Bottle, generously shared by myrup. Poured with a clear, copper body, and a small, beige head. The aroma was lovely and heavy, with hops playing first violin, but givinig room for the alcohol to rinse your nose, and also to let some aromas reminiscent of the ones you find when entering a tea- and coffee-shop find its way into your nose. The flavor is heavy on the hops and heavy on the malts, balancing quite nice, but with a stinging hoppyness trying to muscle it’s way to the top. There’s also a slight alcohol burn, but it’s not very evident considering the ABV. Full, sweet body. Having tasted this one rather fresh, I’m pretty curious what some time in the cellar might do. Rating: 8-4-8-4-17-4.1. 071005

Bottle, 375ml corked. Vintage 2007. It pours with a minimal layer of beige bubbles, soon disappearing. Hazy, copper to brown body. Lightly oxidized nose with alcohol, malts and a good dash of hops. Three and a half years of cellaring has certainly mellowed it quite a lot, but there’s still citrus peel and resin. The flavor is still very hoppy, a good biting bitterness has company of alcohol warmth and a good addition of malty sweetness. Dried fruits and fortified wine. It has a lasting finish with lots of bitterness, but it’s the alcohol that stands out. The oxidation found in the aroma follows you all the way to the very end, but at pleasant levels. It’s full-bodied and quite flat, giving a nice alcohol burn. Still a lovely beer, but I think it was better fresh, and probably would have benefited from shorter cellaring. 100227

[Another century celebrated with a Mikkeller beer - this time 9300] A pitch black beer with a huge dark brown head. The aroma is sweet with notes of chocolate, licorice, and spices - I pick up cardemomme and pine amongst others. The flavor is very sweet and very powerful the first strong note is from chocolate, but it is very soon overpowered by spices - and lots of different ones, vanilla, cardemomme, spruce, and more - like a mixture of all the different spices used for christmas - and I believe that Mikkel has used the used christmas tree from last year to rotate the mash - I guess that is where the spruce comes from, more subdued notes of licorice and roasted malt are found in the back ground, it also has a light acidic note from the hard roasted malt, before a very dry and still quite spicy finish sets in and lasts for a long while. Just a bit too spicy for my liking, but still nice and probably better with some spiced christmas food than alone on a November evening.

500ml bottle from tytoanderso; nose of flowery hops with a little pine and some caramel maltiness; clear copper with a small. quick disapting straw head; flavor is light hop bitterness with some lemon and caramel.

Good fluffy cream-amber head over chestnut-brown beer. C- or Amarillo-like hops, quite grapey, sultana’s, vineleaf and a touch of tobacco. Bitterish, hoppy flavours, rounded by sweet (almond)cake, rosewater, lytchee. Further more fruity touches as strawberry, fruit icecream, but with a background, resiny, near-metallic bitterness. Quite slick, obviously very well-bodied, creamy-smooth; alcoholwarming in a very pleasant way. It appears quite young, and I think the little harshness in the bitter compartment might wear of with a little aging.

This beer ought to be under De Proefbrouwerij, Belgium (1187). It says even so on the label! Huge foxy-brown beer, dense & lacy over practically black beer with deep purple shine (and no, I don’t like R&R). Watercress, lesser duckweed, dark malts, touch of liquorice and molasses, very fine hops. Dirk says fruity-vinous. Stout, with Chinese herbs, like 5 spices. Almost certain far-chiew powder. Tastes like entering the spices/Chinese medicine part of the toko. Slight sourish, burned malts finish. Very slick, nearly oily, bit dry-burning MF. Pretty demure for a Mikkeller brew - and typically for a Proef. It’s interesting, but certainly not great. The idea for the name, however, certainly is.

2 months old bottle: Jet black with a small and bubbly, long lasting brown head. Lots of hops and alcohol in the aroma, with chocolate, oats, dried fruits, some port and licorice. The flavour is raw and powerful, in your face impy stout. Dry, lots of roast malt, alcohol, hop and burned malt bitterness, and a little sourness. Aftertaste is burning alcohol and roast malt. Very promising for cellaring, but not perfect yet...

2 year old bottle in 2009: The hops are more subdued, and the alcohol softer and more vineous. Port and dried fruit, with a little cold coffee underneath. In the flavour, alcohol is still a little dominating, but the vulgar amount of roasted flavours and coffee is certainly enough to match the alcohol.

5 year old bottle in 2012: No head and hardly any carbonation. Aroma mostly of dried dark fruits, red berries and coffee. Flavour is roasted and alcoholic, still with plenty coffee. The lasting impression is hot alcohol and coffee.