Tag Archives: Mikkeller

Mikkeller 10

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  • Brewery: Mikkeller (Brewed at De Proefbrouwerij)
  • Country: Denmark
  • Style: American IPA
  • ABV: 6.9 %
  • Size: 330 ml
  • Bought from: Barley Wine, Copenhagen
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This evening I thought I’d taste through a pair of beers brewed with a large number of different hop varieties. Five different hop varieties is the most I’ve ever added to one beer when homebrewing, and that was already pushing it when looking at the flavor it produced, since more hop varieties lead to a more muddled and generic hop flavor, making it harder to pick out the nuances brought by the different hop varieties (think of it as adding spices to a soup, you have to find a good balance and can’t add everything in your spice cupboard hoping to make a good soup). First up is Mikkeller’s 10, an American IPA brewed with 10 different hop varieties. These ten are (as listed on the bottle): Warrior, Simcoe, Centennial, Cascade, Chinook, Amarillo, Nelson Sauvin, Nugget, Tomahawk, and East Kent Goldings. An interesting blend, mostly focusing on the American citrus hops, so am expecting lots of grapefruit, resin, floral tones, exotic fruits, and slight herbal tones. Was not able to find any information on the IBU, but am assuming it is in the 60-100 range. The other ingredients are Pilsner malt, Cara-crystal, Munich malt and Oat flakes (ratios should be 67-11-11-11 % according to this post) and an American-style yeast. Let’s see if this Mikkeller is a magnificent masterpiece or muddled mess!

[easyreview title=”Mikkeller 10″ cat1title=”Appearance” cat1detail=”The beer pours with a slightly hazy amber-orange color and a fluffy cream-colored head is formed, that collapses quite quickly leaving behind oily patches of lacing along the glass. ” cat1rating=”4″ cat2title=”Smell” cat2detail=”The aroma is sweet and fruity, featuring mostly tones of peach, grapefruit, orange and pineapple. You can definitely feel the presence of crystal malt, as it lends a sweet caramelly note to the aroma. Surprisingly little resin and pine, but maybe it is present in the flavor instead?” cat2rating=”3.5″ cat3title=”Taste” cat3detail=”The flavor is quite similar to the aroma, beginning with a slightly sweet, caramelly and bready maltiness, that is joined by a citrusy and fruity hoppiness, lending mostly tones of citrus, peach, pineapple, and a slight dankness. I would never be able to pick out the individual hops from this if I hadn’t known them before tasting the beer, and having tasted it I feel that 10 different hop varieties is a bit too much, as the hop tones are quite muddled. The beer finishes semi-dry, with a moderate bitter bite, that could perhaps be a little stronger. The flavors are quite balanced, but maybe the hop flavors could be a bit stronger (this beer is about 8 months old, so it has probably lost a bit of potency). Not bad, but nothing spectacular.” cat3rating=”3.5″ cat4title=”Mouthfeel” cat4detail=”The beer has a smooth and medium-full body and a medium-low carbonation level. The beer is easy to drink and feels nice in the mouth.” cat4rating=”4″ summary=”Overall an interesting beer, but nothing I would buy again. I will also make sure never to use this many hop varieties in any of my own beer, since the large number made a surprisingly muddled and uninteresting hop profile. I’m a bit scared to try the next beer.”]

Mikkeller Hoppy Lovin’ Christmas

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

Mikkeller K:rlek

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  • Brewery: Mikkeller (Brewed at De Proefbrouwerij)
  • Country: Denmark
  • Style: American Pale Ale
  • ABV: 5.5 %
  • Size: 355 ml
  • Bought from: Online
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Mikkeller’s K:rlek is a concept beer brewed in collaboration with Swedish craft beer importer Brill & Co and first released in April 2012. This version of K:rlek (an American Pale Ale) is brewed for the spring and summer of 2012, and the next version (with a new recipe) will be released for the autumn and winter of 2012. I’ve liked the majority of beers produced by Mikkeller, so this beer sounds really interesting. The beer has been brewed with Pale Ale, CaraHell, Pilsner, Flaked Oats and Wheat Malt, and hopped with Centennial, Citra, Columbus, Nelson Sauvin, and Simcoe to an unknown amount of bitterness. Based on the hops, I’m expecting a fruit salad combined with some resin in both aroma and flavor. Let’s see what it tastes like!

[easyreview title=”Mikkeller K:rlek” cat1title=”Appearance” cat1detail=”The beer pours with a slightly hazy golden-orange color, and a fluffy white head is formed. The head collapses quite quickly, but leaves huge patches of lacing along the glass.” cat1rating=”4″ cat2title=”Smell” cat2detail=”The aroma features a combination of both bready malts and some fruity hoppiness, with tones of citrus, apricots and mango. The aroma isn’t very strong, but what is present is nice.” cat2rating=”3.5″ cat3title=”Taste” cat3detail=”The flavor begins with a lightly bready and sweet maltiness, that is joined by a citrusy, grassy and resiny hoppiness, that draws on similar tones as the aroma. The flavor finishes quite dry and with a lingering bitterness, that stays in the mouth for a long time. The flavors are well balanced, and the hop flavors and bitterness are slightly higher than I would expect from an American Pale Ale. The hops are well backed up by the maltiness, that doesn’t feature the typical caramel tones usually found in many beers of this type.” cat3rating=”4″ cat4title=”Mouthfeel” cat4detail=”This beer is dangerously easy to drink, and features a medium-light body and a medium carbonation level. The flavors are well balanced and the beer is really refreshing. Great beer for the summer!” cat4rating=”4″ summary=”A really refreshing and (for the style) hoppy beer, that is easy to drink and features some great flavors. The mix of five hop varieties go together quite well, and even though it didn’t feature the fruit salad I expected, the citrusy, grassy and resiny flavors worked well together with the malt and bitterness. I wish this beer was easily available in Finland, and I can only be envious of the Swedes and how much better service and selection is available at Systembolaget compared to Alko. Another great beer by Mikkeller!”]

Beer Tasting Evening

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Last Friday I arranged a small beer tasting event for some friends and we tasted through 7 of my homebrews and 11 other beers that I had hanging around in my beer storage. There were some fantastic beers during the evening and we had a good time. Here are some pictures and short notes on the beers:


The whole lineup (two of the homebrews were tasted from keg, so they are not in the picture).


First up was La Tourmente’s Blond, a belgian ale from France. The beer poured golden and had a slightly sweet and malty aroma, but it was surprisingly tasteless and bland. A good beer to start with though.


Next up was my homebrewed smoked vienna lager, which had lost a lot of its hoppiness, and now had more of a toasty and smokey edge. No off-flavors, and overall one of my favorite homebrews to date.


Then it was time for one of Alko’s 80th Anniversary beers. Prykmestar’s Hunajabock was a bit strange, I am wondering if it had started to go bad, as the aroma was a blend of honey, vinegar and mint, while the taste was sweet, malty and honey-like.


Then it was time for my homebrewed Tripel, which had aged nicely, with the spiciness and fruitiness blending together well, while the alcohol level was well hidden.

After this we tasted two homebrewed IPA/APAs straight from the keg (where they had been sitting for 6 days), and as expected with heavily dry hopped and recently kegged beer, they poured murky with a huge head. There was lots of fruity hoppiness in both beers, with the Citra leaning more towards the tropical fruits, and the Simcoe+Centennial towards grapefruits and other citrus. The beer felt a little young still, with the bitterness a little prominent still and some yeasty tones as well, but overall I find the beers very promising. Unfortunately there are no pictures of them.


Next it was time for the beer I was looking forward to the most during the evening, Cigar City’s Humidor Series IPA. There was a very prominent woodiness in both the aroma and taste, which blended together with fruity and resiny hops. The beer has been aged on Spanish Cedar, the same material used to make humidors, and one of my friends commented the beer smelled just like one. The flavors were quite well balanced, but felt the woodiness was maybe a bit too prominent.


Then it was time for a blended imperial ipa, as we tried Southern Tier’s Gemini (a 50-50 blend of their Unearthly and Hoppe). There was a lot of citrus and resin in both aroma and flavor, and this was backed up by a caramelly and quite sweet malt backbone. The bitterness was quite smooth, and felt the beer was well balanced. Really liked this one.


Next it was time to try Mikkeller’s and Three Floyd’s collaboration barleywine, Boogoop, which has been brewed with buckwheat. Haven’t tried any of the other beers in the series (Oatgoop, Hvedegoop or Ruggoop), but this was definitely leaning towards the imperial ipa category, as it was very hoppy and bitter, but backed up well by a malty and caramelly backbone.


Then it was time to try Stone’s Double Bastard (which was one of the few commercial beers of the night I had tasted before) and it also featured lots of hoppy tones, coupled with tones of caramel, red berries and even some raisins. There was some alcohol present as well.

After this we tried Brewdog’s and Three Floyd’s collaboration barleywine Bitch Please Islay, which has been brewed with peat-smoked malts and aged on Islay whisky casks. Tons of smokiness in the aroma and flavor, and it felt almost like sipping on a whisky. There was some sweet maltiness present as well, but overall a beer I wasn’t very fond of.


Then we tried three of my homebrewed imperial stouts, the breakfast stout to the left, black panther in the middle, and oak-aged black panther to the right. The breakfast stout had strong tones of coffee and dark chocolate with blended nicely together with the roasted malt tones. The black panther featured tones of roasted malt together with an earthy hoppiness, while the oak-aged version added in some vanilla tones. All of them had aged well.


Next it was time for the only Trappist beer of the evening, Rochefort 10, which featured tones of dark fruits, raisins, caramel and malt. Very smooth, and definitely different compared to the imperial stouts we just tried.


Then we tried a coffee-spiked imperial stout from Southern Tier. Jah-va, compared to the homebrewed breakfast stout, was smoother and more well balanced, with the coffee flavors merging perfectly with the roasted tones. Very easy to drink and tasty.


After this we tried one of Mikkeller’s breakfast stouts, Beer Geek Brunch Weasel, which has been brewed with Kopi Luwak coffee. Compared to Jah-va, the flavors were stronger and more complex, with lots of roastiness and bitterness blending with coffee and chocolate tones.


The last beer of the evening was Brewdog’s Tokyo*. The beer was completely pitch-black and the flavor featured tones of roasted malts, coffee, red berries and sweet caramel. The alcohol was surprisingly well hidden for being a 18.2% beer. Nice way to end the evening.

Thanks to everyone who made it!

Mikkeller Green Gold

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  • Brewery: Mikkeller (Brewed at De Proefbrouwerij, Belgium)
  • Country: Denmark
  • Style: India Pale Ale
  • ABV: 7%
  • Size: 330 ml
  • Bought from: Alko (Arkadia), 5.38€
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    •  

    Today it’s time for an India Pale Ale from the Danish craftbrewers Mikkeller, that should be packed with hoppy goodness. Green Gold is made from Pilsner, Munich, and Caramunich malt, Flaked Oats, and is hopped with Simcoe, Amarillo and Cascade. Sounds delicious! There are no notes on the bottle when the contents was brewed, but it is batch number 201128 (maybe 28th batch 2011?) and the best before date is 22/06/2013, so hopefully it should be quite fresh. Let’s see how it does!

    [easyreview title=”Mikkeller Green Gold” cat1title=”Appearance” cat1detail=”The beer has a deep amber color, is slighty hazy (the beer is unfiltered and bottle-conditioned), and has a fluffy, cream colored, couple centimeter thick head, that collapses leaving some nice lacing along the glass. Really nice appearance.” cat1rating=”4.5″ cat2title=”Smell” cat2detail=”The aroma is a nice balance between resiny and citrusy hop tones, lending hints of pine and grapefruit, and a caramelly maltiness.” cat2rating=”4″ cat3title=”Taste” cat3detail=”There is a slight initial maltiness, with tones of biscuits and caramel, but it quickly becomes clear that this beer is all about hops, as resiny, piney, citrusy and grassy hop flavours take over in the mouth. The flavour ends with a quite sharp, but nice, bitterness on the tongue. Well balanced, but could maybe have had a slightly less dry finish.” cat3rating=”4″ cat4title=”Mouthfeel” cat4detail=”The beer has a smooth medium body and a moderate carbonation level, making it quite easy to drink, despite the sharp bitterness.” cat4rating=”4″ summary=”Overall a very good American IPA by the Danish brewers, that is packed with a lot of hop flavour and bitterness, but is still backed up by a nice malt backbone. Mikkeller continue to impress me (even though Not Just Another Wit wasn’t any spectacular) and will definitely continue to try out their beers whenever I have a chance. Luckily I have another bottle in the fridge, and might even have to take another trip to the Arkadia Alko before they run out. I recommend this one!”]

    Mikkeller Not Just Another Wit

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  • Brewery: Mikkeller
  • Country: Denmark
  • Style: (Imperial) Witbier
  • ABV: 7.6%
  • Size: 750 ml
  • Bought from: Alko, 10.99€
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    This is Mikkeller’s attempt at a ‘more extreme’ witbier, with more hops and spices than usual. This is brewed at De Proef Brouwerij (Belgium), is hopped with Goldings, Amarillo, Saaz and Cascade, and spiced with coriander and orange peel.

    [easyreview title=”Mikkeller Not Just Another Wit” cat1title=”Appearance” cat1detail=”The beer has a yellow-golden color, and is hazy. The beer has a slight white colored head, that leaves some traces of lacing along the glass.” cat1rating=”3.5″ cat2title=”Smell” cat2detail=”The beer’s aroma is dominated by spicy belgian-style yeast and citrus (orange and grapefruits) tones.” cat2rating=”3.5″ cat3title=”Taste” cat3detail=”The flavour begins with some light sweetness, and is then joined by the spicy tones already encountered in the aroma. There are hints of coriander, cloves, orange, lemon and grapefruit. The taste ends with a slight bitter aftertaste, a quite dry finish and a tiny presence of alcohol. An interesting witbier, but nothing very overwhelming.” cat3rating=”3.5″ cat4title=”Mouthfeel” cat4detail=”The beer is smooth, with a medium-light body and moderate carbonation level. The drinkability is good, and the beer is quite well balanced.” cat4rating=”4″ summary=”A better-than-average witbier, with some nice strong flavours. I find the beer a bit too expensive to really recommend it, but it is worth a taste. A refreshing beer to have in the warm weather. I didn’t find the ‘extra’ hoppiness too dominant, but there are definitely hop tones present.”]

    Mikkeller Burger & Bun L.A. Lager

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  • Brewery: Mikkeller
  • Country: Denmark (Brewed in Belgium)
  • Style: (American) Premium Lager
  • ABV: 5%
  • Size: 330 ml
  • Bought from: Alko, 3.95€
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    This is a lager brew by Mikkeller for the Danish burger bar ‘Burger & Bun’ found in Copenhagen. This lager is hopped with some nontraditional hop varieties (American influence), featuring Columbus, Nelson Sauvin, Centennial, Simcoe and Amarillo, boasting an IBU of around 30 for Pils-style. Not a big fan of light, and especially lightly hopped lagers, but this one seemed promising. PS. Sorry about the crappy photo, will try to get a new one if I ever drink this one at home!

    [easyreview title=”Mikkeller Burger & Bun L.A. Lager” cat1title=”Appearance” cat1detail=”The beer has a golden color (just a hint of amber), is hazy (the beer is bottle conditioned), and has a small white head, leaving just a slight lacing along the glass.” cat1rating=”3.5″ cat2title=”Smell” cat2detail=”The beer has a strong citrusy and grassy aroma, with some piney and floral notes as well. The hops dominate the aroma completely, and I keep thinking to myself: is this really a lager I’m about to drink?” cat2rating=”4″ cat3title=”Taste” cat3detail=”An initial light malty taste is quickly overtaken by flavours of citrus and tropical fruits. The hops have a huge presence in the flavour as well. The aftertaste is quite bitter, and the beer leaves a pleasant tingle on the tongue.” cat3rating=”4″ cat4title=”Mouthfeel” cat4detail=”The beer has a medium-light body, with a quite dry finish, and a moderate carbonation level, making this an easy to drink and very refreshing beer.” cat4rating=”4″ summary=”I was definitely not disappointed with this one, as it is a fantastic beer. This is definitely not a classic lager, as it borderlines with the (American) Pale Ale style. This was hoppy, refreshing and easy to drink, making this a perfect summer beer to enjoy together with e.g. hamburgers from your grill. I’ve loved everything so far that I’ve tried by Mikkeller, and will probably try to get my hands on some of their Single Hop IPAs in the close future. I really recommend this one, and the price is even OK for a premium beer like this!”]

    Brewdog Mikkeller I Hardcore You

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  • Brewery: Brewdog & Mikkeller
  • Country: Scotland & Denmark
  • Style: Imperial IPA
  • ABV: 9.5%
  • Size: 330 ml
  • Bought from: Germany, 3.79€
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    • “I Hardcore You is a 9.5% Imperial India Pale Ale, an international collaborative effort between 2 of Europe’s most rock ’n roll brewers. This beer is a blend of BrewDog’s Hardcore IPA and Mikkeller’s I Beat yoU. After the blending, the beer was then dry hopped a further twice. Making I Hardcore You a beer which has been dry hopped four times, or maybe even six times. We kinda lost count.”

    [easyreview title=”Brewdog Mikkeller I Hardcore You” cat1title=”Appearance” cat1detail=”The beer has an amber color, and is slightly hazy. It has a centimeter-thick tan head, that collapses quickly, leaving some lacing along the glass.” cat1rating=”4″ cat2title=”Smell” cat2detail=”The aroma of this beer screams hops, and is full of caramelly, ‘tropical fruity’, citrusy (especially grapefruit and orange), and piney tones. This smells delicious!” cat2rating=”4.5″ cat3title=”Taste” cat3detail=”The initial taste is sweet and caramelly, but the tongue is quickly attacked by the huge amount of hops in this beer. Fruity, herbal and spicy hop flavours mix together with the malt backbone, while the bitterness ‘burns’ the tongue as the flavours disappear. This is a quite complex beer, with lots of different flavours mixing (with the hoppiness dominating), but it is still surprisingly well balanced. The high alcohol content is hidden well by the maltiness and hoppiness, and overall this is a very balanced beer. Maybe just a bit too much hops (As a hop lover, I didn’t even think that such a thing could be possible).” cat3rating=”4″ cat4title=”Mouthfeel” cat4detail=”The beer has a full body with a low level of carbonation. The body and the hoppiness gives the beer a thick and oily feel, but it is still very drinkable.” cat4rating=”4″ summary=”I expected a very hoppy beer, packed with lovely American hop aroma and flavour and I Hardcore You delivered. This is a very tasty brew that I’ll definitely drink again (I have two bottles left in storage, hurray!). A well balanced and hoppy Imperial IPA, with my only ‘complaint’ being just a tiny bit too much hoppiness.”]