Domino White Lung
Mikkeller ApS

 

 

 

330ml bottle - just a bit out of the expected ABV range for this historical Teutonic style, amirite? Oh, yeah, this is Mikkeller and de Proef we're talking about here.

This beer pours a mostly clear, medium golden yellow colour, with a teeming (quelle fucking surprise!) tower of puffy, finely foamy, and sort of fizzy off-white head, which leaves some nicely layered sudsy gear chain lace around the glass as it lazily recedes.

It smells of bready and doughy pale malt, a lemon and generic orange citrus rind acerbity, subtle dead yeast esters, and some decent leafy, weedy, and grassy green hop bitters. The taste is gritty and grainy pale malt, a bit of candy sugar sweetness, wayward son yeasty notes, a muted apple and citrus fruitiness, and more tame earthy, leafy, and herbal hoppiness.

The carbonation is quite plain in its basically inoffensive frothiness, the body a so-so middleweight, and mostly smooth, nothing really taking time off of its hipster-esque schedule to interfere here, as such. It finishes off-dry, the base mixed malt doing well by itself to remind us all of what this beer should actually bloody well taste like.

Overall, Mikkeller once again fails in its choice of contract brewers, in the sense of providing its end customers a real idea of what a certain and specified style should really be like - Belgians brewing a Kolsch? Gee, what could go wrong? Well, ladies and germs, I present exhibit A (und B, et C, y D...etc, etc).

mikkeller is so cool. nobody makes kolsch this strong, such a good brew this one is. stoked to have found a bottle. just a kolsch? maybe, but its the best one i have had in some time. tastes almost like it has to have an adjunct sugar in it, i thought for a moment this might be a collaboration with the sugar called domino for that reason, but its apparently a record company... scratch that... (nice pun!). strong and a little hoppy for what it is, golden but pale and mellow looking, super dry and well carbonated, and as pale and easy as it is, its also got a very unique and distinct malt flavor, built like a pilsener lager it seems, some crackery dry grain, fresh and bready but delicate. yeast in here is cool too, german but warm, less old world tasting and maybe a little less crisp in the feel, but far more interesting, and this beer drips nuanc and subtle compexity for something as crushable as it is i know the serving formats are always in flux with mikkeller, but this should be in 30 packs of cans...

330 ml bottle into pint glass, best before 7/12/2017. Pours lightly hazy/cloudy golden orange color with a 2 finger dense and rocky off white head with great retention, that reduces to a nice cap that lasts. Nice dense soapy lacing clings on the glass, with a moderate amount of streaming carbonation retaining the cap. Aromas of lemon, grapefruit, orange peel, pineapple, peach, pear, light pepper/pine, cracker, biscuit, herbal, and floral/grassy earthiness. Very nice aromas with good balance and complexity of citrus/earthy hops, fruity yeast, and bready malt notes; with good strength. Taste of lemon, grapefruit, orange peel, pineapple, peach, pear, light pepper, pine, cracker, biscuit, herbal, and floral/grassy earthiness. Moderate pine/herbal/spicy bitterhess on the finish; with lingering notes of lemon, grapefruit, orange peel, pineapple, peach, pear, pepper, pine, cracker, biscuit, and herbal/floral/grassy earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Very nice complexity, robustness, and balance of citrus/earthy hops, fruity yeast, and bready malt flavors; with a nice malt/bitterness balance; with some slight lingering hop astringency building up after the finish. Moderate dryness from bitterness, that increases through the glass. Medium carbonation and body; with a very smooth, moderately sticky/resinous, and fairly creamy/grainy balanced mouthfeel that is nice. Alcohol is very well hidden with minimal warming present after the finish. Overall this is a nice kolsch/IPA hybrid style. All around nice complexity, robustness, and balance of citrus/earthy hops, fruity yeast, and bready malt flavors; and very smooth and easy to drink. This was pretty interesting and unique. I can see the base Kolsch style characteristics, but it has a lot of citrus/piney hops on top of it. A very enjoyable offering.

New style for me, probyval his first time, the first thing noticed is an unusual, pleasant scent, with notes of citrus, the taste is full-bodied, heady, with a slight bitter aftertaste !!!