Wednesday 12 February 2014

Mikkeller Koppi

Mikkeller Koppi
Style: Coffee IPA
Alcohol Content: 6.9%
From: Copenhagen, Denmark
Purchased from: Real Ale Shop, Richmond Upon Thames
http://mikkeller.dk/

What a weekend! Not only did I get to eat an amazing lobster roll at the Big Easy, I also visited the White Horse in Parsons Green. The selection of craft beer was quite frankly remarkable. From Rouge to Windsor and Eton, the White Horse had them all. After spending an eternity looking at the craft beer menu, Emma and I plumped for the following: Stone Levitation Ale, Goose Island Honkers ale, Kona Big Wave, Rouge Hazelnut Brown Nectar, Beaverton Black Betty Black IPA, Westbrook White Thai, Blanche De Bruxelles and Windsor and Eton Zinzan's Drop. You must agree, a very drinkable line up indeed. Couple this with a fantastic atmosphere and friendly staff, make the White Horse a winner. Whilst there, I noticed a number of Mikkeller beers were available. Rather than pay £20 for a bottle of their Geek Breakfast beer, I remembered I had bottle of Mikkeller Koppi sitting in my cupboard at home. So without further ado, here is the review.

Mikkeller is a so-called "phantom" or "gypsy" microbrewery founded in 2006 in Copenhagen, Denmark. The brewery was founded by two home brewers, a high school teacher Mikkel Borg Bjergsø and a journalist Kristian Klarup Keller, with the intention of bringing their home-brewed beer into public awareness, and to "challenge the beer friends with intense new tastes". The two also found some inspiration for their widely-varied, edgy brewing approach from the American breweries that "aren't afraid to play and break all the rules". In craft beer circles, the Mikkeller brewery is considered to be one of the innovative and well thought of breweries in the world. During its history, unlike many other microbreweries, Mikkeller has brewed over 600 different beers in a wide variety of styles.  As of 2013, their annual output is 8,500 hectolitres of beer. So onto the tasting.


Colour: Pours a dark chestnut brown which when held up to the light, produces a slight hazy orange hue. The head is very minimal and does not stay around long, so catch it if you can.

Aroma: The use of tomahawk hops helps to create aromas of elderflower and orange blossoms. The addition of Ethiopian Guji coffee adds bitter, lightly roasted coffee notes to the nose. Both these flavours will perform a merry little dance in your nose, leaving you wanting more.

Body: Very smooth in the mouth, but the heavy hopping and the addition of coffee causes a bitterness which clogs the back of your throat.

Taste: Firstly, bitter coffee will fill your palate, this slowly mutates into notes of crunchy biscuit and smooth, creamy fudge. The finish is long and bitter, with the continuation of coffee, cream and bitter hop resins. As the drink warms, the coffee notes will slightly fade into the background. The tomahawk hops compliment the coffee to ensure neither overpowers this beer. This helps to create a very enjoyable beer that I would return to over and over again.



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