Mikkeller Beer Geek Brunch Weasel

Mikkeller
Brewed at Nøgne Ø
Style: Imperial Stout
Copenhagen V, Denmark

With incredible thanks to Blankboy for sharing this with me at the Golden Tap awards at Beer Bistro. Appearance: Pitch black, with a nice brown head, lots of lacing. Aroma: Vanilla, hops, malt, peat/turf, lots of coffee, milk, cream and leather delicious. Flavour: Coffee/espresso, mocha cream, like warm ice cream! So much coffee, so much smoothness, this is an imperial stout at its best.

Room Temp: Black pour,brown edges. Dark, brown head,is large and fizzy at first and settles to a small ring.Pungent aroma of medicinal alcohol,roasted grain,milk chocolate,toffee,and underlying acidic coffee. Fizzy,oily,texture. Quite thick body. Bitter and highly,roasty upfront. Quite sticky and sweet as well. In the back is more roasty flavors and little dark fruit and chocolate. Finish is not overdone on the coffee but the coffee that is there is strong. Earthy,hops also lend to the bitter,but tasteful finish. The more this opens up the more the sweet and roasty flavors exceed the alcohol and bitterness,although the alcohol in the aroma is still distracting. Also,upon opening the hops and coffee in the finish really start to blend perfectly. This would be a horrible beer to start off drinking cold as it get’s better the longer it sets and I started it at room temp. Some big distraction with the major alcohol in the aroma,but really tasty and balanced after it has had time to breathe and open up. Glad I waited this long for the coffee to subside a bit,although it doesn’t have quite the ashy character notable in other coffee stouts.

By far the best imperial stout I’ve ever had to this point. Very potent and dark but still extremely smooth and drinkable. Pours a dark black with a tan head. Aroma of roasted malts, dark chocolate and coffee. Flavor is very roasted with some dark fruit and chocolate coming through. Surprisingly the coffee is not too over powering and really only made a statement at the finish. Imperial stouts are not my favorite style and I’m rating this a bit harder for how drinkable it was for me.

Bottle 鸴ml). Shared by biegaman. Opaque, thick-looking black, largish creamy brown head. Acidic aroma of coffee and cream, minty and roasty. Taste - same, more alcohol, diminishes as it warms - a little creamy, but not lactic really - nice. Light body, acidic, slightly boozy finish - solid, solid impy

Bottle. Pour is a bubbly black with a diminishing head of very dark tan head. The surface continues to dot with bubbles even after quote a while. The aroma is coffee, roasty and bitter. The flavors are also roasty with a backdrop of sweet chocolate, that lingers. Really nicely put together beer.

THOUGHTS: I figured this would be good, but in the back of my mind I looked forward to writing a review that said I had a beer that tasted or smelled like shit … literally. But seriously, this was a lot like Beer Geek Breakfast. I thought this was a little nicer and better balance, but both are a little overly bitter. Much coffee-like bitterness. Hid alcohol fairly well, except for the aroma. It just kept getting better the warmer it got, but it was really more of a ramped up coffee stout than a true imperial stout. TECHNICAL: Bottle. Poured a dark brown that was opaque black in the glass with an average, light to medium brown head that quickly diminished, but left fair lacing. The aroma was pretty much only moderate to heavy strong coffee and roasted malt, along with way lighter chocolate, light alcohol and underlying dark fruit. The initial flavor was sweet and lightly bitter; while the finish was very sweet, then very bitter with a long duration. There was roasted malt, strong coffee, then bitter coffee and slight alcohol, bitter hops, and bitter chocolate too and a little dark fruit. The hops and coffee blended. Actually everything blended in perfect unison, but there wasn’t enough malt to balance things completely. The medium to full body was sort of creamy with lightly fizzy carbonation and a slightly metallic lightly astringent and lightly alcoholic finish.

courtesy of fiulijn - dark black colour with a solid dark beige foam; strongly roasted coffeish aroma with notes of ashes; creamy mouthfeel and full-bodied, quite low carbonation, moderately dry and long bitter coffeish finish; very hoppy - superb

Sampled at DØE Beerfestival 2009, Valby. Pours a black beer with almost no head (light brown). The aroma is rounded with coffee, roasted malt and licorice. The flavor follows the nose. The palate is roasted, with a good body, has slight notes of alcohol. Overall this beer has a good balance and complexity. A very good beer considering it is brewed on stuff that has been through the digestionsystem on a weasel.