Dry Stout Aged In Sauternes Barrels
Mikkeller ApS

Appearance: Wonderful dark, burnt toast dark. Relatively generic creamy tan coloured head that dissipated fairly quickly but leaves a tiny bit of lace and some surface doilies.

Aromatics: Alcohol topped with yeasty water-laden wood. A lot of great dark fruit (plum/date/fig), rich dark molasses and few kisses of vanilla in there.

Taste: The oaky flavour I get almost immediately and it takes a bit for the subtle fruit notes to come through; there is dominant ultra rich dark coffee blended with 50% clear spring water that really comes forward. There is some subtle lasting coffee bitter with just a touch of caramel and raisin I get probably from the wine barrel.

Mouth: An ok medium body, but I can’t quite get by the watery-ness of it. There is a pretty decent crisp in carbonation preventing it from encroaching on creamy. Fairly dry and very clean nondescript finish.

Overall: I usually wonder what bottled stouts would be like if I could try a nitro option. In this case, I don’t. I think this is the first dry stout I have come across where the addition of nitro wouldn’t enhance its character. So in that sense it is very unique.

Pairing: Because it doesn’t really have any one character that stands out, and it does have a good wine barrel oak, I think I would go with a simple scoop of vanilla ice cream and a little caramel drizzle. Those would accentuate the existing flavours very nicely while introducing some added creaminess that I feel is missing.

375ml green glass (come on, Mikkel!) bottle with unbranded white pry-off pressure cap acquired at a bottle shop in Krakow, Poland, and served into a generic kitchen glass in a hostel in Riga, Latvia. Reviewed live. Expectations are high; Mikkel is my favourite brewer and his dark beers tend to be his best.

Brewed & Bottled at De Proef. Served cold and allowed to come to room temperature over the course of consumption. Side-poured with standard vigor as no carbonation issues are anticipated.

No bubble show forms as it's poured.

HEAD: 1.5 fingers wide. Khaki colour. Great creaminess and frothiness. Good thickness. Has a nice smooth, even consistency and a soft complexion. Retention is nice - about 5 minutes. Leaves no lacing as it recedes.

BODY: Opaque dark black. Not quite a jet black. No yeast particulate or hop sediment is visible.

Overall, it's looking good for a dry stout. But the lack of bubble show detracts from the appearance, as does the less-than-ideal body colour and seeming overcarbonation. Not a unique or special appearance.

AROMA: Oak wood and wine-soaked wood are prominent here, with some minor grape notes and even a hint of tartness in there too. Any roasted barley or dark malts disappear beneath the dominant wine-soaked wood tone, making me wonder if the barrel notes aren't overwhelming the base beer rather than complementing it.

Overall, it's a pleasant aroma of average strength. No yeast character, hop notes, alcohol, or off-notes are detectable.

TASTE: Grape and wine notes aren't shy here; they dominate. The oak is a bit more reticent; it just tastes like a soaked wood. Don't expect a rich toasted white oak character. I also have trouble finding any evidence of the base beer aside from a generic easily-imposed-upon dark malt core. There's no roasted barley, or even any real creaminess. As much as I like the wine notes here, they replace - rather than complement - the flavour profile of the base beer, to the beer's detriment.

But boy are the wine notes tasty, and this is a very fleshed-out beer considering its astonishingly modest ABV. Good depth of flavour. And while the barrel notes do impose upon the base notes, it's still balanced and cohesive overall. I wouldn't call it gestalt.

The highlight of the beer for me is the luscious finish, wherein a hint of tartness mixes with the supple wine/grape character to good effect, leaving a lingering hint of nuanced grape with the drinker in the aftertaste. I'm no wine sommelier, but I do notice a kiss of raisin here.

TEXTURE: Smooth, wet, supple, full-bodied, wet, and aptly soft. Has the thickness and heft it needs to support its many flavours. It's slightly overcarbonated, yes, but overall this texture does a good job at bringing out the best in the flavour profile - or at least in bringing out what the wine tones don't overwhelm.

Not oily, gushed, rough, hot, boozy, astringent, or harsh. Nice overall presence on the palate.

OVERALL: Forget the Irish dry stout base and focus on the integration of the unique wine notes into the beer. This is an ambitious and inspired brew, true to Mikkel's reputation, and I'd like to see more usage of sauternes wines in barrel aged beers. Admittedly, I hadn't heard of these wines before, but they do seem to have characteristics that would be desirable in wine-aged stouts. While this comes nowhere near to the quality observed in Mikkel's best wine-aged stouts (e.g. Red Wine Black Hole), it's effortlessly drinkable and boasts impressive diversity of flavour for its low ABV. I'd like to try it on-draught. Gets better as it warms. Definitely worth trying. The discerning drinker will find some elements impressive, but overall the beer fails to achieve world-class quality mostly because the barrel notes do not play on what is already present in the base.

High B-