Mikkeller
København, Denmark
Imported by: Shelton Brothers, Belchertown, MA
Available: AK, AZ, AR, CA, CO, CT, DE, DC, FL, GA, HI, ID, IL, IN, IA, KS, KY, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MS, MO, MT, NE , NV, NH, NJ, NM, NY, NC, ND, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VT, VA, WA, WV, WI, WY
Brewed at BrewDog, the instructions for the Scotsmen was clear: we need shitloads of hops in this one!
ABV: 9.5
ABW: 7.56
Bitterness: N/A
Original gravity: N/A
If you didn’t know what this beer was beforehand, you would know as soon opened it: sticky, resinous hops nearly leap out of the bottle. As it pours into the glass, a hazy reddish-bronze with a lingering off-white head and crisp grapefruit aromas join the dance making sure you know this is a huge American-style imperial IPA. And if for some reason, you still were unsure of its style, that first sip―with an enthusiastic eruption of pine and citrus supported by a sturdy caramel backbone―will seal the deal.
Mikkel Borg Bjergsø knows all too well how to play around with hops. He’s at it again with this hazy amber imperial IPA, which is so full of hop juice you wonder if it counts as one of your Five a Day. Impressively, the level of malt to support all this excess hop character has been perfectly judged, so you don’t drown in a sea of lupulin, but there’s no avoiding the sappy, tangy resins or the hints of orange the hops deliver. It’s a long finish, too, but never too intensely hoppy or over bitter.
Lisa Morrison, aka The Beer Goddess, writes about beer whenever she can and also gets to talk about it on a weekly radio show in her hometown of Portland, OR.
Author of the Good Bottled Beer Guide and The Book of Beer Knowledge, Jeff Evans is an eight-time editor of the CAMRA Good Beer Guide and one of Britain's best-known beer writers.
