Mikkeller Big Worse Barley Wine

Mikkeller
Brewed at De Proefbrouwerij
Style: Barley Wine
Copenhagen V, Denmark

Single bottle purchased at Chuck’s in Chagrin Falls. Pour is a nice- dark with a thin head, buuuutttt the real money maker is the aroma. Its got this rich, earthy, bourbony, dark fruit scent. Seriously, this smells full and rich and slightly aged. Flavor is smooth at first, very full of malt but not overpowering with any of the standard malt aspects, this is well balanced between the sugar, the malt, the hops and the alcohol. God, this is fantastic. Too bad the bottle costs like $10 and isn’t even a full 2 glasses.

A little hazy dark brown colored beer, with a beige head. The aroma of dark chocolate malts with dark fruits like prunes and dark cherries. The taste has also chocolate with with dark fruits. It’s bittersweet. spicy. In the back are porto flavors. Hints of alcohol. The aftertaste is spicy, warm and bittersweet.

Very thick opaque brown pour. Little head or carbonation. Lots of nutty almond malts on the nose with a touch of honey. Very sweet maple syrup flavor with strong malt notes. Bitter alcohol finish. Theres a funky, fruity, earthiness with a strong acidity to it. Interesting flavor.

Bottle. Moderate to heavy malt aromas of cereal and caramel, moderate orange and perfume for the hops, light dough for the yeast, with background notes of brown sugar, date and alcohol. Head is very small, with big bubbles, off-white, with almost no lacing but has good legs, and is mostly diminishing. Color is murky brown. Flavor starts heavily sweet and lightly acidic, then finishes moderately sweet and lightly acidic and bitter. Palate is full, creamy/syrupy, with a soft almost flat carbonation and finishes moderately alcoholic. This a very nice Barley Wine, to be savored for sure. I’m surprised by some of the lower scores.

My bottle (12.7oz) shared with garthicus. Pours a murky amber-brown with a spare diminishing off-white head. Aroma of caramel and/or toffee, chocolate, brown sugar, hops and alcohol -- quite a bit going on here. Flavour’s somewhat harsh, almost acidic, with quite a lot of alcohol, some caramel malt, brown sugar, dark fruit and light hops. Medium bodied. This is definitely a beer for sharing in my opinion, it’s quite boozy. I like it but it’s not as good as I would’ve liked.

Found at Hop City in Atlanta, Georgia. Not much of a head to this beer. Caramel brown in color. Decent looking beer, but nothing exceptional, considering the price. Very pungent malt sweetness. Very nice aroma. Slight alcohol presence. Very sweet sugar malt taste. Smooth palate. Nice sweet taste. Alcohol is overcome by the sweetness. Almost a fig/raisin taste. Awesome sweet taste, but the flavor isn’t very nuanced. Decent taste, aroma; excellent palate. Overall, very sweet/malty flavor, but a weak aroma. Cheers.

2007 Bottle I Think - Thanks Chris! - Pours thick brown with a small white head...aroma is woody, dark malt, had a vanilla barrel component that came through...flavour was similar, raisins, bourbon oak with a mellow finish...very enjoyable!

With great thanks to Blankboy. Appearance: Murky brown, small white head. Aroma: Caramel, alcohol, burnt sugar, yeast, hops, wood. Flavour: Pine and lemon, juicy, smoky, alcohol, sweet with dark fruit. Not bad. Better to be shared methinks.