Mikkeller Draft Bear

Mikkeller
Brewed at De Proefbrouwerij
Style: European Strong Lager
Copenhagen V, Denmark

CBF07 sample from tap. Pours hazy orange with huge white head. Aroma is sweet malty and very flowery hops. Flavour is soft malty, slight sweet and fruity hops. Finish soft hop floral, leveled well off by the malt.

Tap. A light hazy stray yellow with a beautiful creamy white head. Aroma has lots of Saazer hops. Well rounded mouthfeel. Taste begins sweet, then turns into a powerful hoppyness. A long aftertaste. The alcohol is extremely well-hidden.

On tap at Ølbaren. Semi clear and golden coloured with a medium sized fizzy head. Nice maltyness with notes of flowers, citrus, hops and caramel. Very well balanced.

750. Thanks, Maria! Pours deep murky amber with a towering sudsy white head. Acres of lace on the way down the glass. Nice forward (though not huge) tropical fruit nose: pineapple, mango, grapefruit. Very much a DIPA, or at least an IPA, in appearance, fragrance, and behavior. Nice rich body, tingly carb, plenty of fruity esters knocking around from the attack through the mid-palate to the finish. Incredibly tasty stuff. I’ll be shocked if this isn’t the highest I’ve ever rated a lager. Wonderful. Thank you, Maria!

Bottle at home purchased from Cave Direct Beer Merchants (Mixed case of Mikkeller Beer) Pours warm gold with a big clean bubbly white head. Pine and citrus notes soar off of this beer, these two also combine to great effect in the mouth along with a touch of cape gooseberry just to add an additional tang, I like this but feel that it comes across as more of an IPA than a European strong lager, I’m really surprised that it isn’t an IPA, anyway regardless of where it sits its lovely. Yet another very good beer from Mikkeller.

750 ml bottle. Golden orange colour, thick and foamy off-whte head. Very pleasant aroma of citrus and other fruits, pine and some sweet malts. The flavour is malty, with a little caramel, some citrus fruits and a warm, dry and strongly bitter hoppy finish. Delicious.

What is this? Well I’ll start off by saying I like it a lot. Top marks for originality. This beer shrugs off labels, it is-what-it-is. Lovely on a warm day, refreshing but still hints at being powerfull, a great combination, and one you don’t find that often, at least not often done as well as this. Aroma is surprisingly malty given it’s hop arrangement. Quite a lot of sweetness on the nose, light honey-like aromas and some caramel, very close to a bit of a liquorice tied up in there, which is quite an intriguing find, some floral activity and possibly a bit of herbals, almost mint like? Appearance is certainly cloudier than I had anticipated, hazy orange/golden, small receding whit/grey head. The flavour is very nice and certainly quite unique. Malts up first with some caramelized sugar notes, then straight into the beginning of aromatic hops, once again a little menthol-like nuance, lovely florals followed by a crisp and moreish bitter finish that goes on for some time. Finish contains good slightly acrid qualities, minor perfumed aromatics, a touch of spice and some lemon rind. Mouth feel is smooth as you like. If it wasn’t for the slightly high price I could happily tuck into one of these every few days. It slightly reminds me of a tripel in some ways, which I suppose is to be expected given abv. and its genetics, but all in all I feel it hangs onto enough originality to escape any desire one might have to pigeon hole the beer. One word: TASTY!!!

Bottle. Hoppy aroma, some alcohol noticed, lightly floral. Palate shows some nice bitter hops. Peach and citrus fruit come through. Alcohol is there, but is balanced, warming, rather than aggressive. Very nice beer.