Mikkeller Black Hole

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

Bottle at the shack of party banter tasting. Alround rating: Possibly one of the sorest drinks i encountered over the weekend. Roasty, packed with alcohol, really difficult to drink, i could only manage 3 sips before giving it to someone else.

Bottle #3/100 courtesy of Papsoe: This may be the darkest beer I’ve ever had. Pours a completely opaque fairly viscous black with a nicely-lacing light brown head. Full, sweet dark caramel and chocolate malty aroma has some roasty smoky notes with a touch of bready grain and fresh piny hops. Body starts with good viscosity and sweet earthy caramel and dark chocolate with some piny hoppy bitterness. Finishes smooth and bittersweet with a nice lingering dark chocolate flavor. A very nice imperial stout.

Bottle 46 of 100... TITW Part Deux... This beer rocks!... Tar black ale with no head. Earthy, chocolaty nose with a tangy suggestion of raspberries. Lots of chocolate in the flavor. Moderate sweetness is dwarfed by the bitterness of the hops, alcohol and charred malt. Full-bodied with a velvety mouthfeel and subtle carbonation. The lengthy finish is sweet, then burnt and bitter. World class effort! Big thanks to kmweaver for sharing his bottle!

courtesy of fiulijn - dark black coloured (of course...) with a little dark beige foam; robust aroma of coffee, honey and ashes; roasted; full-bodied and oily; incredibly bitter; long dry and deeply bitter finish of mocha and ashes - thick and powerful: the kind of black hole I would love to dive in

Bottle No. 28/100. Huge thanks to Jeppe (bierkonig) for getting this bottle for me. Shared with the Sydney guys in early January. Dark, black appearance. Plenty of roasted malt in the aroma, nice rich aroma. This is very full-bodied, with a long roasty flavour, with hints of mocha/coffee, chocolate and also some nice citric hoppy notes towards the finish. Quite charcoaly aswell, quite burnt. Beautiful, big, rich, and round mouthfeel, with a flavour which seems to go on forever. Beautiful.

Huge, ultra-dark grey-brown head over jet-black beer. Dry, bone-dry hops and some Italian cafe breve struggling to get out. Incredibly concentrated; aroma’s of green husks, cucumber, moccha, black grain. Taste: coffee...yes; moccha...probably; higher alcohols...present, besides the ethanol; toffee...identifyable; milksugar...YES!; molasses...no doubt but well-hidden; rubber...suggested. Finally a flavour that is dessert-y, which I attribute to the vanilla. And after swallowing all that, I get tobacco. Incredibly porwerful, smooth, creamy & fierce. Wheat expresses itself in the MF. A truly complex and awe-inspiring beer - even for somebody not overly fond of coffee like me. Tour de force , which is at the same time its Achilles heel: it just wants desperately to be thé... Tak, Jeppe - og Carlo.

Rating # 3000. Pitch black colour with a small brown head. Roasted malty aroma with a sweet chocolate and vanilla note. Roasted malty, quite sweet flavor, again with this chocolate and vanilla note. Coffee roasted bitter finish.

My Bottom Line:
Soaring vanilla spiciness gathers molasses and roastiness, taking this Imperial Stout’s potent malt personality to piney and bitter hop resins for a muscular display of complexity.

Further Personal Perceptions:
-A line of foam is drawn atop the brown-ringed blackness.
-Although it was quite pleasant, I did not find the aroma as complex and personable as the flavor profile.
-A diligent vinosity adds complexity.
-The boastful hoppiness is also a bit citrusy in the last half.
-Alcohol is warming, but there are so many (agreeable) flavors to be tasted that the tongue can forget about this wandering heat.
-Chocolate is tasted as well within the roasted malt character.
-This is amazingly classy despite its show of strength.

Bottle; best before 14/08/2011.