Mikkeller Tasting Notes

Mikkeller Black Hole

Pours with an oily black body and no head to speak of. Nose has smoke, coffee roast, dark chocolate and vanilla with residual sweetness detectable. Palate has huge depth and power but maintains great balance. Rich choc makes way for honey sweetness before coffee roast comes into play. The sweetness masks the power of the dark malt quite well and stops it from being overly bitter/sweet or astringent, but still has plenty of power & presence. Finishes with a combination of dark choc fudge, coffee, vanilla and lingering honey sweetness. Absolutely awesome beer, great complexity & impeccable balance despite big abv and general robust profile.

De Struise / Mikeller (Elliot Brew)

Pours golden amber with a nice off white head that persists for the duration of the glass & leaves chunky lacing. Nose has masses of spicy(slightly piney?) hops with some sweetness and citrus/apricot esters. Not unlike a traditional belg tripel but ramped up considerably. Palate has honey-like malt & candy sugar sweetness before the significant hop bitterness takes charge delivering a long bitter finish. Great alternative to caramel malt laden US-style IPAs. Awesome balance despite robust nature.

Mikkeller Jackie Brown

More robust than the nogne o i’d sampled prior. Pours dark brown with a nice off white head. Nose has a good mix of roasted malt, choc.coffee as well as some us hops in there. Palate is more robust than i expected having not looked at the abv. Choc/coffee malt early supported by slightly citrussy hops, sounds odd but the citrus is rather mild but hop presence definately there. Finish is long with lingering hop bitterness and roasted malt. Overall a great, robust brown ale.