Mikkeller Single Hop Simcoe IPA

Mikkeller
Brewed at De Proefbrouwerij
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Copenhagen V, Denmark

LOTS of suspended yeast after this beer is poured. Color is medium brown and cloudy with a small off white head. Aroma is the unique bite of Simcoe hops with pine, citrus, and floral notes. Some yeast as well. First taste is a hop bite that grabs the tongue. It is amazingly tart and bitter. Mikkeller loaded this up with Simcoe. This one is too much for me. Subtleness is thrown out the window and mouth numbing bitter tartness is overdone.

12oz bottle. Pours a hazy dark orange with a medium off white head, decent retention and some nice webbed lacing from the head. Aromas are very much tropical fruit, pineapple, mango and tangerine. Hops are also very floral and somewhat grassy. Biscuity malts also present. Flavors are fruity up front with a fairly sweet malt addition. Finish is long and bitter, just the way I like it! Palate is medium to full bodied and well carbonated.

Love the concept as an exercise, but as a beer it just reinforces my dislike of Simcoes. Loads of overripe stonefruit hop aroma, with some glueyness, and weird weedy Simcoe stuff. Some faint phenolics too? Nice juicy malt flavour which is quite fresh and not too thick and caramelly, nice big bitterness but it’s really quite harsh. The few Mikkellers I’ve tried thus far have all been moderately disappointing I’m afraid. On the plus side, some of the most impressive foam I’ve seen in a long time. Glad to see the expense of this beer somewhat offset by its being filled right to the very top of the bottle. I wonder what volume they paid excise on?

11.2 oz. bottle. Murky amber color with a thick, fluffy off white head. Lots of floating sediment. Aroma of piney resin with some citrus hints. Big hoppy flavor with a nice caramel undertone. Lots of bitterness in the finish. Nice beer.

I really loved this IPA. I brought together so many parts of an IPA that are so integral to a good one. TOns of hops, balance, richness, layered flavors. Really great. Orange peel, great floral elements, enveloping. Nice job, they really copied America’s greatest beer style perfectly.

Crushed with Jakebra. Another random pickup that turned into a great success. Nice hoppy nose, with lots of pine. Flavor is even better with a huge rush of bittering and pine hops in the finish that makes it a top-notch IPA. Dug it.

Bottle. Poured a reddish amber color with a medium to large off white head. Aroma was definitely simcoe. Pine and grapefruit; very resiny and delicious. Hints of yeast and caramel. Flavor wasn’t quite as stellar for me. Some mild sweet caramel flavor. However, mostly a piney, earthy, citrus hop flavor. Solid bitterness in the finish. Solid flavor overall, I just didn’t love it.

Bottle. Big pine and grapefruit nose, big and fat with a touch of lychee and tangerine. Ruby-orange pour with a lacing, fluffy beige head. Bitter taste but tastefully bitter (mostly aroma hopping here), extremely, extremely exotic fruit with light oiliness and a lovely biscuity dryness which lasts for ever. Light woodiness with a medium body. Super! Really starting to see the potential of this hop.