Mikkeller Black Hole

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

Bottle via SS. Dark color. Smell of coffee, malt, alcohol, smoke, hops and sugar. Taste of roasted coffee, malt, hops, caramel, alcohol, and some fruit. I think this is too over rated.

375ml bottle. Pours black with tan head. Aroma is dark chocolate, coffee, booze, dark fruits and some burnt sugar. Flavor is very sweet with chocolate, sweet malts, dark fruit, caramel and some light coffee. Mouthfeel is smooth but coffee brings bitter finish. There is a light alcohol burn but much lighter than you would expect from a 13.1% abv beer. Has about as much coffee as I like in a stout but is a little to sweet for my palate. Not as balanced as Speedway. Still a nicely crafted RIS and I can see why some people really like this beer.

[Bottle, thanks Brewfiend] Pours brown with minimal tan head. Aroma is alcohol, black liquorice, pepper and a small amount of chocolate. Taste is pine, roasted malt, a little chocolate and some coffee at the end. Medium mouthfeel. Good, fairly dry finish. Very unusual imperial, especially with the peppery aroma. I’d like to try this again some time as I did not get nearly the same amounts of chocolate or coffee that others have described.
Re-Rate: Very much the same as last time, only a little bit more coffee now. Overall a very unique beer, but just not that good imo--dropping the rating one point.

Bottle. Roasted malt, coffee, chocolate and oats in aroma. Dark brown colour with small light brown head. Sweet. spicy flavour of coffee, chocolate, vanilla and cassanade. Spicy bittersweet aftertaste.

Bottle. Black colour with a small brown head. Aroma: roastiness, coffee, licorice, saltiness, dark fruit, molasses, earth, outhouse!?, herbal hops. Taste: roasted, coffee, light sweetness, hops, a bit sour, saltiness, pepper, alcohol, charcoal, a bit herbal. Light carbonation. A bit too hot and peppery. Probably needs a bit more aging.

Bottle shared by sliffy at Columbus tasting. Aroma was really rich and chocolatey and malty. Its got a little bitterness and hoppiness to it. Really bold and huge beer. Smooth and enjoyable.

A nice imperial, though it struck me as being a tad too vinous and relying too much on the alcohol flavors. It didn’t have the same heaviness that a lot of imperials have, which made for a unique experience. Good...but perhaps a bit disappointing, given its ratings.

THOUGHTS: Wow. This was great. Mikkeller continues to impress me. This one is dangerous. It hid the alcohol incredibly well. Not the kind of hoppy impy stout that many feel is the definitive impy stout, but a wonderfull impy that has some coffee without straying too far from what and impy stout should be. Brilliant. It’s an impy with some coffee in it not a coffee stout that is ramped up to impy alcohol levels, like some other coffee imperial stouts I’ve tried recently. TECHNICAL: Bottle. Poured a dark brown that was an opaque black in the glass with and average tan head that kept a sheet and left good to fair lacing. The aroma was light to moderate milk chocolate and cocoa, lighter mild coffee and some alcohol. The flavor started sweet but finished with bitter chocolate and coffee with a long duration. There was chocolate, bitter coffee, a little cream and a hint of alcohol. The full body was creamy and slightly oily with tingly carbonation and a light astringent and light alcoholic finish.