• Brewery: Mikkeller (Brewed at De Proefbrouwerij)
• Country: Denmark
• Style: American IPA
• ABV: 7.8 %
• Size: 330 ml
• Bought from: Alko, 5.23€
• Beer Advocate
• RateBeer

Christmas beers have made their annual debut at Alko, and you can find the list of this year’s Christmas beers here. I’m usually not that super excited about the Christmas beers, but I bought a couple of bottles from the list. First up is Mikkeller’s Hoppy Lovin’ Christmas, an IPA brewed with ginger and pine needles. Sounds quite interesting and hopefully the spices aren’t overpowering. Have had a couple of ginger-spiced beers before and they are usually a bit over-the-top, but pine needles in beer is new to me. The beer has been brewed with Pale Ale and Melanoidin (these are starting to become one of my favorite malts) malts and hopped with Magnum, Amarillo, Columbus, Centennial and Citra to an IBU of 66. On paper this sounds awesome at least! Let’s see how it does in reality!

[easyreview title=”Mikkeller Hoppy Lovin’ Christmas” cat1title=”Appearance” cat1detail=”The beer pours with a slightly hazy golden-orange color and a massive white-colored fluffy head is formed, that collapses slowly leaving patches of lacing along the glass. The beer is bottle-conditioned, so the second pours contains some yeast.” cat1rating=”4″ cat2title=”Smell” cat2detail=”The aroma is dominated by fruity hops, featuring tones of pineapple, mango and citrus, together with resiny pine notes and ginger. The aroma is quite sweet as well, with some caramel notes in the background. A really nice aroma, but you definitely have to like (tropical) fruity hops to enjoy it.” cat2rating=”4″ cat3title=”Taste” cat3detail=”The flavor begins with a slightly sweet, caramelly and bready maltiness, that is quickly joined by a resiny, citrusy, pineapple-like and dank hoppiness. The hop flavors are strong and they dominate the palate. The taste finishes with a quite dry and bitter finish, giving room for a slight bite of ginger as well. Positively surprised that the ginger has managed to stay in the background, while it still contributes positively to the flavor. The flavors are well balanced for an IPA, with the moderately strong bitterness being coupled with the strong hop flavors and not too weak of a malt backbone.” cat3rating=”4.5″ cat4title=”Mouthfeel” cat4detail=”The beer has a medium body and carbonation level, and it is easy to drink. A really enjoyable and well put together beer.” cat4rating=”4″ summary=”A very nice ‘spiced’ IPA, where the spices are actually in the background and complement the hop flavors that are very present in this. Lots of tropical fruits, citrus and resin flavors in this, which I really enjoy. Maybe just slightly too much of the fruits if I have to find something to complain about. The bitterness level is good, and it is very well backed up by the maltiness contributed by the melanoidin malts. My kind of Christmas beer!”]