Mikkeller Black Hole

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

Bottle thanks to my amazing girlfriend! Bottle labeled at 13.1% abv. Pours with a small, quickly vanishing light brown head. Black body. Good lacing with alcohol legs as well. Aroma of alcohol, chocolate, a bit flowery, with molassas, wet cedar, some tar and liccorice. Taste is a bit of a dissapointment compaired to the smell. Yeasty, some alcohol, chocolate, but not much complexity at all. A bit warming, but not to bad consider the ABV. Syrupy with light carbonation.

Bottled, UDRBG. Rating #1600. Bottle number 69. Aroma of moccha, black currant, cherry and licorice. It’s appearance is pure machine oil. There is no head. taste is sweet and salty. Chocolate, licorice, coffee bitter finish. Cinnamon/ ’speculaas’, vanilla. Quite sticky. It’s a very dense brew and this is actually concentrated stout juice. I think you should add some water and then you have a few bottles of ’normal’ stout. The beer is an endless source of flavours. Mostly you just need a few decent ingredients to make a good brew. Adding too much mostly won’t do the beer any good. This beer is an example of adding a load of different things and it still is a very good brew. It’s a pitty this is an exclusive beer. They should brew more of this. Why limit good brews?

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.

In short: An intense imperial-imperial stout with a truckload of hops. Surprisingly good.
How: Bottle 375ml. Consumed when almost 1 year old.
The look: Black body with almost no head
In long: Nose is black molasses, slightly chocolaty and green grass. Taste is really not as over the top as I expected. Body doesn’t feel cloying. Alcohol is a little apparent but feels a lot less than the actual abv. Taste is simple but effective with medium roastiness and a ton of malts. Flavours of black liquorice, black chocolate, dark fruits concentrate. What’s really surprising about this beer is that the hops (resinous and with a green grass flavour) do manage to come through despite the size of the brew. The beer almost feels balanced. Black hole, that place where god divided by zero.

I picked this 375ml bottle for a joy on a Friday eve to celebrate Mikkeller being reviewed as one of the RateBeer best brewers and Ølbutikken as the best beer retailer in the world. This dark, green bottle, topped by a wire cradle and a cork, was bought at Ølbutikken in May last year (BB 14.08.2011). The body content is black as oil and topped by a ruby brownish, bubbly head. Smooth aroma of deep, dark malts. Dark fruits and roasted dark malts in flavour pushed into the background by a bit overwhelmingly liquorice. Solid and lingering bitter ending with warming alcohol. Great stuff, but the liquorice is rather too dominating. [Tromsø, 30.01.2009].

Pours black with a tall tan head. Nose of sweet coffee, very fresh and floral, almost like coffee ice cream. Flavors of port, coffee, chocolate, licorice, charred and almost smokey at times. Very smooth palate, very lilttle alcohol for such a big beer. This is one of those beers that is amazing without aging it and will probably be even more amazing with age.

Bottle. Very dark brown with a light brown head. Alcohol, chocolate, vanilla and some roast aroma. Espresso flavours blending with chocolate and vanilla on a stout alcoholic base. Full-bodied, rather flat. Likeable heavy-weighter.

330. Not quite the wrestle-ya-to-the-ground revelation that might have been expected, but still a positively lovely little impy. Well, not "little," but you know what I mean. Big dusty nose with chalk, cherry, prune, soy, and chocolate peeking through at different times as it comes up to temp. Cellar temp was a wee bit chillier than normal here in the Pacific Northwest today, so the beer got to reveal its character gradually, for better or worse, since it was the first one I opened tonight. Not even worth trying to talk about until half an hour (and half a glass) had gone by. Surprisingly manageable body--thick, but not insanely viscous or oily or sticky. Just a nice big satisfying dollop. All those notes from the nose return--dust and chalk, cherry, prune, soy, and chocolate. Amazingly "light" on its feet for its abv, balanced and under control. No booze showing really anywhere. Long chalky soy finish. Great stuff, bordering on a world classic.