souldog
OG Post-Whorer since 2008 bitches...
Brew: Mikkeller 1000 IBU
Style: American Style Imperial India Pale Ale
ABV: 9.6%
IBU: 1000 (so they say)
The Brewery: Mikkeller is a Danish brewery that started in 2006 by two homebrewers, Mikkel Borg Bjergsø and Kristian Klarup Keller. According to their history, Kristian has since left to pursue a career in pop culture, but Mikkel soldiers on at the brewery. It appears to me that Mikkeller's whole concept is to push the boundary of Danish beers and create new and unique beers for beer geeks (such as myself) to enjoy. Their website can be found here: Mikkeller Brewery
At any rate, I picked this bottle up at High Times in Costa Mesa for a cool $10 bucks (I think?), and have been saving it for a rainy day. Today is that day.
Presentation: The bottle itself is green in color and has a photo of a masked and bearded robber holding a bag of hops. It is 12.7 fl. oz. and boasts a 9.6% ABV with a 1000 IBU (thus the name). The brew itself is a dark caramel, almost amber, color that is slightly opaque, and has some leftover yeast and hop particles floating around.
The Taste: On the initial pour there was about 3 inches of head, and it smelled very sweet. Now don't get me wrong, I don't mind a nice smelling beer, but with a label that brags "1000 IBUs," I'm disappointed that I didn't smell the familiar "hoppy" essence that I get when I nose other beers like the Stone 14th of Surly Furious. I took a sip and all I could taste was caramel. Definitely not what I would expect out of a 1000 IBU brew, but it was still pleasant.
There is little to no alcohol bite, just a nice warming sensation as the beer went down my throat. At the tail end of the drink, the aftertaste to be more accurate, I can pick up the bitter pine-like flavors that most IPAs are known for, but this is a very "full" beer in terms of mouth-feel. It almost drinks like a stout with that smooth creamy consistency and lasting finish, and if I was blindfolded, I would have thought I was drinking Stone Brewing's collaboration ale with Firestone Walker and 21st Amendment, El Camino Un(Real) Black Ale.
Towards the end of the glass, I'm drinking a little more of the yeast and hop particles, but that is partially my fault because I didn't check the bottom of the bottle to see if it was bottle-conditioned. The brew is warming up to the room temperature and I am tasting notes of rasberry, chocolate, and of course hops.
Conclusion: I may be slightly biased, as I like a lot of Mikkeller's brews, but overall this was a great brew and completely unexpected. I was preparing myself for an in-your-face hop-bomb IPA but was met with a pretty sweet and relatively mild IPA with stout-like characteristics. I didn't like the fact that they labeled it as a "1000 IBU" beer, because it was definitely far from it and slightly gimmicky in my opinion, but overall they built a well-balanced beer.
I did some research, and apparently Mikkeller made a bit of a buzz in the beer nerd world about their proclamation of brewing a 1000 IBU beer. Apparently they cheesed off a lot of folks on Beer Advocate, so Mikkeller released this statement below:
So, as you can see, the "1000 IBU" is theoretical, and not really 1000 IBU. Although this saddens me as a hophead, overall the brew was pretty good. Would I buy it again? No, not for the price. Mikkeller makes some fine beers to be sure, but if I want a hop-bomb, I'll go drink a Surly Furious.
All in all, not a bad beer Mikkel, but I'm still pissed that you labeled it as a hoppy brew when it tasted more like my mother's stout. :angry:
Style: American Style Imperial India Pale Ale
ABV: 9.6%
IBU: 1000 (so they say)
The Brewery: Mikkeller is a Danish brewery that started in 2006 by two homebrewers, Mikkel Borg Bjergsø and Kristian Klarup Keller. According to their history, Kristian has since left to pursue a career in pop culture, but Mikkel soldiers on at the brewery. It appears to me that Mikkeller's whole concept is to push the boundary of Danish beers and create new and unique beers for beer geeks (such as myself) to enjoy. Their website can be found here: Mikkeller Brewery
At any rate, I picked this bottle up at High Times in Costa Mesa for a cool $10 bucks (I think?), and have been saving it for a rainy day. Today is that day.
Presentation: The bottle itself is green in color and has a photo of a masked and bearded robber holding a bag of hops. It is 12.7 fl. oz. and boasts a 9.6% ABV with a 1000 IBU (thus the name). The brew itself is a dark caramel, almost amber, color that is slightly opaque, and has some leftover yeast and hop particles floating around.
The Taste: On the initial pour there was about 3 inches of head, and it smelled very sweet. Now don't get me wrong, I don't mind a nice smelling beer, but with a label that brags "1000 IBUs," I'm disappointed that I didn't smell the familiar "hoppy" essence that I get when I nose other beers like the Stone 14th of Surly Furious. I took a sip and all I could taste was caramel. Definitely not what I would expect out of a 1000 IBU brew, but it was still pleasant.
There is little to no alcohol bite, just a nice warming sensation as the beer went down my throat. At the tail end of the drink, the aftertaste to be more accurate, I can pick up the bitter pine-like flavors that most IPAs are known for, but this is a very "full" beer in terms of mouth-feel. It almost drinks like a stout with that smooth creamy consistency and lasting finish, and if I was blindfolded, I would have thought I was drinking Stone Brewing's collaboration ale with Firestone Walker and 21st Amendment, El Camino Un(Real) Black Ale.
Towards the end of the glass, I'm drinking a little more of the yeast and hop particles, but that is partially my fault because I didn't check the bottom of the bottle to see if it was bottle-conditioned. The brew is warming up to the room temperature and I am tasting notes of rasberry, chocolate, and of course hops.
Conclusion: I may be slightly biased, as I like a lot of Mikkeller's brews, but overall this was a great brew and completely unexpected. I was preparing myself for an in-your-face hop-bomb IPA but was met with a pretty sweet and relatively mild IPA with stout-like characteristics. I didn't like the fact that they labeled it as a "1000 IBU" beer, because it was definitely far from it and slightly gimmicky in my opinion, but overall they built a well-balanced beer.
I did some research, and apparently Mikkeller made a bit of a buzz in the beer nerd world about their proclamation of brewing a 1000 IBU beer. Apparently they cheesed off a lot of folks on Beer Advocate, so Mikkeller released this statement below:
(source: http://mikkeller.dk/index.php?id=10&land=1&news_id=72&beer_id=&merch_id=)
So, as you can see, the "1000 IBU" is theoretical, and not really 1000 IBU. Although this saddens me as a hophead, overall the brew was pretty good. Would I buy it again? No, not for the price. Mikkeller makes some fine beers to be sure, but if I want a hop-bomb, I'll go drink a Surly Furious.
All in all, not a bad beer Mikkel, but I'm still pissed that you labeled it as a hoppy brew when it tasted more like my mother's stout. :angry:
