Mikkeller Black Hole

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

Bottle (33 cl) from Ølbutikken, Copenhagen, Denmark. Deep black with a large beige head. Intensely roasted malt aroma with clear notes of asperagus, green pepper, black currant and nettles. Heavy and thick with silky smooth mouthfeel. Some residual sweetness keeps this beer from being unbalanced with its massive bitterness.

375ml green bottle. Caged and (synthetic) corked. Pours thick, black. Pure crude oil. Aroma of cold espresso coffee, licorice, sweet malts, and aromomatic hops. Flavor is sweet malt, rich chocolate, coffee, cocoa, topped off with a perfectly balanced hop flavor. Absolutely stellar! Now I’m gonna eat some Triple Chunk Brownies. YUM.

Poured black with a thin head, is that all, but no, gained some head after warming somehow. Aroma was just amazin with chocolate coffee candy fruit and more. We had to wait a bit for this since it was too cold, but when it warmed up, oh wow, fantastic with flavors that amplified the aroma. truly special

Re-rate: Another good tasting, although a slight notch lower than my first. The flavor this time through had some licorice and fruity/vinous notes, slight astringent bitterness, although still quite excellent, just not as solid as my original. Dropping only a couple notches. Original rating: Bottle, pitch dark black pour, nice chocolate colored slow developing head, good retention and head. The aroma was initially a bit vinous, choco, piney hops. The flavor started out a let-down, somewhat like the Dark Horizon did, acidic, roasty bitter, pine hoppy bitter, lingering bitter, choco-coffee malts, some dark fruits in there too. However, the serving temp was the culprit, and as this puppy warmed up to the 55-60F range, man a rockin’ beer, rich dark malts, only light roast, firm coffee (but not as strong as Speedway), well balanced with some chocolate, pine hops, and faint vinous/dark fruit notes (port wine like) underneath, lingering hoppy, almost spicey zing. The mouthfeel was silky smooth, full, prickly (carbonation and hops there), lovely. Glad I have another bottle, may go get a couple more, put it up against Speedway eventually. Wonderful stuff!

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 with a black body topped by a thin to medium thick, light brown head with some lacing. It’s slightly sweet yet bitter with notes of malt and chocolate as well as strong alcohol esters. Full bodied, slightly dry and a touch warming.

This is a really tasty imperial stout. Very black. Good head. Anise and very mild charcoal. Some chocolate. Some yeastiness. Noticeable hops, but like in more legitimate imperial stouts, the malt flavors dominate so that it’s just a faint essence of flavor and bitterness. The body could perhaps be a little creamier, but that’s a very mild complaint.

Yummy. Black with a foamy brown head. Coffee dominates the aroma with alcohol following. Thick buttery palate. Dark bitter chocolate and strong espresso taste. Excellent. This beer is under rated. Seriously this is a damn good imperial stout. It is a really big beer with a lot of flavor. If you can’t deal with that stick to your pale ale.