No Thanks Given
Mikkeller ApS

this is a weird one, and definitely one of my least favorite mikkeller beers in recent memory. a sour(ish) porter, brewed with pumpkins and cranberries, we had high hopes for this. a little flat in the glass after the initial pour, but shiny and thick looking, dense. the aroma is a bit sharp, a combination of bacterial acidity and cranberry tang make this a bit of a head snapper, but there is a deep earthy note here from the roasted barley (lots of it) and the pumpkin. in the flavor, the cranberry is way out in front of the squash, almost to a fault, perhaps carried on by the sour feel of this, but its a lot of cranberry here. the porter seems at odds with itself though, somehow unresolved, like its trying to be this silky full bodied luxurious dark beer, but the funky cultures in here erode that with strange almost medicine-like acid, very strange contrast there, and its not wholly successful. i like the deep chocolate notes in here, and the flavor of the cranberries is cool, but its not balanced and its not carbonated and its not real drinkable. part of the bargain with mikkeller is that you are getting an experiment almost every time, and they cant all work. this isnt bad, but it certainly was not what we envisioned and i dont think it lived up to its full potential. it would be preferable without the sourness i think...

 

It reminds me of the batch of Autumn Maple that was infected. At least with the addition of the cranberries, the sourness here was to be expected.