Raspberry Trippelbock
Mikkeller ApS

From the 12.7 oz bottle and enjoyed in a snifter. This beefy brew pours
a nice coal black with a fantastic head of tan foam that subsides to a
thick ring, thick clumping layer, and shows some excellent lacing. Nose
of raspberry preserves and dark bread with chocolate dusted on it.
Flavors follow the nose with raspberry, some vinous wine notes, dark
bread elements, and touches of dark chocolate and char. Nice mouth feel;
full slick body, light carbonation, and a tart medium dry finish.

Overall, an excellent brew even though it is a lurker from the
doomsday beer closet. Nice!

Cheers

12.7 ounce bottle, date printed on the label is 22/09/16, not sure if it's the bottle date or best by date. I just know I've had this bottle for years and I have no idea why I waited so long to drink it. Served in a snifter, the beer pours a dark reddish/brown color with about an inch and a half tan head that stuck around a while. There's a good amount of lacing. The aroma is fruity and sweet, it smells like raspberries and raspberry jam, caramel, and some breadiness. I think the taste is similar to the aroma, with raspberry jam, caramel, chocolate, red grape and grainy malt flavors. Mouthfeel/body is medium/full, it's slick and smooth with a moderate amount of carbonation. I thought this was a decent enough overall brew, although I wish I would have tried it fresher. Worth a try if you come across some!

 

 

This beer pours a very dark reddish black with a large pink tinted head. The aroma is very berry forward, with strawberry and cherry notes most apparent, as well as some brett hints. The flavor starts with sweet strawberry, as well as malted milk, brett, chocolate, raisin, date, and overall sweet candy. The mouthfeel is medium bodied with a load of foamy carbonation. Overall this is a pretty tasty beer - fruit dominant, but very deep nonetheless.

 

 

 

 

 

Laughing in the face of the reinheitsgebot, Mikkel fruited this robust doppelbock. Let's see how eschewing tradition plays out for him...

BOTTLE: 375ml format. Brown glass. Red foil covers a pry-off crown cap, giving it a Belgian look (no accident it's brewed at Mikkel's go-to production brewery, De Proef Brouwerij). Imported to the US by the Shelton Bastards. Keith Shore label art - it's fine, but nothing special. This is at least 1 year old - I think 2 years?

13% ABV. "Ale brewed with raspberries." "Trippelbock." Already, I'm suspicious; they call this an ale brewed with raspberries but it's a lager style of beer...so which yeast did they use? I'm trusting the "ale" designation is a typo or tax designation thing; the label clearly states lager yeast (lagergaer). The Shelton Bastards' website calls this a "fruit beer," further muddying the waters.

Served chilled into a tulip.

HEAD: ~2-3cm in height. Khaki colour head boasts a terrific shining complexion and an impressive ~8 minute retention (in spite of its monstrous 13% ABV). Soft-looking, robust, fluffy, and creamy. Leaves no lacing as it recedes.

BODY: Opaque solid black. No yeast/lees visible within.

Appears well-carbonated. It's a nice look for a fruited doppelbock, but I guess a vibrant red would have been better given the use of raspberries. One wouldn't guess it was a fruited brew to look at it, and it isn't a terrific appearance for a doppelbock per se, but it's nice.

AROMA: Shrieks raspberries; it's unmistakable and vivid to the extent no one would mistake it for cherry or strawberry or anything but what it is - and I like that. It's genuine raspberry too, not just raspberry extract/syrup/flavouring. Dark sugars are evident, but I wouldn't pick up on any dark malts in a blind taste test. Lager yeast gives it a clean attenuation at the expense of any estery presence. No overt hop presence (to style). No wheat; this is a doppelbock, not a weizendoppelbock.

Aromatic intensity is high; this announces raspberry in no uncertain terms.

No booziness or off-notes. I'm impressed how reticent the 13% ABV is.

TASTE & TEXTURE: Heavy raspberry over notes of dark sugar and caramel. The raspberry is intense, beating the drinker over the head - not exactly the German subtlety you'd expect in a fine doppelbock. Some may find it saccharine; it's definitely sweet for a doppelbock, and ventures closer to child's raspberry candy than it does to a deep malty liquid bread meant to sustain monks during a fast. One could argue it collides Belgian fruiting with the German malt backbone doppelbocks are known for, but that would seem a bit optimistic to me. I don't find it too sweet personally, but it does flirt with raspberry syrup notes in spite of tasting like genuine raspberries throughout.

I'm reticent to call it balanced; it's so one-note that balance isn't really much of a factor. Those hoping for a rich malty bready doppelbock that's true to tradition will be let down, but I find it an inspired if flawed build. It can't hold a candle to Kuhnhenn's raspberry eisbock, but I don't dislike it.

Smooth, thick, wet, unrefreshing, medium to full-bodied, and well-carbonated (though not syrupy or sticky, which is an accomplishment seeing as how raspberry-emphatic this is). There's not an ideal harmony of texture and taste and nothing about the mouthfeel accentuates specific notes from the flavour profile, but the texture suits the taste decently and there are no egregious flaws texture-wise.

OVERALL: Those fearing the worst from the "trippelbock" designation given historical trainwrecks like Sam Adam's attempt (if you can call it that) at the purported style will be relieved to know this is nowhere near that catastrophic a failure. Those hoping for a beer on par with Kuhnhenn's raspberry eisbock will be underwhelmed. Anything but traditional, but a pleasant experiment in terms of fruiting a doppelbock. I hoped for more of a malty backbone and for the fruit to be on equal footing with the malts, but this is drinkable enough. More of a jammy tartness would be preferable, and I'd like to see them ease the sweetness back a few notches.

I'm glad I got to try it once, but I wouldn't pick it over traditional doppelbocks. Treated as a member of the vague catch-all style "fruit beer," it's simplistic but nevertheless enjoyable. What's really impressive here is that it drinks like it's 6-8% ABV.

High C (3.00) / AVERAGE

Raspberry jam flavors collide with the malty backbone of a bock, creating a fruity beer whose biting malt presence provides something interesting, though can also be cloying. A good beer, though certainly a bold release with just a bit too much earthy malt for my liking.

Love the creativity of Mikkeller stuff, which is full effect here- A super high gravity bock with fruit added... Pretty cool idea anyway, lets see how this is executed. This beer was served at Thanksgiving 2016, after aging for about 1.5 years. not much info on the bottle to determine when it was brewed.

L: pours muddy dark brown with ruby highlights, medium clarity. Medium carbonation with white- off white head. no lacing.

S: There is a bit of musty, earth followed by jammy fruit and some feint booze and estery alcohol.

T: Wow! loaded up front with tart acidity from the raspberries, which lingers through the entire sip into the finish. There is a lot of alcohol here too, which is fairly hidden but present. Their is a some malt here too, but the fruit is the showcase. the malt comes across as slightly toasty sweet but barely there. The flavors do not necessarily meld very well. It is a bit tough to drink more than a few ounces but interesting nonetheless. Really comes across more like raspberry wine than anything else.

F: medium carbonation and body, Not very syrupy or cloying for a 13% ABV beer! goes down easy enough for the style.

O: This one was a bit disappointing given the steep pricetag, really cool presentation, and idea behind the beer. Mikkeller is often times hit or miss, so that was not a surprise. The beer is interesting and unique, but not very well excecuted. Maybe if the beer showcased more of bock characteristics without the raspberries completely overpowering- would this have worked a bit better. Would not purchase again but looks like it's discontinued anyway. Still, a fun drink and will continue buying the experimental Mikkeller stuff!

Bottle at home. Dark ruby-brown pour with a tall, fine-grained tan head. Rich smell, including raspberries, chocolate, espresso, green walnuts, macerated fruit. The taste is quite complex, though a bit unbalanced between fruit tartness and bitter-sweet roasty chocolate. Medium body, low carbonation, velvety texture and a light sour and bitter-sweet finish.

 

Served out of a 375ml capped bottle, in a stemmed glass.

Dark reddish body, one finger white head, short retention, no lacing. Smells of raspberry and a big malty caramel backbone that is hard to miss here. A bit plasticky. Good raspberry intensity. Flavour is similar, less of the plastic but the heavy caramel and dark fruit presence doesn't play well with the raspberries on the flavour. Mouthfeel is full bodied, thick and syrupy, a big tasting beer most certainly. A bit of fruit roll up, but overall the malt backbone is way too sweet on top of the raspberry flavours without any real balance to it.

 

 

A 375ml bottle with a best before date of 22nd September 2016. Poured into a d’Achouffe tulip glass.

Appearance: It poured a dark brown colour with a slight red hue. It had a two finger khaki head with good retention that eventually settles to a cap and leaves nice spotty lacing.

Aroma: Strong raspberry juice and raspberry jam with cherry, grape juice and red wine with maybe a hint of chocolate.

Taste: Tart raspberry juice, grape juice, mixed berries, plum and red wine. There’s a hint of chocolate and molasses in the middle, but otherwise, its very fruit juicy.

Mouthfeel: Medium to full bodied with moderate carbonation and a well hidden 13% abv.

Overall: Nice tart fruit aromas and taste, as well as hints of chocolate which made it seem like a dessert.