Day 8, 1.8.11, Mikkeller 1000 IBU

Went out to dinner in Oakland last night for John's birthday, and afterward we stopped by The Trappist.  My buddy Charlie Crebs was there pulling taps and his coworker Ray recommended Mikkeller 1000 IBU.  I did ask for something with a good amount of hop character...

Charlie

    Here's a bit of back story on IBUs: International Bittering Units are the scale in which a beer's bitterness is measured.  Scientifically speaking, one part per million of isohumulone or isomerized alpha acid (the bitter acid found in hops) equals one bittering unit.
    In terms of actually putting a beer in your mouth, an American pale lager might be around 10-15 IBU (Budweiser is 11 IBU), a pale ale is in the 20-50 IBU range (Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is 37 IBU), while a Barleywine or IPA might be in the 50-100 range.  Simple enough, right?

But here are the two kickers:
    First, a beer with strong maltyness will have to have a a much higher IBU rating to balance the malt.  So an IPA and a Stout might both have 60 IBUs, but the IPA will have a much stronger bitter taste than the stout since the ratio of hops to malt is tilted far to the hops side in the IPA.
     Secondly, although brewers may pump their beers full of as much hops (and therefore alpha acid) as is possible, i.e. 1000 IBU, the human palate is incapable of perceiving anything more than about 100 IBUs.

Mikkeller 1000 IBU,  Denmark.

So, Mikkeller 1000 IBU.  This beer apparently has enough alpha acids dissolved in it to technically be 1000 IBU, but the brewer refers to the rating as 'theoretical'.  That said, the beer is really really really hoppy.*  it's 9.6% ABV.  On the nose, herbal and citrusy hop aromas dominate, but also present are oaky notes and even a little red cherry.  The beer is fully red in color and cloudy.  The body of the beer is medium to full and is smooth and velvety, but not without a nice amount of effervescence.  Clearly, this is the most heavily hopped beer I have ever tasted, but there is enough malt to offset the hops ad make it a very nice beer to drink.  The malt backbone is reminiscent of a classic Belgian golden or amber ale.  Sour/sweet, yeasty, bready notes that I can only ever describe as 'Belgiany'.  I absolutely love this beer.  It was a bit steep in price, ($18 for a 375ml. bottle) but I'm glad I went for it as it's really quite a special beer.  9 out of 10.


*Remember that bitterness, hop flavor and hop aroma are three different things achieved through infusing the hops for different amounts of time in the the boil.  Therefore, a high IBU beer may not have a huge amount of hop flavor or aroma.