Mikkeller Black Hole

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

Bottle (375ml - green, corked & caged). Shared with garthicus, my bottle. Thick opaque black pour, minimal head. Deep dry roast aroma, near-burnt, molasses and alcohol, very herbal. Taste - even more bitter, burnt cookies, dry bitterness, quite boozy at it warms, figs and long-steeped raisins, coffee grounds and nutshell bitterness. Thick, syrupy body, deeply roasty mouthfeel, astringent and increasingly boozy - lovely, really - wouldn’t drink it regularly, pretty "big."

375 ml bottle. Black body with a small creamy brown head. Boozy dark fruit aroma with some hoppy citrus notes. Surprisingly bitter flavour, roasty acidic coffee notes. Hot alcoholic undertones, strong eye opening acidic character to the finish lingers is a bit rough and is not particularly welcome. Smooth medium palate. (3+) Very interesting with a lot of depth and character but I do not know if I particularly want more. Good in its way, but ultimately rather disappointing, I had hoped for something different. Following it up with the Nogne Dark Horizon cast it in an even less flattering light.

Tasted at the May Northern California Beer Tasting. This Imperial Stout pours a deep black color from a 22oz(?) bottle. Small to medium sized white foamy head. The aroma is coffee and chocolate, with some roasty malt. Medium to full bodied Imperial Stout. The malts are coffee and chocolate. The hops are earthy. Good body. There is some pepper flavor at the backend. Hides the alcohol very well. Mouthfeel is full and round. Finish is clean and smooth. Aftertaste is slightly bitter.

This bottled brew from JSquire at a rating party was marked 14/08/11 and poured a large sized head of foamy brown colored bubbles that were mostly lasting and left behind a opaque no visible carbonation black colored body and a fair lacing. The aroma was brown malt and dark malt. The mouth feel was tingly at the start and at the finish. The flavor contained notes of hops and dark malt. A wonderful best in class brew.

Bottle. [#1100 and once again the Mikkeller crew can’t be thanked enough for letting me try this one] Shared with thewold and Myrup, hope that you enjoyed it as much as I did. It had been sitting forever in my beer cellar just waiting to get out… he he. Quit spectacular bouquet that hits your nose. Chocolate, coffee, roasted malt, molasses. Over the palate a mix of prune, date, liquorish, soy sauce, brown sugar, berries, vanilla and wood could be observed. An underlying floral and light grapefruit note could also be detected. Explosively full bodied experience with a warming alcoholic texture and soft carbonation. So well balanced moderated flavor of sweet malt and mix of bitter notes. Long lasting vinous and sweet finish. What a fantastic beer!

Bottle. Pours a black body with a thin tan lacing. Burnt coffee huge alcohol latent fruits and a big licorice flavor. Not balanced by any means as the alcohol runs wild throughout this one. Good but not great.

Bottle (nr. 66/100) at home - shared with Mette. Pitch black - absolutly no head. Oily thick liquid. Bower - Plums, cherry - sweet berries hits your nose when you pour it. Aroma + taste: Plums, cherry, coffee, roasted, burned, dried fruits, madeira, a lot af sweet berries, hints of vanilla. Bitterness, vanilla, chokolate in the finish. Very powerfull.

(Bottled, 13.1%, @Pikkulintu [Thanks, Markku!]) Very dark brown with a medium, brown, lasting and slightly lacy head. Lots of roasty malt and smooth american-style hops in the aroma, some lactic feel, coffee, chocolate. Very intensely malty, strongly roasty-burned flavor with obvious, warming, but smooth alcohol. Some licorice, light ashiness, dry, salty and bitter finish. Quite full-bodied, a bit slicky palate with smooth, low carbonation. A very nice and dry, but slightly too burned imperial stout. Definitely a slow beer. I’ll wait for some years before opening the rest. [Re-sampled about 6 months later: much smoother now, less burned with more coffee and liquourish fruitiness. Delicious!]