Mikkeller Beer Geek Brunch Weasel

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

One of the beers we had early in the morning on Saturday at BCTC. I’d be hard pressed to come up with a more fitting morning beer. Pours a deep black with a thin tan head. Big coffee aromas, lots of nice roast, both from the malt and the coffee. Medium to thick body, milky. Loads of complex flavors, vanilla, cocoa, coffee, all culminating in a big roasty bitter finish that sticks around for a while. Delicious enough to make anyone forget that the beans spent some time getting extruded from a civet’s ass.

Thanks to the nice guy who shared this at the Bourbon Barrel Big Sound Release at CCB. Pours dark black with a small tan head. Nose is dark chocolate, coffee, roast, licorice, and some bitterness. Flavor is smoky, earthy, roasty coffee with slight smoke and bitterness. Very thick mouthfeel and full-bodied beer. Enjoyable, but not an everyday drinker.

Bottle Thanks to Tmoney99. Pours a dark rich mocha with a thin tan head. Aroma is strong with coffee. Notes of chocolate, roasted malts, and something sweet, maybe it was the malts. On the palate it is chewy and rich. THe flavor brings out the coffee and sweetness and it finishes a tad bit dry leaving a nice roasted coffee aftertaste. A great beer, considering it has poo in it ;-).

A tall and frothy dark brown head elevates over the massive black body. Subtle smokey dark berries try to take on the massive coffee smell with a certain success. Heavy roastiness comes across not without a considerable acidity, slightly fruity at that, but also metallic and chalky which removes nodes as far as the overall balance is concerned. The acidity and coffee flavours just do not blend all that well together. A bit brutal carbonation which carries gazy fruitiness to the rear as more coffee lingers in the long finish. Chewy, yet relatively airy body which is never syrupy with its sharpish carbonation. In fact, the palate is dry all along, almost lacking in residual sugars. I’m not a big fan of sweetness, but I reckon it could add a certain extra dimension around here. Alcohol remains relatively subtle for a beer of this magnitude (though it grows up as it warms), but I’m not awfully impressed with its focus nor can I be with its complexity, so I must go a bit against the grain here.

Bottle, Olympen Mat Og Vinhus, Oslo. The most expensive bottle of beer I’ve ever not bought (Dirtman’s round). But The Weasel caught up with me and made me pay eventually, scampering off with my wallet at the airport. Anyway, glossy onyx with a thick, persistent yellowy collar draping the glass. Fresh squeezed sweaty grapefruit citrus and blackened toast aroma with a definite waft of the gents about it. Creamy, savoury, oily deep brew demanding respect with dark, dark carbonised barley, 80% cocoa and massive bittering hop. Deep raisiny cocoa more than coffee, but it’s there in the dregs. Pungent, smooth and lovely. Was just expecting a squeeze more weasel...

Great, not gonna say much as I felt it was very similar to Mikkeller’s beer geek breakfast, only a little smoother and some what less acidic. Very good brew pick it up if you can.

From a 500mL Bottle. Pours a pitch black, opaque obsidian color with a thick head of frothy tan. Rich malty aromas of graham cracker, toasted oats, and black licorice. Moderately roasty with a subtle, but silky smooth coffee character woven into the malt profile. Just a kiss of minty hops and a pleasing, caramelized sugar, burned prune/raisin sweetness. Medium bodied, moderately carbonated mouthfeel with a soft, silky texture - really borderline oily in nature. Packed with flavor, but well attenuated. Flavors start out a bit sweet, with notes of molasses, brown sugar, and dark chocolate. Some of the minty hops begin to come out mid-palate before the coffee really takes over. Very thick, espresso like finish with a bold coffee flavor. I’m trying my best to be skeptical of the hyped civet-coffee in this beer, but the coffee flavor is truly outstanding. It’s rich, thick, and roasty without any of the unpleasant astringency, bitterness, or boiled coffee flavors that pollute 90% of the coffee beers out there. Points for using the coffee in an appropriate manner. After a few sips, the coffee is pretty much the only dark flavor profile I pick up, but I can dig that. The hops are still evident and compliment the coffee nicely. Slightly boozy warmth in the finish. The last remaining two inches of my bottle contained a nasty amount of gelatinous sludge that plopped unceremoniously into my glass; I could have done without that. Otherwise, a superbly executed beer.

500 ml bottle. Pours black with a large frothy tan head. The aroma is dark roasted malt, dark chocolate, and fine coffee. As we discussed at our tasting, the coffee does not dominate the nose, but instead integrates nicely with the other aromas. The flavor is again very well balanced with nothing being overly dominant: dark roasted malts, espresso, dark chocolate, anise, vanilla, and molasses. The finish has a dry bitterness to it. Creamy smooth mouthfeel. I liked Beer Geek Breakfast and this one is even better.