Mikkeller Big Bad Barley Wine

Formerly brewed at Mikkeller
Style: Barley Wine
Copenhagen V, Denmark

A huge thanks to Lachesis for this most intens and original beer. Light hazy amberish color with creamy beige to yellow foam. Aroma is very expressive. In the nose you can fiend aroma’s of bitter herbs, spices, cinnamon, bark, spicy cakes, punch, caramel and cognac. The taste is very impressive too. Like Carlo says, this is at least two to three beers in one. It has a round and full boddied attack, the balance is great, it is sweet and has dry caracteristics too, and it end with the most crisp and refreshing hops you can imagin. What a great beer ! Thanks Lachesis for this great beer.

Deep orange-amberish beer, light hazy and with creamy yellow-beige foam. The nose is very complex and rich. It has Cognac and honeyed accents. The herby notes are very present but they are so well in balance with the barley caracter of this most original beer. The taste is out of this world. So complex, dry and round at the same time. A great beer with a afthertaste that last forever. A BIG thanks to Lachesis for sharing this (to me, best beer so far) I need more of this.

Intens amber color, good beige-yellow foam. Fine and very complex aroma’s with touches of grass, herbs, citrus, nutpeel, honey, agorn sirup, mint, nuts and lots of hops. Taste is at first soft and slight sweet with hints of honey, bresilienne nuts, toffe, caramel and dry cookies. Later all this great soft sensations are turning in a complex bitterness. Again touches of grass, mints, laurell, tons of hops and earthy tones are giving this beer a great dry finish. Thanks Carlo, what a sensation.

Very attractieve warm-amber color with a deep warm-glowing orange shine. The foam is yellow-beige with the consitancy of lightly wipped cream. The aroma is most impressive. In the first fase it has a smooth and deep aroma of barley, honey, sweet bread, XO cognac and the nose of camille flowers. In the second fase the spicey and woody hints are coming up. Touches of cedar-wood, cigarebox, exotic spices and bee-wax are very present in the nose. The third fase displays the hoppy part of this beer. It is like you enter a Bio-shop where all kind off green tea’s and dried herbs are together. The refreshing hoppy aroma’s are working so well with the round and smooth impressions of the first and second fase of the nose. The mouthfeel is very complex. It has a soft first impression. The taste is very smooth and reaches all the parts of the mouth, it also has this fine refreshing carbonation. First you have this soft barley, honey, XO-cognac, mouth attack with complex touches of Asian spices and exotic woods. then the waxy and peppery nutmegg accents are coming up, together with this nice caramel and liquor accents. Afther all this, the boost of the hops and the herb-like parts are taking the upperhand. The feeling is great when the first sweet and barley touches are changing into an refreshing bitterness that is so complex and powerfull that the taste of it stays in your mouth for minutes. The hoppyness is very well packed and plays a powerfull and refreshing part. In the end. The smooth alcohol sweetness and the round caracter of this very original beer are making the circle full. I tasted this most impressive beer at the appatment of the brewer himself. I was speachless at the time i was tasting it. Ten minutes later i took a taxi to the Copenhagen Olfestival. during that drive all aroma’s and taste sensations came back to my mind. The beer was so powerfull and the composition was so right. ART IS A GREAT THING ! These are my tasting notes from the first batch of this beer. May 2005. I’m looking forward to try it again. 6 Sept 2005, this is the moment. As i expected, this is a monumental beer. It has the looks, the finesse and the power. All well packed and perfectly in balance. I want to fill my Eurocave wine-fridge with this.

Mahogany color with red shades; huge creamy head; it deserved my original Cuvée de l’Ermitage Grand Cru glass! Very nice aroma, medium strong, malty of course, with an elegant hoppy note, developing over time. Full mouthfeel, very good balance of malts and hops, powerful but not cloying; good hop fruitness and excellent final, long and fruity, with enough resins.
A monster, just my kind of beer, that I could drink over and over!

50 cl bottle. GREAT beer! Aroma is near-perfect with a very intense nose. Appearance couldn’t be better - nice and dark with fantastic foam. Flavor is just right up my alley, nice and hoppy with a marvellous sweetness. Mouthfeel nice and comfortable as well. Overall, the best barley wine I’ve tasted, and definitely one of my top 10 beers. I absolutely LOVE it!!!

Bottle. Pours a nice orange-amber. Aroma is full, estery, of fruit steeped in mild brandy, and just a hint of woodiness. Definitely got my mouth watering. Body is rich and medium-full. Just a hint of syrup on the palate makes for a full body. Flavor is of overripe pears, apples and plums, intoxicatingly sweet but not cloying by any means. High ABV warms the belly. Finish takes forever. I held my glass for a full two minutes before taking another sip, which worked out well because with a little warmth, this beer is outstanding. Finish was woody with liquorice notes and a pervading undertone of plums and dates. Wonderful brew. Can’t wait to try Big Worse!

Bottle from ølbutikken. Very well balanced, even one of my friends who normally don’t like barly wine, loved it..... Very drinkable!!!!!