Mikkeller Raspberry Blush

Mikkeller Raspberry Blush. Berliner Style Weisse Beer Brewed with Raspberries & Coffee. 4 % ABV. Mikkeller Brewing, San Diego, CA.

Bright red, opaque, slim pinkish head.

In then nose: Tart and fruity. Very raspberry. Complexities about, but nothing too deep.

In the mouth: Big tart, big fruit, and then the coffee comes in and weirds it up. What's it there for? Fruity, sour, and...coffee? It turns it dry, and adds...something, but...huh.

I don't often say this, but ... I can't imagine why this was brewed, and I'm curious how other people like it. Do they? If you just want the sour, and don't mind the coffee, I guess, but it just gets in the way, and doesn't really contribute anything. Except a sense of ... I don't know. If you just want the raspberry, the coffee really messes with the flavors.

I'm confused. I'll pass on this one from here on out.

Mikkeller Windy Hill New England style India Pale Ale

Mikkeller San Diego Windy Hill New England-style Inda Pale Ale. 7% ABV, 70 IBU, Mikkeller San Diego, San Diego, CA.


Highly hazed, creamy orange color, fine, ivory stands tall atop.

In the nose: vibrant hops at work, floral, fruity, stone and citrus. Nice.

In the mouth: brisk, crisp, with a big bite of bitterness kicking it off. Unstoppable citrus. Medium bodied, long, hoppy finish. Quite a tasty little number, this. Not too bitter, not too sweet, just right.



This is my first review of beers from the new Mikkeller San Diego brewery. Maybe it's not so new, but it's new to Minnesota. I've also tried their version of Beer Geek Breakfast, but I didn't bother to take new notes on the can, to compare against the older bottled version from Denmark. Life's too short to keep re-reviewing the same beers, over and over again.

But, just for kicks, here's a pic of the new can design.

Warpigs Salmon Pants Lager.

WarPigs Salmon Pants Lager. 5.3% ABV, 45 IBU. WarPigs

I don't own any salmon pants. Who does, anyway? Or are they referring to the pants that belong to salmon. Salmon don't wear pants. My head hurts. Never mind, let's drink a beer.

Clear, bright golden, ample head of ivory froth.

In the nose: Clean, sweet, malty, little hops or bitterness. Scant traces of fruity esters.

In the mouth: I'm getting more hops and touch of bitter once on the palate. Growing more and mores. Light-bodied, excellent drinkability. Quite tasty. Nice, fruity flavors from hops mixing with the malt.


 WARPIGS – SALMON PANTS
A full-flavored and hoppy WarPigs lager forged in collaboration between 3 Floyds and Mikkeller. Grainy malt aromas mixed with floral, citrus and melon notes. A light body and a dry finish.

ABV 5.3% IBU 45

Warpigs Foggy Geezer Hazy India Pale Ale

Warpigs Foggy Geezer. Hazy India Pale Ale. Warpigs Brewing, Mikkeller/Three Floyds.
8% ABV, 70 IBU.

Here we have the collaborative effort between Denmark's Mikkeller and Indiana's Three Floyds Brewing, Warpigs. They had a Copenhagen brewpub, and now there's one in Chicago under the guiding hand of our old friend, Todd Haug. The names are the same as those brewed in the Danish pub, and these cans are produced by contract in Wisconsin, under Todd's watchful eye. (The can reads  in a combination of English and Danish: "Bryggit af Warpigs USA Brewin USA Verona WI USA.")

To the eye: Lightly hazed, bright golden color, slim white head.

In the nose: bursting with the tropical. pineapple meets pine and citrus.

In the mouth: Bold bitterness, fresh citrus/tropical hop flavors, and a clean entrance on the palate. Medium/light body. Refreshing. Slightly sweet for a bit, with hop bitterness subdued. Remains sweet and fruity throughout, a bit too much for me.

Toward the end, a bitter astringency comes roaring back. Seems just a touch confused.

Good India Pale Ale, and you can drink it.

A super fruity and dank Warpigs hazy IPA forged in collaboration between Three Floyds and Mikkeller.

Surly / Mikkeller Brett Mikkel's IPA, India Pale Ale fermented with brettanomyces

Here's a beer that Surly debuted at the taproom, I mean Beer Hall, and it's finally found it's way in bottles. I'm extra excited that it's the first time that I've seen the Surly logo on a bottle cap, after nearly 10 years. Let's open it up and drink it.

Alc./Vol. 7.5%.

Clear, bright golden coloring, vast ivory head.

Funk fuels the aroma with immediacy, a wildness sets it off, an incredibly beautiful weird aromatic. Fruity, sweet, malty, out of the world.

In the mouth: Easy-drinking, light to medium bodied, crisp and clean malty flavor, with hops on top, and brett steering the flavor. Not tart, nor sour, but with plenty of wild, weird Belgian-style funk on the tongue. Tastes just like the very picture, the perfect flavor of the Belgian pale ale/ IPA. Just right. Fresh. Zesty. Delicious. Urges me to finish gulp after gulp.

And each new sip, I like it more and more. I'm a sucker for Belgian-styles, Belgian IPAs, funky wild beers, and, of course, Surly. Here they are, all together in one nice package. I said it before, I'll say it again: delicious. Just flat out yum.

Hey, there's gobbledygook on the back of the label, let's read it...."this beer takes the concept of an IPA, blends in a variety of German aroma hop varietals, and ferments with brettanomyces, rather than a traditional British ale yeast strain. Light bodied and dry, the combination of Brett and hop varieties offers complex earthy notes and candied fruit aromas, while the Honey Malt provides an intense malt sweetness. It ain't nothing but a good time!" Oh, really? Is that what it aint nothing but? Okay...

This is my kind of beer. Funky, fruity, and dry in the end. Love, It. This is my binge drinking beer. Good thing it's too expensive to guzzle.

Mikkeller Beer Geek Breakfast

Months ago, I lamented the passing of Shelton Brothers and it's beers from our area of distribution, and vowed to keep an eye out for some of those brews before they disappeared. I made an error in buying some at a store where they'd been sitting for who knows how long. So now, I'm trying to get fresher versions in my visits to Wisconsin, where SB's beers are still coming in. So, last Sunday at Casanova's in Hudson, WI, after visiting Dave's BrewFarm, I found 12 ounce for "only" $6.50. The last time I bought one it was 22 ounces for $10. And here are those notes from then, back in June of 2008:

Mikkeller Beer Geek Breakfast, Copenhagen, Denmark. Imperial Stout with Coffee, 7.5% ABV. 

Brewed at Nøgne Ø. 

Ingredients : Water, malt (pils, oat, smoked, caramunich, brown, pale chocolate and chocolate), roasted barley, flaked oats, hops (centennial and cascade), ale yeast and gourmet coffee.

Darkness aplenty, with rich dark brown foam. 

Rich, bittersweet, coffee aroma, silky smooth oat feel. 

Big texture, thick and roasty. A bit intense. Complicated. Abundantly rich and flavorful. Gets smoother and easier as we go. Rough edges fall off. 

Don't know if I'd put this at the top of my list of favorite coffee stouts, but it's an excellent entry in the category. Satisfying. Think I'll have another, even at $10 a bottle.

Mikkeller Funky E

Mikkeller Funky E, Belgian Wild Ale aged in Sauternes Wine Barrels. Brewed and bottled by Mikkeller, at DE Proef Brouwerij, Lochristi-Hijfte, Belgium. 9.4 % Alc/Vol.

Highly hazed and carbonated, deep amber/nearly crimson coloring, slim head, lacy and lasting.

Aroma screams out of the glass, crawling up to the nose. Lactic sourness is dominant, raw and real, wine-like, fruity & tart. Nice. Niiiiii-ce.

Taste: Brisk, fresh, and crazy. Sour turns to dry, then fades a bit. Cherries and berries with a sour twist. Medium bodied. Vastly complex, wine character matches with the barrel's work and the funky-fresh wild yeast. Really tasty stuff, and I really like it. But something seems missing, and incomplete. What is it? I think It gets about halfway there, and doesn't quite go all the way, the way it should. Misses some depth. Good for what it is, but, oh, it should be bigger, deeper, longer,

Ain't nothing wrong with it, just not what it could be.

Mikkeller Ultramate 1000 Pale Ale

Mikkeller Ultramate1000, Live Life to the Ultra, 4.9% Alc./Vol. American Style Pale Ale. Brewed and bottled by Mikkeller at De Proef Brouwerij, Lochristi-Hufte, Belgium.

Hazed, opaque, dark amber hue, snow-white head, lasting and lace-leaving.

Aroma: Super-dank and piney! Loads of grapefruit and lemon! Extra, no, ultra-hoppy all the way.

Taste: There it is, on the palate. Thick and sticky, intensely bitter. Excrutiatingly bitter. Big malt holding this up, too, with a massive mouthfeel. Plenty of citric fruit flavor, and did we mention bitterness?

This is a bit of a mess, all over the place, way bigger than an "American Pale Ale" ought to be. Nonetheless, I like it. Can't love it, though

Mikkeller Beer Hop Breakfast

Mikkeller Beer Hop Breakfast, Oatmeal Stout brewed with Coffee, 7.5% ABV, product of Denmark, brewed at Amager Bryghus, Bryghus, Denmark.

Utter blackness, large, rich, roasty tan head. Lace leaving. Looks great.

Aroma: ah! there we have it, a quintessential oatmeal stout nose, starts smooth and roasty-toasty, nice and malty, topped off with grassy hops. I like this.

Taste: more of that going on in the mouth, but lacking some in the body. Smooth, tasty malt, with a big, lively blast of hops. So we've got an "IBA" or a "black ale" or a "black ipa", but with an oatmeal stout. I'm still not totally on board with this cross-pollination. Still feels light in the body, not giving the proper oatmeal stout experience, but never stopping with the hops. Non-stop hop. Very dry, plenty of manageable bitterness.

Do I like it? Maybe. Do I love it? Not really. But, keep at it, Mikkeller, you've more hits than misses, and your misses are interesting enough. (But, perhaps not exactly worth the price.)

Mikkeller Hop Burn Double Imperial IPA

Mikkeller Hop Burn Double Imperial Pale Ale. 10% ABV. Brewed and bottled by Mikkeller at De Proef Brouwerij, Lochristi-Hijfte, Belgium.

Clouded, dark amber, nearly crimson, creamy white head, lasts long as a tight ring, very attractive and inviting.

Aroma: big, pungent, pine and citrus, a bitter bombast. Fat, juicy, bitter, dry, and fabulous.

Taste: Bam! Vast, fierce, enormous, gigantic. Tasty malt, overblown by an attack of bitter hoppiness. Boom, boom, boom, Bamtastic! Astringency emerges. Alcoholic heat surges. Bitterness dominates. Tense, terse, tangy. A very ending of this, rolling brittle off the tongue. Bitter orange and lemon, with a side of aspirin.

Mikkeller Beer Geek Brunch

Beer Geek Brunch…Weasel. 10.9% abv.

This Imperial Oatmeal Stout is brewed with one of the world's most expensive coffees, made from the droppings of weasel-like civet cats. The fussy Southeast Asian animals only eat the best and ripest coffee berries. Enzymes in their digestive system help to break down the bean. Workers collect the bean-containing droppings for Civet or Weasel Coffee. The exceedingly rare Civet Coffee has a strong taste and an even stronger aroma.

Brewed and bottled by Mikkeller at Nogne-O, Grimstad, Norway.

Let's forego trepidation and reservation and crack that crown…

Thoroughly black, sizable head, rich and toasty brown. Nice looking stout.

Aroma: right on the money. Lovely, lovely stuff. Soft, but roasty and toasty, a trifle burnt, but overall smooth. Every inch and every way, what a good, bold oatmeal stout should be…wait, "bold" oatmeal stout?

Taste: huh. Interesting. Not too sweet, not bitter in any inordinate degree, just balanced enough. There's rich malt, but not too thick, there's some bitterness, some sweet malt, but ….dang, balanced is the word I keep coming back to…weird. Tasty cocoa flavors come through, yummy coffee notes…very strong and undeniable flavor, long finish, full flavor. But there is absolutely nothing unusual, or to be true, interesting about this one. We can't taste the civet cat, nor his droppings. It's only disgusting if we dwell on it. You could have gotten a good imperial oatmeal stout, without scooping the pooping. Sorry. I'm just saying. Really, no one wanted this to taste like poo. But, on the other hand, it doesn't deliver anything extra. There's a grit, there's a grab, there's something, ….

I did it, and I won't spend the extra coin to do it again. Mark this in the "did it" slot, and I will grab another oatmeal stout, imperial or not, that did not arise out of a weasel's back slot.

Mikkeller Black Tie

Mikkeller Black Tie, Imperial Stout Brewed with Honey and Aged in Scotch Whiskey Barrels. Mikkeller Black Tie is an elegant and generous imperial stout. This beer has benefited (sic) from aging in barrels. Crafted with the finest craftsmanship for the pleasure of the connoisseur. 11.5% Alc/Vol." 500 ml bottle, brewed and bottled by Mikkeller at Nogne-O, Grimstad, Norway.

High anticipation. This had better be good. But, of course, Mikkeller has never really let me down, before.

Blackest black, with a thick, full, rich roasted brown head, bubbly, lacy, beautiful. killer diller. This shows great promise.

Aroma: huge. The Scotch barrel really comes through, in fact, it's practically jumping out. Scotch whiskey, with imperial stout flavors hiding below. Impressed, so far.

Taste: Dark chocolate, molasses, …and boom! Scotch! Honey, though advertised, isn't tasted, and perhaps was used for fermentation. That whiskey flavor is dominant, though, and takes over every aspect of the brew.

And…I don't think it works. Maybe an imperial stout is not the best match for the Scotch barrel. Maybe it could have been married with an old ale, or an IPA, but it's not meshing, only clashing. This is one of those "who put chocolate in my peanut butter?" beers. It tastes like someone poured a dram of Dewar's in what might have been a great imperial stout, but I can't tell, the flavors have been utterly smothered and swallowed.

I paid too much for this, but I just had to try it. It seems so promising! Bourbon barrel-aging an imperial stout is very good. Scotch barrel=aging? Misfire!

You know what, though? Halfway in, it's mellowing, and I'm digging it a little better. I almost want to take back what I wrote moments ago, but that would be false, for the forefront matters, and initial impressions are important. Now, currently, the bittersweet, malty flavors of an imperial stout are catching up with the Scotch, maybe even overtaking it. Is it perhaps sliding to the background? Maybe it is!

And it is becoming more mellowing, more relaxing, more elegant, more of what is advertised on that paper wrapped around the bottle. Perhaps aging could help make this better in the front and closer to what I'm tasting now?

Right now, this is delicious. Bitter, sweet, vanilla and honey, espresso and chocolate, with whiskey running under. Mmmm. My faith is restored, you Danes and Norwegians. Good work. Just remember: give it time.