Bean Geeks. Hazy IPA
Mikkeller ApS

super cool beer here, a session type hazy ipa with cocoa beans in the mix. i have loved chocolate in pale beer before, but not sure i have ever really seen it in a hoppy beer like this, i really dug this. yellow and softly hazy in the glass with an airy white head, no sign of the chocolate at all visually, and a very lively looking beer from the bottle. aroma has some dry earthy almost baking sort of cocoa to it, but i am looking for it, its citra hops leading the way with a sort piney hop thing behind it, but it smells new school, fresh, vibrant, interesting, and the chocolate is such a subtle layer here. the flavor is so cool, i didnt expect fruity and even bitter hops to work so well, but the cocoa bean element is killer here, almost buttery and raw, maybe not chocolate at all, maybe like a cacao thing, its rad, and it works great with the hops, especially the citra, which is dry hoppy and fresh as can be in here. a light baking chocolate darker layer which is neat in an ipa too, and the starchy but light grain base seems right on for this, pils and white wheat malt likely the majority of it. super dry and carbonated like champagne, so it all moves really fast, but it keeps the chocolate window kind of short, interesting but only for a second, and then ipa again, with the bitter hoppy finish. resinous and pretty intense at the end. amazingly nuanced brew, such a cool idea, i would love to know more about the ingredients and the process here, but this was a lot of fun, something really different, and the reason i keep going back to mikkeller beers no matter how often or how badly i get burned by the weird ones, when it works, it really works. this was fire!

 

 

On tap. Golden color with medium haze. Aroma is light, hoppy and herbal. Taste follows with some herbal hops and just a hint of cacao. Light body with medium plus carbonation. Decent IPA but I expected more complexity.

Tap @ BCBF2018 - Pours hazy yellow with a medium white foamy head. Nice lacing. Medium carbonation. Aroma - Large tropical and citrus fruits forefront - grapefruit, lemon, peachy, pineapple notes. Taste - Sweet tropical and citrus mothfeel as aroma, dry and light finish. Nice NE IPA.