Mikkeller Black Hole

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

Chocolate and coffee bean aroma are what I notice first, even really before how the beer looks. Black beer with a dark brown head. Bitter dark chocolate flavor with hints of coffee beans poking through. Medium bodied. Alcohol in the flavor and an alcohol burn in the palate. Sweet finish as well. Plenty of other flavors in there, dark fruits galore, almost overly complex. Decent lacing. Very unique.

375 ml bottle. Pitch black. Fine-laced dark brown head that clings to the glass. Bold licorice aroma with lots of dark chocolate and pine cones. Extremely flavourful. Lots of grassy hops and is very bitter. Multi-dimensional and in-your-face. Very complex, but lacks a little balance. Smooth texture.

Room Temp: Cork Date ?/08/11: Pours black,with a fizzy,small,tan,head,that settles to a incomplete ring. Great nose,at first, of charcoal,plum,chocolate,lightly roasty,and underlying,nearly hidden,alcohol. Thick,slick,coating texture,low carbonation,no suprise. Doesn’t stick in a cloying fashion though like I was expecting. Upfront sweet,bitterness and dark fruit. Following is much creamy chocolate,lightly roasty,and a annoying,to me,heavy yeasty(mineral) flavor. Finish is long with charcoal,chocolate,and anise with a small alcohol burn,and a hint of earthy hops. As it opens up more the alcohol shows itself more in the aroma to the point where it really hides the rest of the aroma,and although it picks up in the flavor too,not as annoying as aroma. Overall,I wouldn’t go as far as to call this complex,but for what I was expecting,I’m quite suprised how tasty and drinkable this is for it’s strength,although a whole bottle is a bit much. Didn’t notice the brewed with coffee on the bottle til’ pouring the dregs. Small coffee influence and no ashy flavors in this bottle like most aged/older coffee stouts.Would have never noticed. Thanks to the trader who bonused me this bottle!

Mikkeller Black Hole is a solid black beer with a dense, brown sugar colored head that leaves excellent lacing. It has a smokey aroma that’s slightly sweet. It kind of smells like a barbeque. It’s full bodied; smooth, with a clean finish. The flavor has notes of smoke, barbeque, roast, vegemite, something a little spicy and something a little sweet. This thing is like a complete meal-- very unique!

375 ml corked bottle. An opaque black beer with a large, creamy, mostly diminishing brown head. Very strong aroma, roasty, with light hoppiness and notes of dark chocolate, molasses, licorice and alcohol. The flavour is heavily sweet, lightly acidic, lightly to moderately bitter. Good flavours and creamy mouthfeel, but an excessive burnt/ashy note in the finish. Almost full body, soft carbonation, long finish with high bitterness, moderately alcoholic. Apart the lightly unpleasant ashy note, a very well made beer.

This beer pours an oily black color with a medium light brown head that dissipates steadily. Rings of lacing on the glass. Aroma of burnt malt, chocolate and potent coffee liqueur. Rich body with flavors of espresso, dark chocolate and malt. Underlying alcohol throughout. The finish is roasty with a lingering anise and coffee aftertaste. I enjoyed this one.

Bottled sample via and shared with oakbluff. Black in colour with low carbonation. Huge malt aromas with notes of sprouted cereal grains, vanilla, and herbal hopping. Again, quite malt forward in the mouth, with some roasted coffee and chocolate malts along with minty hops. Heavy in the mouth, and only slightly boozy. I was surprised how little roast character there was with this bottle (especially on the nose), but I seem to recall that it had been aged for a while, so that might explain it. Above average, but not a favorite.

[bottle] Potent toasty malt aroma with some vanilla, light coffee and port wine notes. Also quite a bit of pumpernickel in the nose. Oily thick opaque black with tan wisps and ring. Rich, velvety roasted barley with not a small amount of hops flavour and a significant bitterness that attempts to balance quite a bit of residual sweetness. Vanilla, bourbon, pumpernickel, coffee. Excellent, if a bit on the sweet side. Medium to full body, low carbonation, lingering bitterness that is not exclusively from black malt.