Brewed By: Mikkeller in Copenhagen, Denmark
Purchased: 12oz bottle bought at Evolution Wine & Spirits in Chicago, Illinois; 2012
Style/ABV: Imperial IPA, 9.6%
Mikkeller is that European brewery that does things like an American brewery. The brewery was founded in 2006 by Mikkel Borg Bjergsø, a humble math and physics teacher who enjoyed craft beer and homebrewing. Mikkel and his childhood friend Kristian Keller bought a few American books about brewing, and began brewing beer and entering it into competitions (and winning!) for two and a half years. Eventually, Mikkel and Keller began brewing beer at the Danish microbrewery Ørbæk, and Mikkel's twin brother Jeppe began selling their beer at his beer shop. Mikkeller's first big break came with their infamous "Beer Geek Breakfast." Since then, the brewery exports beer to over 40 countries, and brews the majority of their beer at de Proef Brouwerij in Belgium. However, Mikkeller is also nicknamed the "phantom" or "gypsy" microbrewery, as they brew at a number of host facilities in many different countries; they have also brewed over 100 different beers in a wide variety of styles. You can read more about the brewery here.
Tonight's beer hardly needs an introduction, except: mother fucking hops and more hops. This beer clocks in at "1000 theoretical IBUs," whatever that means. I'm not sure what a theoretical IBU is, but according to the shackles known as the BJCP Style Guidelines, this beer is eight-hundred and eighty (880) IBUs more bitter than a standard Imperial IPA....which doesn't matter that much, because the human palate can only perceive somewhere up to 120 IBUs (+/-30 based on the variety of sources I have seen).
If the human palate can only handle 120 IBUs, what's the big deal? The fact is, the extreme hopping and extreme bitterness does have an effect on the beer. It changes the acidity, the body, and the whole profile. I've had this beer already, and it is quite the hop bomb (with a few twists). Into the Duvel tulip this goes...
This is a dressed up beer. The beer comes in green paper wrapping with (I'm assuming) Mekkel dressed up as a robber on the bottle, holding a bag that says "hops." It's actually pretty clever. The bottle itself is also very nice, and it features one of those over-sized, fancy bottle caps you often find on your Belgian beers.
The head on this beer is OUTSTANDING. We're talking about 4 to 5 fingers of thick, super foamy, light tan/khaki head. And the head is hanging around. I don't even need to mention the lacing, but I'll just say this beer coats your glass in lacing. This beer produces the most epic lacing I have ever seen on any beer, ever. Period. The body of this beer is a murky, copper/dark brown/red color in low light. In bright light, this is a murky, swampy, thick-looking, red/orange beer. This beer has some serious murkiness going on. It pours thick and swampy, and it looks thick and swampy. It looks like juice from concentrate that hasn't been diluted enough. I have to imagine there is a ton of hop goodness just floating around in this thing.
You get a big ass whiff of hops when you pop the bottle, and this beer's nose is like sticking your face into a barrel of hops. This smells bitter. I'm smelling straight up orange juice from concentrate, juicy hops, pineapple, mango, pine, and surprisingly, some bready notes, some caramel, and some honey. I'm also getting huge, dense, resiny, sticky, hops on the nose. Just straight up hops. I am drinking this at a relatively warm temperature, because this is the type of beer that deserves the full attention of your taste buds. If I had to describe the aroma in a nice statement: bitter, surprisingly juicy, intense fresh hops, and a surprisingly evident malt backbone.
Cheers! The taste is so good. Immediately, you get a blast of orange juice, tangerines, mango, and powerful tropical fruits. That fades quickly, and turns into immense bitterness. You get blasted with lemon rind, then wood, then the moisture gets sucked out of your mouth. The finish is dry as hell, as you feel the hop bitterness pulling down into the back of your throat. And that was just a single sip. Sip number two builds on the first sip, with way more earthy and piney bitterness. There's way more rind. You get a cut of malts in the background, but they aren't sweet, and can't hold up to the huge hop profile in this.
As far as 1000 "theoretical" IBUs go, or whatever...for whatever reason, this is not the most bitter beer I have had. In fact, this kind of feels like a beer chilling around 90-120 IBUs. Personally, I think Green Flash's Palate Wrecker might have a more challenging bitter profile. Interestingly enough, the Palate Wrecker clocks in at 9.5% ABV. This beer is sitting at 9.6%. And you don't really taste it at all, except for some warming on the finish.
But this beer really cascades and builds up, as immensely bitter beers tend to do. It's kind of like eating a hot pepper. The first bite is stimulating, and then subsequent bites tend to numb your palate. At this point, I'm getting immensely bitter lemon rind, grapefruit rind, woody notes, and just super puckering citrus. Amazingly, there is still some caramel malt dancing around, along with some hints of caramel/honey. But make no mistake, this is bone dry on the finish. This is immensely sweet, as evident by the big malt profile that is standing up to the hops. I can feel this destroying my teeth with every sip though, as I get all those hop acids, oils, and resinous goodness. It's fairly juicy up front, which is really surprising.
Haha...I just felt a piece of sediment in the beer. I'm assuming that was part of an unfiltered hop. Let's break this crazy beer down. Palate depth is through the roof. If you want a beer that dominates/stimulates your palate, this is it. This is a full-bodied beer. It's also super sweet, full of sugar, and super bitter. At 9.6% ABV, and 1000 "theoretical" IBUs, this is a sipping beer (the price also reinforces this fact). Complexity is high for the style. The palate changes as you drink it, but up front you get sweet malts, sweet hops, tropical fruits; this turns into incredibly bitter hops mid palate; and finishes woody, and dry.
This is so dry and bitter on the finish I can feel it on my lips. This beer is sucking the moisture from my lips. Damn! For 9.6% ABV, there is virtually no heat on this, but some pleasant warming on the back end.
 |
| Stealing them hops....I do like the presentation. |
Tonight's beer hardly needs an introduction, except: mother fucking hops and more hops. This beer clocks in at "1000 theoretical IBUs," whatever that means. I'm not sure what a theoretical IBU is, but according to the shackles known as the BJCP Style Guidelines, this beer is eight-hundred and eighty (880) IBUs more bitter than a standard Imperial IPA....which doesn't matter that much, because the human palate can only perceive somewhere up to 120 IBUs (+/-30 based on the variety of sources I have seen).
If the human palate can only handle 120 IBUs, what's the big deal? The fact is, the extreme hopping and extreme bitterness does have an effect on the beer. It changes the acidity, the body, and the whole profile. I've had this beer already, and it is quite the hop bomb (with a few twists). Into the Duvel tulip this goes...
 |
| Mikkeller 1000 IBU |
This is a dressed up beer. The beer comes in green paper wrapping with (I'm assuming) Mekkel dressed up as a robber on the bottle, holding a bag that says "hops." It's actually pretty clever. The bottle itself is also very nice, and it features one of those over-sized, fancy bottle caps you often find on your Belgian beers.
The head on this beer is OUTSTANDING. We're talking about 4 to 5 fingers of thick, super foamy, light tan/khaki head. And the head is hanging around. I don't even need to mention the lacing, but I'll just say this beer coats your glass in lacing. This beer produces the most epic lacing I have ever seen on any beer, ever. Period. The body of this beer is a murky, copper/dark brown/red color in low light. In bright light, this is a murky, swampy, thick-looking, red/orange beer. This beer has some serious murkiness going on. It pours thick and swampy, and it looks thick and swampy. It looks like juice from concentrate that hasn't been diluted enough. I have to imagine there is a ton of hop goodness just floating around in this thing.
You get a big ass whiff of hops when you pop the bottle, and this beer's nose is like sticking your face into a barrel of hops. This smells bitter. I'm smelling straight up orange juice from concentrate, juicy hops, pineapple, mango, pine, and surprisingly, some bready notes, some caramel, and some honey. I'm also getting huge, dense, resiny, sticky, hops on the nose. Just straight up hops. I am drinking this at a relatively warm temperature, because this is the type of beer that deserves the full attention of your taste buds. If I had to describe the aroma in a nice statement: bitter, surprisingly juicy, intense fresh hops, and a surprisingly evident malt backbone.
Cheers! The taste is so good. Immediately, you get a blast of orange juice, tangerines, mango, and powerful tropical fruits. That fades quickly, and turns into immense bitterness. You get blasted with lemon rind, then wood, then the moisture gets sucked out of your mouth. The finish is dry as hell, as you feel the hop bitterness pulling down into the back of your throat. And that was just a single sip. Sip number two builds on the first sip, with way more earthy and piney bitterness. There's way more rind. You get a cut of malts in the background, but they aren't sweet, and can't hold up to the huge hop profile in this.
As far as 1000 "theoretical" IBUs go, or whatever...for whatever reason, this is not the most bitter beer I have had. In fact, this kind of feels like a beer chilling around 90-120 IBUs. Personally, I think Green Flash's Palate Wrecker might have a more challenging bitter profile. Interestingly enough, the Palate Wrecker clocks in at 9.5% ABV. This beer is sitting at 9.6%. And you don't really taste it at all, except for some warming on the finish.
But this beer really cascades and builds up, as immensely bitter beers tend to do. It's kind of like eating a hot pepper. The first bite is stimulating, and then subsequent bites tend to numb your palate. At this point, I'm getting immensely bitter lemon rind, grapefruit rind, woody notes, and just super puckering citrus. Amazingly, there is still some caramel malt dancing around, along with some hints of caramel/honey. But make no mistake, this is bone dry on the finish. This is immensely sweet, as evident by the big malt profile that is standing up to the hops. I can feel this destroying my teeth with every sip though, as I get all those hop acids, oils, and resinous goodness. It's fairly juicy up front, which is really surprising.
Haha...I just felt a piece of sediment in the beer. I'm assuming that was part of an unfiltered hop. Let's break this crazy beer down. Palate depth is through the roof. If you want a beer that dominates/stimulates your palate, this is it. This is a full-bodied beer. It's also super sweet, full of sugar, and super bitter. At 9.6% ABV, and 1000 "theoretical" IBUs, this is a sipping beer (the price also reinforces this fact). Complexity is high for the style. The palate changes as you drink it, but up front you get sweet malts, sweet hops, tropical fruits; this turns into incredibly bitter hops mid palate; and finishes woody, and dry.
This is so dry and bitter on the finish I can feel it on my lips. This beer is sucking the moisture from my lips. Damn! For 9.6% ABV, there is virtually no heat on this, but some pleasant warming on the back end.
Rating: Divine Brew
I'm feeling a light Divine Brew on this. Caveat emptor, this beer is definitely gimmicky, and you definitely need to be a hop whore, and you definitely need to be in the mood. But this beer really accomplishes what I assume it intends to do, which is destroy your palate with hops. I don't know if you can even really compare this to typical Imperial IPAs. But if hops are your thing, you should check this beer out.
Great review. I had 1000 IBU last night and wanted to read some reviews. Yours was stellar. The "woody" comment was spot on. It was one of the more interesting beers I've ever had. As a "hop whore" myself, it was a fun experiment in taste.
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