Mikkeller Black Hole

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

Pours black as night with no light coming through. Even the aroma hits you with the bitterness of the malts. Not much hop evidence to speak of. The head is cola colored, but dissipates relatively quickly. The flavor is massively bitter. Like coffee that’s been on the burner for too long and then stuck in the fridge. There is a great acidity and tanicity to the body of the roasty malts. On the end, there’s a mild note of bittersweet baking chocolate. Despite the assault on th palate, there is something quite pleasing about the taste. It’s not easy to drink, but it is interesting. Lots in there...

Black pour, tan head, moderate lacing and retention. Aroma is roast, coffee, lesser chocolate and moderate hops. Somewhat vinous with hints of darker fruits. In the end, the coffee flavor dominates. Full bodied, lightly sweet. Alcohol hidden really well. Solid, best beer I’ve had from them so far.

Inky black body with only the slightest brown hues around the edges when put up to bright light. Cascading bubbles form a dark tan head of just over a finger. It reduces to an amorphous cap, leaving fine sheets of lacing. Aroma is surprisingly hoppy, with an odd charred pineapple quality. Some tar, dark fruits, and chocolate are also detectable. Taste is again a bit odd for the style. There’s a nice RIS profile of roasted coffee, dark chocolate, and boozy dark fruits, but there’s also a big dose of citrusy hops in the middle of the palate. It’s like part double stout and part double IPA. It’s interesting and it works pretty well. Points for uniqueness here. Carbonation is appropriately modest. Body isn’t all that full, but it’s still pretty velvety. Finish is exquisitely dry from all that roastiness. Booze is not apparent in the flavor but it really warms the whole body. A pleasant brew for winter nights.

Pours a dark dark brown with a good sized head. Aroma of coffee, chocolate, and alcohol. Nice creamy texture, nice sweetness. The alcohol is just a little too overpowering to fully enjoy this however.

Bottle courtesy of fonefan: Poured a pitch-black color stout with a medium foamy dark brown color head with average retention and some lacing. Aroma is vinous with some raisins and sweet malt. Taste is quite intensely sweet with notes of raisins and alcohol notes are also discernable. Full body with some medium carbonation with an oily texture. While I think I understand the intent of the brewer I found that this beer was way too sweet and too much alcohol was apparent.

Pours a deep black with thick brown head. Complex, but rather messy, aging will probably help this beer out a lot. Dark chocolate, roasted malt, sweet toffee, plum, raisins, liquorice, coffee, and piney floral hops. Lots of both malt and hops. When mellowed with age this will be an amazing stout.

I was rather impressed with this beer - it’s big and there’s a lot in there. At first, when it wsa cold, I thought this beer was simple, but once it warmed it revealed a lot of different elements in both smel and flavor. Appearance was a dark opaque black, with very little tan head. Aroma started off as just being a bit roasty with some very mild sourness, but as it warmed other aromas began to emerge. I got more roastiness, some chocolate, some brown sugar, and some liquorice. Flavor was also rather roasty, and I got a lot of molasses and a good helping of liquorice. Mouthfeel was pretty thick. SurlySober and I compared this beer to Big Eddy RIS, but I thought it less roasty, less coffee-like, and far more molasses-like. However, they are both "big" and very good beers. Mouthfeel was pretty thick...also somewhat molasses-like. I would highly recommend this beer. A big thanks to SurlySober for sharing the bottle he received from LiquidSolutions.

From the bottle this pours a thick-as-oil dark brown that turns black in the glass, capped but briefly by a slender brown head. The roasty aroma has some dark chocolate, licorice root, bitter coffee, a light caramel sweetness, and a slight touch of floral hops. Very smooth in the mouth, and it’s here that the warmth of alcohol first reveals itself. All merges artfully in the flavor, the hop bitterness perhaps being more assertive, and a peppery sensation from the alcohol coats the tongue. The finish is bitter and dry with a solid alcohol burn. Not as complex as I had expected, but in an odd way that adds to the enjoyability of the ale.

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