BA Man In The Moon
Mikkeller ApS

 

 

 

1L howler from Keg n Cork - not cheap, but for the serving size, a veritable deal, compared to the cost of a 12oz 'pint' of stuff like this at yer better watering holes around town. Named for the pub in Stockholm it was originally made for, apparently, and not REM - boo.

This beer pours a solid-ass black hole, with the dimmest of distant filtered starlight evident at the base, and three chubby fingers of puffy, densely foamy, and mildly bubbly chocolate milk brown head, which leaves some stellar and consistent tacky storm front lace around the glass as it slowly ebbs away.

It smells of sweet 'n sugary roasted caramel/toffee/treacle informed malt, musty wood - the sort that maybe contained a fair bit of Kentucky spirit, at some point in time, I gather - bittersweet chocolate, earthy coffee beans, tanned leather, very warm vanilla, licorice root, and leafy, weedy hops. The taste is dry cafe-au-lait and mocha coffee shop essence straight off, followed up tightly by a muddled caramel and friends sweetness, more stripped-down vanilla pod and vegetal licorice astringencies, an increasing old oily leather character, a consequently decreasing woodiness, and well settled earthy, leafy, and growing perfumed hops - a nod to the bristling 21-proof-ish alcohol, to be sure.

The bubbles are pretty underwhelming, when you stop to actually think about them - no more than a simplistic frothiness for the most part - the body a solid medium-heavy weight, and generally smooth, what with those coffee, chocolate and toffee influences all mucking about. It finishes off-dry, and not as sweet as I might have initially imaged - lots and lots of the aforementioned still carrying on and on, the party that never ends, as it were.

A more or less evenhanded approach to BA treatment, for this ever so agreeable style - i.e. lots of stuff already going on (I'm not about to speculate as to the base stout here - too many choices, really), and then add a deft touch of woodsy goodness to it, without the merest of hints of going overboard. Not too sweet, not too overtly boozy, and ergo, I'm glad to have another glass of this to combat the spicy 'homemade' 'za currently fucking with my olfactory senses via its oven-borne emanations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On tap at 7venth Sun for Hunahpu Hangover. Aroma of coffee, deeply roasted malt and some wet earthy wood. Taste is also coffee, that dark malt, wet wood, and a touch of bitter chocolate. Silty mouthfeel, low-medium carbonation, full bodied. Pitch black, tan head that faded very quickly, decent lacing, very few wisps