will this beer be like in ten years from now?

The label says 17,5% so I can’t say I’m not warned. The beer is dense black with a beauty of a brown head. The aroma is of alcohol and sweet malt with a distinct roasted note to it - almost like the odd smell of a burned down house. The flavour is heavy and intense: sweet malt and upfront hops balance the alcohol and the bitterness from the hops as well as the roasted harshness. For a beer this big and young it is in fact quite balanced, while it undoubtly will improve over the next couple of years. I’ll come back to this one!

Wow, am I pouring ice coffee? Yhere’s no foam, but it has a beautiful aroma of caramel, and roasted malt. Also hidden in the aroma are some flower tones indicating the higher alcohols. Proceeding to taste the beer. Starting with a sweet port like taste, to a bitter roasted taste. Beautiful.

Bottle. When I taste a new Mikkeller my expectations are always hgih. So far I have not been disappointed so I might be a bit predjudiced. This beer has a high brown creamy and long lasting head. Often have I written that the body is pitch black. It has never been more appropirate than her. Aroma surprisingly mild coffee cocoa. Flavor however is clearly dominated by the high alcohol percentage. Still I would never have guessed that it wa so high. Bitterness does the trick. Coffee rather than cocoa. Low carbonation, long aftertaste. Is it good ? In Danish: Meget !