Mikkeller "Hop Burn Low" - Denmark ABV (10%)

Mikkeller beers never really disappoint and this one is no exception. It pours a delightful orange amber with a quite hoppy aroma and a medium head with light lacing in the glass.

Doesn't really live up to the "hop burn" name in the tasting, has a pleasant hoppy profile but it has been nicely balanced out by the malts. I have had several beers with a bigger hop hit than this one but then again this is the "low" burn version.

A very good well balanced tasty beer, consume with caution as it drinks easily for a 10% ABV beer!

Mikkeller 19 - Denmark (ABV 6.8%)

This one was on tap to be poured into a takeaway plastic bottle at a local specialty beer shop.

Mikkeller rarely disappoint and this beer is no exception. An American style IPA brewed using 19 different hops, predominately Simcoe, Citra, Amarillo and Sorachi Ace.

It pours a reddish orange colour with a pretty good chunky head and unsurprisingly reeks of hops. Loads of citrus, tropical fruit flavour and an appropriately bitter finish. A very refreshing and tasty beer.

A very good American style IPA.

Mikkeller "The American Dream" - Denmark (ABV 4.6%)

This premium lager is brewed with American hops and is meant to drunk as a refreshing summer thirst quencher.

Pours a nice copper orange colour with a creamy white head. Has a subtle grassy and citrus hop aroma , leaning towards a Pale Ale aroma. Nice refreshing taste with some citrus hop and balanced with a slight caramel maltiness.

Very easy to drink lager with a flavour leaning slightly towards what you would expect from a Pale ale. Would make a tasty summer refreshment.

Growlers & Squealers- Fresh Beer!

Growler -"Bridge Rd Chevalier Saison" (Australia) ABV 6%
I was really looking forward to trying this beer and in particular getting hold of a "fresh" 2L growler to sample.

The concept of the "Growler" is a good one. Your shop can get in fresh kegs of a variety of different beers, when they tap the variety you want you pop in and get a 2L Growler (or 1L Squealer) filled with that beer. You then take it home and enjoy it.

As my first experience of beer from a Growler this one was a little disappointing. The Chevalier lacked a little carbonation and a little freshness. This beer has a reputation for forming a big soft creamy head, you can see in the photo a very slight head. The taste was unmistakably Saison, yeasty esters, some grassy hop and a noticeable acidity. A good beer but not great, I think this may have been a dud batch!

Squealer- "Beer Hear Lupulus APA" (Denmark) ABV 4.7%
This American Pale Ale is brewed at the Søgaards Bryghus in Copenhagen. The name is derived from the Latin "Humulus Lupulus" for Hops and further plays on the Latin "Lupulus" for Wolf. The brewery describes this beer as a wolf in sheep's clothing!

This excellent American Pale Ale is brewed with a variety of different malts and packed with NZ Green Bullet, Simcoe and Chinook hops. The malts give this beer a lovely coppery orange colour and a slightly caramel sweetness to balance the  bitterness of the hops. The hops used give this a super resinous hoppy aroma with the finish crisp to dry rather than bitter.

A beautifully balanced beer tasting super fresh out of the squealer!

Amager Bryghus "Gluttony" Double IPA - Denmark (9.4% ABV)

Amager have brewed this Double IPA as part of their "Sinner" series of beers, sins to be celebrated (Gluttony & Lust). I love the label with the greedy hop bellied gluttonous character.

Brewed with tons of hop (Hercules, Citra, Simcoe, Centennial, Amarillo and Sorachi-Ace), malted with Pilsener, Pale and Munich Malts and fermented with American ale Yeast, I was expecting a big flavoursome beer.

It pours a dark cloudy amber with only a small head, the Ale continued to lace in the glass. It gives a powerful citrus fruit hop aroma on pouring and from the glass. It has a fruity sweetness in the mouth and a bitter finish (without a dry pucker). A truly hop driven beer with lots of citrus, pine & passionfruit with subtle bittering. A very good double IPA packed with hop flavour.

My Festive Beers 2011

Mikkeller Red/White Christmas - Denmark (8% ABV)
What can I say about this quirky beer, a blend of Belgian style "Wit Bier" with "Red Ale" with added bitter tropical orange peel & loaded up with American hops (Tomahawk, Simcoe, Saaz & Amarillo).

A lovely hazy orange amber colour, spicy citrus aroma and flavour but with some caramel malt taste. Quite a crisp slightly bitter hop finish but it is not a bitter beer. Love the large chunky head and really couldn't taste the 8% alcohol content.

I certainly felt quite festive enjoying this super tasty ale, but I always enjoy Mikkeller's Beers.

Mikkeller "Happy Lovin' Christmas"- Denmark (7.8% ABV)
A very festive nicely balanced IPA with added pine needles & ginger. Nice slightly hazy amber with incredible, almost champagne like, lacing in the glass. I couldn't taste the adjuncts (pine & ginger), to me it was just a hoppy IPA taste. A special easy to drink festive IPA with a crisp rather than bitter finish.



Sierra Nevada Celebration Fresh Hop Ale - USA (6.8% ABV)
Another orange amber coloured festive IPA with a frothy white head. Brewed with Two-Row pale malt & English Caramel malt and loaded up with hops this is a real cold climate Christmas beer.

This ale has been dry hopped with Cascade & Centennial hops and bittered using Chinook hops. A very tasty bitter IPA with a crisp dry finish (Cascade hops give a lovely citrus flavour but can also be bitter). I loved the taste of this ale but was drinking it on a warm Australian Christmas day probably better suited to a different style of beer.

A wonderful festive American IPA.



Brew Dog "Trashy Blonde" - Scotland (4.1% ABV)
Don't be fooled by the name , this is nothing like a Belgian Blonde. It is brewed with Pale Malt, Caramalt & Munich Malt and flavoured with American Hops (Amarillo, Simcoe & New Zealand bred Motueka hops).

It is advertised as having  "sassy passion fruit hop" flavour, but I got more the spicy bitter citrus taste I would expect from Amarillo hops.

A pretty good session able beer well suited to a warmer Australian Christmas. I may be doing this beer a disservice comparing it to some flavour heavyweights but is was the poor cousin in my Christmas beers pack.

Beer Here Dark Hops - Denmark

I seem to be on a "Black IPA" bandwagon at the moment. This is a Danish version of what is really an American style beer. This seems to have been brewed as a stout using a variety of dark malts and cane sugar, and then given the IPA treatment courtesy of Zeus (Columbus) hops and Czech Saaz hops (usually found in Pilseners).

 A truly tasty ale, lots of coffee, chocolate maltiness with a spicy hop flavour. This is a great version of a Black IPA.

Beertasters "95% Viking" Tasting

I do have a passion for Nordic/Scandinavian beers so jumped at the chance to attend this tasting event. The premise was to celebrate the great work of some of these brewers with a tasting of "viking" craft beers scoring 95 or better on the "Rate Beer" website. I have only included a selection of my favorites from the beers tasted.

First up "Mikkeller Draft Bear", a Danish Imperial Pilsener with a very healthy 8% ABV brewed using Amarillo & Cascade hops.

Light Golden beer with a small  head and little lacing. Nice session able hoppy pilsener with a crisp finish, the 8% alcohol is barely noticeable.

Next "To Øl First Frontier IPA", a Danish brewed American style IPA with 7.1% ABV. Brewed with a healthy dose of Warrior, Simcoe & Centennial hops.

Cloudy amber beer with a medium dense head. Has a definite fruit hop flavour with citrus & peach hop character. Doesn't have a super bitter finish probably due to the addition of caramel malt. Not the big IPA I was expecting but nevertheless a very good Ale.

"Nøgne Ø Imperial Brown Ale" a Norwegian Strong brown ale. Brewed with a variety of malts (predominately English) and hops (including EK Golding). This was an extraordinarily good brown ale with a very malty taste with a crisp hop finish.

"Beer Here Mørke Pumpernickel Porter" a Danish dark Porter. Brewed using roasted malted rye, this beer had a lovely dark brown colour with a thick coffee coloured head. Great slightly easy to drink smoked porter.

"Mikkeller Barrel Black Hole Aged Stout" (Red Wine Barrels & Bourbon Barrels) a terrific way to finish an evenings beer tasting. These stouts have an incredibly rich flavour, the fruit can be tasted in the version aged in red wine barrels and a bourbon sweetness comes through in the version aged in bourbon barrels. I loved both of these stouts.

Amager Bryghus Drei von Dänen - Denmark

This is one very tasty beer, a special project by Amager Bryghus to produce a traditional Nordic smoked porter with a twist.

Brewed with roasted  (& smoked) malts and matured in old Cognac barrels this has a lovely porter aroma but with an undeniable Cognac presence. It tastes quite malty with a sweet tinge (it is possible some sweet adjunct may have been used) and a slight smoky flavour, you can definitely taste the Cognac. It is quite a potent beer at 9.8% ABV.

I really enjoyed this Porter but would struggle with more than one bottle in a sitting.

Beer Here "Weed" Smoked Wheat - Denmark

Can't say that I am a fan of "smoked beer", this one had the smell & taste of a smoky campfire!
Brewed with traditional German smoked barley malt, wheat malt, some British amber malt, chocolate malt, caramel malt &lightly hopped with Perle hops.

I commend the brewer for trying to add complexity of flavour with a blend of malts, but for me the smoked malt just overpowers.

Malt used to be dried over fires imparting an unavoidable smoky flavour. Personally I am glad brewers now use kilns.

Mikkeller 1000IBU - Denmark

1000IBU, surely this will turn my face inside out, that is super bitter!

This double IPA pours a lovely caramel copper amber colour with a big tightly beaded creamy head. It has a lot of sediment that doesn't really look like the usual yeast esters, apparently it is hop sediment. Nicely balanced beer with a fruity caramel mid palate finishing with a dry hop bitterness. A big 9.6% ABV.

It didn't turn my face inside out, the bitterness and flavour are very much in line with Stone's "Double Bastard Ale". If you are fond of big Imperial or Double IPA's then I thoroughly recommend this one!

SCORE 4.4

Mikkeller Koppi IPA - Denmark

This is an interesting IPA brewed with Tomahawk hops, added oat flakes and some added Ethiopian grown (Swedish roasted) Guji coffee.

Lovely hazy orange amber colour with a terrific foamy head. Has a very pleasant fruity hop & malt aroma and flavour with a barely perceptible coffee tinge. It is slightly sweet, I prefer my IPA's bitter and hoppy.

This IPA is something a little different, it is a nicely balanced beer with subtle variation on the usual IPA flavours. I love beers that pour with a great foaming head, it builds anticipation!

SCORE 4.2

Amager Bryghus Christianshavn Pale Ale - Denmark

Imagine a Sunday with blue sunny skies and a wife that needs work done around the home.
First step, escape to the hills on my bike for 3 hours of exercise, I really need the training for my approaching assault of Alpe d'Huez and Mont Ventoux!

A fifteen minute stop for coffee and cake on the way home meant fifteen minutes less work around the home.

An approaching cold front meant that the gutters had to be cleared out as a matter of urgency so an afternoon of climbing up and down the ladder. My thirst was starting to build.

I was also obliged to pay for my morning away by having to prepare dinner. With a Pale Ale chilling in the fridge my excellent home made bacon & bocconcini pizza seemed the ideal accompaniment.

With the pizza in the oven the ritual of "beer o'clock" was upon me.

This Pale Ale was perfect for this occasion, fresh citrus hop aromas, off white chunky head just screamed "DRINK ME NOW"! Not overly bitter, a pleasantly hopped finish, nice refreshing Pale Ale.

SCORE 4.1

Nørrebro Pacific Summer Ale - Denmark

Golden amber colour with off white head.
Head is loose and disappears quickly.
Citrus hop flavours with a dry finish, brewed for summer drinking.
I enjoyed this beer much more on tap at Nørrebro Bryghus in Copenhagen. I don't think it has retained its full flavour in the bottle over a very long journey.

SCORE 3.6