Everybody loves Mikkeller (or should)

Mikkeller Arh Hvad (wild yeast ale aged in cherry wine barrels)
Sometime in 2016
The last of our Pensacola beers, this is another pleasant surprise, easily the best beer ever associated with cherry wine. Aged in cherry wine barrels, the wild yeast brettanomyces produces a mellow beer with a few wild flourishes. The cherry flavor is not brutal or artificial like cough drops; it casts an elegant backdrop on a beer that could be normal and goes into new territories. Brettanomyces add enough hop-sack, horse blanket textures to the barrel influence that this is not like anything else. This is Mikkeller’s take on Orval (albeit barrel-aged), and the original beer exerts a good presence. Cherry wine is a good match for these flavors, adding fruit tones without infusing actual fruit. 

To Ol/Mikkeller Ov-ral IIPA
Jan. 23, 2016
Apparently this Denmark brewery collaboration beer has been retired so finding this was a rare treat. Given the name’s pun on Orval, I had to grab a bottle. This huge imperial IPA takes on new dimensions thanks to some wild yeast. The name is obviously a play on the famed wild-yeast, dry-hopped Trappist beer Orval. If there’s any similarity, Ov-ral plays like a double or imperial version of the monk-brewed original with a heavier dose of piney, citrus American hops. Lots of citrus – grapefruit, lemon, blood orange – collide with notes of toffee and the occasional bit of horse blanket. There’s a nice hop afterburn long after the last sip. A little bit of B vitamin creeps into the huge hop presence that has not diminished. The big alcohol content (10.5 percent ABV) hides well, keeping Ov-ral dangerously drinkable. Given the wild yeast and alcohol levels, don’t fear Ov-ral if you find one. The old bottle develops extra textures with the wild yeast’s influence.

Spontan Beetroot
Sometime in 2016
I’ve been eagerly awaiting these Mikkeller beers since we found them in Pensacola. This one from its barrel-aged sour series uses beets. It’s an intense experience. Highly vegetative, this sour radiates fruity tones as well, with sour cherry and an impressive finish of strawberry cream. As the strawberry fades it arrives at an uptick of vegetative beet character. The beets match up nicely with the lactobacillus and time spent aging in the dark. Mikkeller Spontangooseberry June 22 Imagine guese with a firm finish of tart, impossibly dry tart. Plenty of cider, vinegar and orange notes. Gooseberries are pretty tart anyway, so they amplify the natural sour. Along with lovely sour orange, some traces of tomatillo sprout up. It’s unexpected and delightful, like most Mikkeller sours.

Mikkeller SpontanCarrot
Dec. 3, 2017
A barrel-aged sour brewed with carrots – sign me up for another of Mikkeller’s bold experiments. If I don’t take a flier on a Mikkeller sour once a year, I’m just not trying. The sour is pretty standard but the carrot imparts some sweetness, exerting more influence due to the beer’s strength (7.7 percent ABV). There’s a root vegetable core that radiates through the musty orange notes before the blonde sour character takes over. The carrot never overwhelms – I’m not sure what that would even taste like in a sour. But by surrounding the carrots with notes of lemon, orange zest and tangerine. The finish does not pucker, as the carrot sweetness mellows out the barrel aging. Another win for Mikkeller, matching an unexpected vegetable with sour beer.