Mikkeller Big Worse Barley Wine Red Wine Barrel Edition

3.9

161 reviews

Copenhagen, Denmark

Community reviews

4.0 At home shared with Dan. Small snifters. Pours a muddy brown with a slight head. Aroma is bread, sweet malts, cardboard, dark fruits, merlot grapes, barrel, and vanilla. The taste is bold with a solid barleywine backbone with caramel malts, vanilla, dark fruits, and booze. You also get the red wine grapes and barrel aging smoothness. Finish is wine flavors with a solid booziness. Very well balanced and flavorful. Medium to full body, moderate carbonation. I really like this.

4.5 Pours a cloudy red-brown with a medium white head. Aroma is a perfect blend of a grainy English style barley wine and a fruity red wine. Taste is initially a sweet barley wine profile. The red wine comes in at the mid followed by some beautiful carob-like smooth malts for the finish. Nice, nice, nice.

4.3 easily my favorite in the Big Worse line. while the bourbon version smooths things out, it was simplistic. this one is dangerously smooth and complex with sweetness from the bw still coming through, alcohol apparent only in the back end of the aroma, a slightly sour tobacco sweetness added to (not instead of) the flavor of the original beer. great stuff, wish i didn’t have to get it on-line."

3.5 37.5 cl bottle @ home (2012 vintage). Pours hazy reddish brown with quite a bit of sediment and a white head that leaves a little lacing. Aroma and flavour are caramel, dried fruit, minerals, and red wine - with a slightly alcoholic finish.

3.7 Bottle. Hazy dark red tinted brown body with a big beige head. Aroma of vanilla, alcohol, red wine, plums and dark malt. Taste is boozy with red wine and wood, high sweetness, light roasty and caramel finish. Above good, below great.

4.7 Aroma a vinate potente en sabor y dulzor al final impresionante barley Wine super equilibrada!

3.7 Complex aroma of brown sugar, oak, red wine, caramel, ripe red fruits, toffee, a touch of alcohol. Flavour is quite sweet with a lot more note of red wine. A bit sticky and cloying. I enjoyed this better than the original Big Worse, a bit less sweet and the wine barrel aging has paid off well.

3.4 375ml bottle. Pours dark bordeaux with a smooth white head. Aroma of caramely malts, vinous notes, wood, oak and berries. Taste is sweet, malty and vinous with notes of berries, wood and oak. Finish is stingy, sweetish, vinous and woody with notes of tart berries, caramel and oak. A bit unbalanced and too vinous.

3.7 sample @ home, thanks veliempojot! Aroma is rather oaky with some red wine tones and hints of alcohol. Flavour has red wine, oak, some caramel and toffee-like ’Mikkeller house aroma’. Hides the alcohol relatively well. Not much of the original beer left. Better than I expected still.

3.6 375 ml bottle. BBE 27.05.2023. Pours dark red color with a small head. Aroma of ripe fruits, some wood, mild malts and resin. Flavor of resinous hops, caramel malts, some wooden notes, toffee and mild vinous notes. Alcohol quite well hidden. Nice. 4324

3.5 375 ml bottle. Pours a dark ruby colour with a small head. Aroma of sweet caramel, red berries, grass and lingonberries. Flavour of caramel, red berries, herbs, grassy bitterness and wood. Red wine is rather well hidden. Medium bodied and a dry, malty, grassy finish. Alcohol warms. Good balance.

3.5 375ml bottle Pours dark reddish brown with a smooth white head. Aroma of caramely malts, vinous notes, wood, oak and berries. Taste is sweet, malty and vinous with notes of berries, wood and oak. Finish is stingy, sweetish, vinous and woody with notes of tart berries, caramel and oak. A bit unbalanced and stingy.

3.9 Pours murky brown with tall yellow tan head. Aroma of caramel, toffee, butterscotch, light madeira or port barrel. Taste is big, boozy sweet with light resin bitter kick before a long sweet finish. Very warming. Body is rich and creamy smooth with soft carbonation.

4.1 Dark amber brown in color... Heavy sediment... Aroma of plum, figs, dark fruit, caramel, toffee, tannins... Flavor is rich caramel, toffee, dark fruits, red wine barrel is very prevalent... Etoh comes through late... Very very nice

4.4 375ml bottle from BierNavigatie. Pale brown with flocks of sediment and a small creamy off-white head. Full body with light to moderate carbonation. Sweet with bitter tones and some slightly sourness. Herbs, brown sugar, wood, spices, caramel, citrus and dark fruits. A great complex full flavoured brew.

3.9 Sirupeux avec un caractère vineux assez discret, même les tanins se fondent harmonieusement, peut-être trop, j’aurais aimé vivre le vin à travers la bière. Les sucres sont modérés entre cassonade, purée de dattes et caramel. Agréable dégustation.

3.8 aveage mouth feel for a BW some light creaminess. Thinner than I might have expected. Flavor is well balanced a syrupy molasses like sweetness offset with a hint of toffee and a more English hop styling followed by a dry oaky flavor finishes with the reminents of a dry red wine married together well. Alcohol is noticeable but not problematic. Very well balanced. Good stuff.

3.6 Bottled. Poured ruddy brown with a dense, creamy beige head and a decent amount of sediment floating around in there. The aroma picked up redder vinous notes over warm molasses, caramel, and spicy black pepper.. hits of leather and tobacco also came through.. a touch cloying at times, but otherwise very tasty and it held its alcohol in check. Heavy-bodied and syrupy on the palate.. a bit tart and harsh at times.. overall a tasty beer that smelled great and flowed OK.

3.2 Thanks to domiens @ RBBWG III. Golden reddish gold with barely head. Rich malt, fruit, Red wine. Taste is caramel, rich fruit, red wine some treat fruit on the end. Medium body with very mild carbonation.

4.1 18/I/14 - 37.5cl bottle from Geers (Oostakker) @ RBBWG III, my place - BB: 27/V/23 (2014-93) Thanks to DomienS for sharing the bottle! Clear red amber beer, creamy irregular light beige head, little stable, bit adhesive. Aroma: fruity, malts, some citrus, grains, bit rural. MF: ok carbon, full body. Taste: bit sweet, sugary start, malts, some caramel, hoppy, dried fruits, some citrus. Aftertaste: pretty bitter, sweet and sugary touch, caramel, vanilla, some citrus, hoppy. Complexer than it’s regular version, but I preferred the regular nonetheless.

3.4 50cl bouteille @ RBBWG III, thanks Domiens. Cuivrée, col beige collant au verre. Arôme offre une belle palette houblonnée, rétro-nasal sucre brun avec un côté vin rouge peu présent. Bouquet qui semblait être plus agréable sans le mûrissage. Palais est malté, caramel, léger vin rouge très fine pointe d’épice et léger herbacé. Le vin rouge n’ajoute pas vraiment grand chose en terme de complexité si ce n’est un coup au portefeuille. Fini offre une petite palette houblonnée usant d’une fine amertume.

3.8 375 ml. bottle sampled @ RBBWG 2014. Courtesy of & thx! to DomienS. Amber coper with little head. Smells of iron, sweet barrel, touch wine, lots of brown sugar, herbal, feels faded. Taste is bitter wine leaves, iron, sweetish, simple, leaves, bitter malts, cereal, some bitter hops in the back, plenty of brown sugar. Touch less carb. Not too impressive, wasn’t to big of a fan of the regular one & this one is even a dash lesser. It is okay but it is too simple & underwhelming which is not something that a beer at this price point should be. Mikkeller has many other beers which deliver the good in a far more satisfying way than this one.

4.0 Bottle at RBWG14 Pours dark amber small white head Taste is sweet , not much of the barrel . grains . nice !

4.5 Deep dark red with a thin, frothy, lacy, lasting off-white head. Smells of heavy malt, wood, caramel, cherry, marzipan, caramel, banana and gingerbread. Medium to full oily body. Taste is smooth and malt. Sweet with wood, grape, caramel biscuit. Little hint of alcohol on he finish that is bound to decline with age. Beautiful barley wine.

3.9 Bottled: Pours a red amber colour with a large, lacing head. Malty fudge aroma with notes of dried fruit, wood and marzipan. Flavour is fudge, red berries, red wine and wood. Bitter finish. Well balanced and warming.

4.5 Ya dancer. Drunk on a long train journey and thank God for it. Very complex nose- big big funk- cheese rind the wife offers- then booze with veg and malt with dark fruits. Holds up very well for the ABV which never dominates. Prune, little toffee, fortified wine, long boozey bittersweet finish. Just large large large and Mikkeller. Nuff said.

3.9 2011 vintage - Murky off brown red pour with a thick light tan head. The slightly earthy red wine and oak come through right away followed by rich syrups light roast malt a hint of alcohol and just enough citrus to let you know there’s hops in there. Average mouth feel for a BW some light creaminess. Thinner than I might have expected. Flavor is well balanced a syrupy molasses like sweetness offset with a hint of toffee and a more English hop styling followed by a dry oaky flavor finishes with the reminents of a dry red wine married together well. Alcohol is noticeable but not problematic. Very well balanced. Good stuff.

3.9 375ml Bottle. The pour was a murky brownish purple with an average (1-2 finger) khaki colored frothy head that diminished slowly, down to a thick film and large collar with excellent sheets of lacing. The aroma was big and strong of a dark bread malt and a sweet yeast with notes of caramel, red wine, dark fruit (grapes, plums and prunes), candi sugar, a hint of oak and a decent alcohol tinge. The taste was heavily malty sweet with a bold vinous presence from the start, progressing with a bold bitterness, a bit of dark fruit and a large alcohol taste with the end having a slightly fruity mildly woody taste. Flavor lasted an average duration following the swallow, with a sweet fruity alcohol warming sensation being the last thing lying on the taste buds. Mouthfeel was almost medium in body and dry in texture with a somewhat prickly carbonation. Overall this is a very unique tasting Barleywine (in a good way). It possesses a ton of fruity flavor that only complimented the vast other flavors offered in this brew, which together did a stupendous job of slightly mellowing the extremely high ABV... www.facebook.com/KAJIIsBeerReviews

3.8 2012 bottle pours mahogany with a thin cream colored head, some floaties. nose has a big oak and red wine presence. taste has light sweetness, toffee, malt, red wine, oak. medium body, mild booze burn.

3.6 Bottle. Pours a deep, near-brown coppery amber body with a big creamy light beige head. Nose is oak tannins, caramel, alcohol, red wine and hints of brown sugar and burnt rubber. Taste is dry oak tones, red wine, caramel, burnt sugar, alcohol, bready grains and hints of bitter herbs in the finish. Full body, medium carbonation. Complex and nice, but perhaps a bit too high on bitter red wine/oak tannins; I generally prefer my barley wines a bit sweeter. Good stuff, though.