Mikkeller Santas Little Helper 2007
Editor’s note: Brewed by Mikkeller at De Proefbrouwerij in Lochristi, Belgium.
This years little helper is a dark lightly spiced belgian ale.
This years little helper is a dark lightly spiced belgian ale.
3.9
327 reviews
Copenhagen, Denmark
Community reviews
Bottle purchased early ’08. Poured a dark ruby, virtually flat, opaque. The aroma is lightly spiced with hints of nutmeg and ripe dark fruit. The flavor is very malty and smooth. Oily slick mouthfeel, smooth finish.
Bottle @ Falling Rock, Denver, Co. Pours dark ebony with a small light brown head. Have a light olie surface after head fades. Nose is chocolate, port, brown sugar, anise, oak, dark fruit. Taste is very complex with all elements from aroma, cherries, blackberries, light booze. Medium to full body, soft carbonation. Very nice, but a sipper, think it would be lovely with some sweet deserts. 031210
2007 vintage shared with The Pa crew in Nov 2007. Pours a deep dark ruby brown with a med head. Aroma is big fruity esters, some solvent, alcohol apparent, lemongrass, and spring flowers with dark candied sugar, caramel malts, big burnt toast, and some light black pepper phenolics. Flavor is caramel, fruits, biscuit, cookie dough, chalk, burnt toast, solvent, very minerally- almost metallic near the end, and very bitter for a BSA- high ester, solvent and high alcohol in the end. Not my favorite Mikkeller.
bottle drunk 07 2010 ... Huge thanks to Jan for this one ... deep red brown ... tan little creamy head... huge chocolate malt nose ... huge chocolate front ... big fruits ... juicy toffee malts .... blackcurrant ... again chocolate in linger ... light spice ... very tasty
Pours a dark brown color with a thin light brown head. Aroma of anise, spices and fruits. Flavor of anise, spices and fruits. The body is light to medium with a liquorous texture and gentle carbonation. Interesting.
Bottle shared by footbalm. Pours a almost pure black color with a medium beige head. A sour spicy nose, some dark fruit- plums. The taste is also very spicy, with lots of sour characteristics, some dark fruit. Not too bad, likely going downhill.
drink this @ kulminator a couple of times allready
head : none
colour dark brown to black
smell : candy sirup , alcohol , coriander , anis ?
taste : candy sirup , alcohol , indeed anis , coriander , bitter ending and slight aftertaste of celerysalt
i like this beer allot !
Bottle 750 ml
Appearance: dark brown , mid top , beige-brown head.
Aroma: aromatic hops , woody, alcohol , vanilla. All neatly smooth and with pleasant character.7+
Flavour/Body/Palate: mid bodied, mellow , bit flat. Oily textures , some brown malt as side character , some dryness on sides. Slight sourness shown on top.13+/20
A: The pour is a dark brown, bordering on black with a thin layer of tan foam on top.
S: There’s so much going on in the nose, it was hard to pick out everything. There’s of course a lot of dark fruits (most notably, prunes) and some nice chocolate aromas as well. The beer is slightly oxidized, but not surprising at 2+ years old. There’s also some alcohol and perhaps even paint (very odd).
T: The sweet dark fruits are the main component of the flavor. Prunes, raisins, and cherries are what I notice, along with a hint of chocolate. There is also a definite sugary sweetness that you aren’t surprised to find in Belgians.
M: A fairly full bodied beer with a fairly low level of carbonation which works well here.
D: A touch sweet for me, but so complex that I kept coming back for more. A nice beer and one of the better offerings I’ve had from Mikkeller.
Jason’s bottle, aged what 3 years or so? Black, with little head. An anoying sourness with chocolate and roasted barley. Aroma is big chocolate. Average mouthfeel overall. A sipper.
A solid dark brown, with a pretty milk chocolate colored tan foam. Cookie spice aroma with some roastiness, berries, fruity, dark chocolate. Taste is sweet, chocolates, dark fruitiness like high % cacao dark chocolate, plums, berries, then a light spiciness, roasty. A really nice beer.
750mL Bottle -- Pours black with a tan head. coffee, dark chocolate, and a good amount of spice are the first flavors to hit me. Dark fruits like plum and dates are there in the background. Thick and oily but silky on the palate.
750ml bottle pulled from the cellar. When I cracked the cork on the bottle, there wasn’t any re-assuring snap/crackle/pop. I poured slowly but there wasn’t any head. A bit more vertical and got a bit of head. Aroma is roasted malt and sugar. Taste is a bit hard to pinpoint. Definitely a Belgian ale. Caramel and malty with some nutmeg and clove undertones. Really light for the alcohol.
From the cellar. Dark brown with a dense greyish-brown head. Potent malty aroma, full of spices, caramel, syrup and chocolate. Creamy, almost oily texture. Very pleasant sweet palate. This is christmas in a bottle.
750mL bottle. Poured a highly-viscous, murky deep brown with very little carbonation evident. The aroma picked up a base of molasses, dark chocolate, and black patent maltage surrounded by spicy, fruity, Belgian-inspired yeast and darker spices.. a bit of soy impression on the back.. a touch brash at first, but it came together when given a chance to breathe. The flavor found soy and licorice at the core with dried cocoa and sticky black patent sweetness around.. warm spices and tart fruity character around.. a touch of oxidation hit on the back. Medium-plus bodied with very low carbonation.. tart and spicy notes accented decently, but it wasn’t all that enjoyable.
Bottle from the Beer Stein in Eugene. This aged brew poured an oily pitch black with limited carbonation and head. The nose was filled with sweet chocolate and cherry notes, while the flavor was defintely dark fruit and chocolate candy. This was a sweet one for sure, but I had much of the bottle with chocolate torte which paired perfectly. Outstanding beer!
750ml bottle. Pours a deep brown color with a quickly disappearing tan head. Boozy aroma, full of citrusy fruits and sweet chocolate, with a roasted nuttiness. Silky smooth body reveals a very sweet, malty beer. Hints of chocolate and coffee with a hint of sourness in the sticky sweet finish. Good, but not outstanding.
750 ml. Opaque, dark chocolate with a small disc of lasting bubbles. Nose is cherry, prune, chocolate, light coffee. Front taste is tart raspberry, merlot and chocolate. Dark fruit, brown sugar and hints of orange follow. Long finish of toasted oak, char, black pepper, cinnamon, and cafe mocha dries things up nicely. Heavy body is smoothly carbonated, has a nice acidic tingle, and is amazingly well-balanced between sweet and dry. Well-hidden 11% abv.
In short: A spicy thick molassy beer. Good nourishing sipper.
How: Bottle 750ml. Consumed when almost 2 year of age. Tasting session with Montreal crew.
The look: Very dark brown body topped by a very small beige head
In long: Nose indicates a spicy rich beer that translates in the taste. A lot of molasses, black liquorice, medium spiciness (peppery, more…). Alcohol well hidden. Despite being on the heavy side of things the beer didn’t feel cloying or too heavy. I believe I could drink a full bottle without complaining. Huge improvement over the 2006 version. Good Christmas beer. They say Santa comes once a year, bullshit, someone who visits so many bedrooms certainly comes more than once a year.
75cl bottle, celebrating the recent dollar weakness. bbf 25-9-2011, brewed 6yrs before.
Almost pitch black, but i think actually very very dark brown. smooth small head with some lacings. looks very much like a stout ;-).
Aroma is a little bit swet fruity, banana, pear, roasted notes. orange, very mild aroma for a 11% beer, but quite complex. lots going on.
flavor is sweet fruity, dry, sort of stingy flavor at first. when warmed up, roasted grains also blends in. boozy, sort of like a port barrelled someting. flavor resembles perhaps dessert wine or portwine. an infected imp could taste somewhat along these lines, but i won’t accuse this one for being infected, its just... strange. some orange in the flavor too. alc is fantastically well hidden.complex beer.
An interesting beer, sweet and chocolatey. I think a little less sweet would be more to my taste, but it’s definitely a good holiday beer.
750, corked and baled and foiled. Direct from the lovely folk at John’s Market. We really gotta get distros in this state keeping up with posting stuff like this. Not that I mind driving to PDX for beer, but I can’t do it every time they get something good that we don’t. Pours nearly opaque black, looks like an impy. Big, thick, creamy, surging dark tan head. Quite the perfumey, boozy nose. Maple syrup, molasses, little hints of bourbon and oak. Creamy medium body, not showing a heck of a lot of carb. Maple, bourbon, oak, vanilla, molasses, dark brown sugar on the mid-palate. Some pie spice showing. Nice effort.
This bottled brew from a bottle shop poured a very small sized head of finely sized brown colored bubbles that were and left behind a opaque no visible carbonation dark brown colored body and a fair lacing. The aroma was bourbon and woody. The thin mouth feel was weakly tingly at the start mediumly tingly at the finish. The nice flavor contained notes of spices and herbal. A decent one that I would consider buying again.
My Bottom Line:
This fruity and spicy Belgian-style Strong Ale lays out dried cherries and figs on top of molasses, before roasted malts, alcohol warmth and light tartness mellow out in the finale.
Further Personal Perceptions:
-A ring of foam circles the darkest brown.
-Carbonation is lower than expected.
-The spiciness is definitely Christmas-y, on the nutmeg and cinnamon side of things.
-Even though this wasn’t my favorite Mikkeller brew, I have to admit everything Mikkel creates is at least very good. Bravo!
Bottle.
Bouteille de 750 ml, avec bouchon de liège, partagée lors d’une dégustation Ratebeer Montréal chez Glouglouburp. Arôme: Odeur de petits fruits et d’épices avec une pointe chocolatée. Apparence: La couleur est brune opaque. Présence d’un mince col mousseux et d’une fine dentelle sur le verre. Saveur: Goût de mélasse fruitée avec une pointe d’épices et de chocolat. Durée moyenne de l’arrière goût. Palette: Le corps est moyen avec une texture légèrement aqueuse. Faible effervescence en bouche. Arrière goût légèrement fruité. (Rating #2646)
Dark brown color with a tan head. Awesome earthy brown malt, sweet molasses spicy aromas. Super smooth medium body. Flavor mirrors aroma with medium roasted malts, dsark raisons, earthy molasses and sweet spices meshing nicely. Great xmas brew.
Bottle from Pike St. Beer and Wine. Picked up just last week. If this brew wasn’t a bit dilute, it’d be what St. Bernardus was trying to do with their Christmas Ale. It’s like a good quad with spices thrown in. Pours glossy black, with a small, slow-forming and dissipating head. Sweet aroma - grapes, other dark fruits, candi sugar and some milk chocolate, balanced by a dash of hops and some booze. Reminds me of the Roche 10 on the nose. Vinous flavor, bringing a roasty note to the aftertaste and accentuating the hops, while pulling back on the spices. The only thing wrong with this is the palate. It’s a bit watery. I want more punch, and I want it to be livelier. If it had that effervescence, it’d be dang near perfect. As is, the flavor is all up front and doesn’t last nearly long enough, and it’s a bit weak. Still really tasty, though.
750ml bottle. Pours a very dark brown almost black with a smallish tan head. Aroma is of roasted malt, chocolate, dark berries, prunes, and spice. Flavor is dark roasted malt, dark fruit, raisins, figs, brown sugar. Finish is dark roasted malt and dark fruit.
Bottle shared by BeerGestapo. Thanks a ton Mike! Complex and vinous with notes of spices, toffee, dark fruit, and oak. Very smooth and delicious.
Brewed in Denmark...... Pours black in color with a small beige head. Aroma of caramel malts, plums and figs. Taste of dark malts, alcohol, black licorice, spices and cold medicine. Mouthfeel had a medium body, smooth and finished with some mild dryness. Another winner from the boys at Mikkeller.