Mikkeller X Imperial Stout
4/4 of the experimental X series presented by Mikkeller at Københavnske Øldage 2006. X Imperial Stout is strongest beer ever brewed by a danish brewery. It’s a killer..... brewed with 11 different malts, 3 sugars, 6 hop types and 3 different yeast strains.
4.2
215 reviews
Copenhagen, Denmark
Community reviews
375 ml bottle, thanks Staffan! Midnight black with no head. Aroma of prunes alcohol, boozy, roasted malt, cocoa nibs, dark chocolate, light coffee, chocolate cake and raisins. Taste is massive, boozy, chocolate, candy, cake, wood, vinous plums, raisins, dried fruits with a vinous liquor feeling. Liquid chocolate cake. Really nice
Beautiful dark brown head and not too carbonated. Thick as tar, can sense coffee, chocolate some herbs including a sense of anis.
On level with the absolute best beers in the world.
Bottle at James’ for a tasting with Ferris and Kraddel. Pours a deep dark black with a thin tan head. Big sweet roast, cocoa, chocolate, oxidized malt. Roast, sweet dark chocolate, cherries, old stone fruits. Incredibly sweet, but very tasty. Long meaty roast finish. Tasty.
(Pronounced Mikkeller Kryds). Bottle shared with MF666 whose rating has my stamp of approval. Thick black pour with a minimal head. Molasses in the nose. The taste is heavy sweet and sticky with not that much bitterness to balance it, conceals the alcohol well. Medium/full body, near flat carbonation. Syrup, brown sugar, molasses, sweet chocolate, warming alcohol. Very sticky, but the alcohol picks it up a bit.
Black Black, nul skum, tyk i munden. Lidt syrlig gær agtig duft,
Sød lidt bitter, bliver mahony med tiden
Kaffe eftersmag
Free Føroyar!!!
Bottle shared thanks to richthevillan. Black beer with small head. Aroma of coffee, dark fruits and roasted malts. Taste is licorice, roasted malts, dark fruits, hops and some chocolate. Medium bodied and sticky.
Bottle from Mikkeller Webshop shared with SarkyNorthener; dark brown pour with a frothy light tan head, bourbon and roast malt aroma, taste has sweet chocolate action, light bourbon, vanilla, bitter finish, surprisingly thin mouthfeel.
2013, bouteille partagée. Je n’ai que peu de mots pour ce monstre d’une puissance sans précédant. je suis mi-figue mi-raisin à savoir si j’aime ou je déteste ce produit. Le nez est superbe, mais la bouche...bordel.
(Vintage 2013. 37.5 cl) Un liquide à la robe presque noire qui tombe dans mon verre et qui montre une viscosité certaine. Un petit col brun qui flotte pour quelques minutes. Le nez de cet impérial est richement décoré par le chocolat, la mélasse, la vanille, les fruits liquoreux et charnus, les malts enfumés et noirs, la réglisse, les oranges confites, les aiguilles de pin, le café et bien d’autres choses. Des arômes qui sont pour le moins extrêmement complexes et qui, par cette superbe représentation, atteignent facilement ici le degré dit de «la perfection». Sur les papilles, c’est la très grande joie. L’expérience est grandiose et le choc, ravissant. Les saveurs noires sont fantastiquement fruitées. Ça va du raisin à la prune en passant par l’orange et le citron. Les malts fournissent des appuis chocolatés riches mais contrôlés. Les notes mélangées de mélasse, de vanille, de houblons et de réglisse complimentent ma langue à chaque lampée. Ce tout est fantastique. En bouche, le liquide est liquoreux, faiblement collant, doucement remué par les bulles, habilement construit, très soyeux, velouté à souhait, complètement satiné, raffiné, plantureux. En finale, tout le meilleur des deux mondes : une montée mi-amère de chocolat et de café, modérément longue, parfumée par un alcool complètement fruité et fou.
375 ml bottle, 2013 version, from Mikkeller Webshop.
Pitch black body, with an almost inexistent, tan head.
Aroma of melting chocolate, coffee, toffee, vanilla, quite a lot of alcohol.
Wonderful, intense taste of coffee, chocolate, vanilla, wood, nuts, caramel, subtle zesty hops, some dark fruits, a lot of booze, but not as much as I expected.
Full, oily mouthfeel, with a soft carbonation.
Finishes warming, alcoholic, astringent, bitter-sweet, quite dry, very complex, with smooth coffee, dark chocolate, wood, quite a lot zesty hops again.
Very tasty! Relatively smooth to drink for this extreme ABV. Very complex of course, more in the taste than the nose in my opinion. Loads of different, yummy malt notes, I also like the subtle hops a lot.
This is the most expensive bottle I bought so far and it’s really delicious, but still not my favourite Imperial Stout from Mikkeller, their (much cheaper) Brunch Weasel stands out for me. So overall a bit overpriced maybe, but still a pleasure to try once.
2013 bottle. Pours thick black into a snifter. The little tiny bubbles take about 3 minutes to coalesce…always a tense time. Nose is sweet, not as tar and molasses heavy as expected. A light meat-like savory note and something that keeps on saying "pancake batter". Makes me miss doing beer tastings. Despite all the heavy, sweet notes, the mouth really comes through with some interesting savory qualities -- well done bacon and salted meat mostly. Lots of maple syrup, marshmallow, "fig stock". Finish becomes way too sugary. Body is very lightly carbonated, near flat. Doesn’t bother me like it used to, though. As expected, it massive and too sweet, but it has some really interesting flavors going on. Not the legendary beer that I always thought the 2006 would be.
Bottle. Black pour with tan bubbles. Huge roasted and sweet aromas. Chocolate, toffee, caramel, vanilla, oak and other sweet flavors.
(Bottle) Pours black with a small brown head. The aroma holds vanilla, sticky brown sugar, milk chocolate, asphalt, warming alcohol, dried fruits, some coffee, blueberries and earthy, woodsy hops. The flavour is heavily sweet, medium bitter and light acidic with tones of milk chocolate, vanilla, asphalt, blueberries, dried fruits and earthy, woodsy hops. The mouthfeel is sticky, oily and soft with a low carbonation. Complex finish. Near full bodied.
2013 vintage, 375ml bottle, huge thanks to _angst_...thanks Alex! Pours a motor oil black, a few brown bubbles gather briefly, but this beauty lay still. Nice oily legs taboot. Aromas of chocolate syrup, fudge, vanilla, marshmallow, tobacco, cognac, oak and just a hint of alcohol. Wow. Taste is even smoother than the booze on the nose suggests! Loaded with a thick chocolate backbone....syrupy, fudge, chocolate chips....then a nice dark fruit character that blends into a vanilla/oak harmony. Hints of tabacco, leather, cognac, earth, roast and a slight maple sweetness makes this one go down very easily for the abv. Extremely impressed with this big guy. Even if it is a bit too much for me, it comes off with an elegance that imperial stouts of lower alcohol wish to achieve. Bravo!
375ml bottle at home. Black with small beige head. Aroma is roasted malty, chocolate and coffee, dark fruits, light alcoholic. Taste is sweet and light bitter, like the aroma, chocolate and coffee, light spicy (like cinnamon?). Medium to full body, soft carbonation. I had a sample (or two) of this beer in CBC 2013 and I think it was the best Imperial Stout of that festival!!
Backlog rating. Waxed bottle from Mikkeller and Friends. It pours a deep dark brown/black color with a minimal brown head. Aroma is big bold sweet and juicy, with notes of caramel, milk chocolate, lactose, vanilla, wood, cappuccino, fig jam. Taste is similarly sweet with a mild bitterness in the finish alongside notes of wood and alcohol. More chocolate, espresso, whisky and jam notes. Thick viscous body with soft carbonation. Overall, a monster of a sipper
2013 bottle graciously shared by Brett Dettler. Super heavy nose of roasted malt with black licorice, dark loamy soil, moderate phenols (a hint of burnt plastic), and a milk chocolate tone to finish. Pours clear dark brown with faint bubbles at the edge of the glass. Initial sharp taste of licorice, rum, and mild dark chocolate before the complex flavor quickly smooths out, bringing forth notes of velvety fudge-covered brownies, a hint of raisins and dates, brown sugar, and cocoa powder. A brief whisper of red chili flake emerges late. Incredibly smooth, slick texture, with a heavy body that’s skews toward medium. The larger variety of malts helps create a delightful layered taste. Good stuff.
Sampled at RBSG. From notes. Loads of chocolate dominate. Vanilla, and Roasty malt back it up.
Bottle, 2013 vintage, 11/24/2014. Pours dark brown, nearly black, wispy tan head with a few larger bubbles around the edge of the glass. Aroma is liquid chocolate cake, fudge coming out as the beer warms, dark fruit well integrated, sherry-like notes, touch of oak, vanilla, some dark coffee and roast coming as an accent, not really balancing. Taste is sweet dark fruity chocolate liqueur, vanilla and caramel, dark roast bitterness cutting through the finish. Thick, liqueur-like body, ABV not showing much. Tasty stuff.
Bottle courtesy of Benh. Cheers pal. Always nice to taste a top 50 effort. This one is 43 at the time of writing. Pours Black with a tan head. A touch of sweetness buried under essentially savoury notes. Soy, leather, tobacco, wood and lashes of hot booze. I quite like a generous dose of booze in an imperial stout. This was extremely rich and rewarding. Delicious.
Bottle. Near black with tan head. Hot alcohol initially, leather, wood, chocolate. Taste is complex and rich, leather, fruity sherry dried fruit, verly little roastiness and quite fruity. Alcohol is fairly evident but not unpleasant.
Black brown pour with tan head and clinging lace. Aroma is chocolate, coffee, and nice roasted malt. Flavor is sweet chocolate, coffee, roasted malt, light abv, and a nice malt bitter finish. Medium/full bodied with good carbonation. very yummy
375ml white wax
Black with hints of ruby. No head, just some gurgles of bubbles.
Dark chocolate, dark fruits, oak, port, sweet chocolate. Thick, rich decedent nose. Smells like a 10% RIS.
Sweet, sweeter, sweetest. Big full on taste. Roasted malt, tobacco, chocolate, port, oak, brown sugar, and caramel.
Massive beer but subdued. Sweet but a sick good beer. One of his best efforts
Bottle - pours dark black. Lots of rich chocolate in the nose plus some notes anise and dates. The taste is a rich dark chocolate, some booze, and sweet. This is how I like my chocolate milk.
375 ml bottle shared by ygtbsm94, thanks Brad! Pours a near still dark brown/near black with a rich caramel mahogany hue when backlit. Aroma is rich and complex - roasted malt, soy sauce, dark fruits, coffee bitterness, alcohol spice and muted alcohol. Flavor is same with a delicious round complexity that is somehow beyond description at this point in the tasting - 24 hours in. Like a coconut roundness - delicious. Mild carbonation, silky lactic mouthfeel, and roasty tobacco leaf finish.
Long time want. Thank you to ygtbsm94 for sharing. Brad, you are still the man.
The beer is dark brown with a broken, bubbly, beige head. Aromas of dark roast, distinctly European. Chocolates and roast. Booze, oak, Euro malt profile. Absolutely fantastic flavor. Instant 5. The best flavor of any Mikkeller beer I have yet had. Oh my. I’ll never forget this beer - it’s that good.
Rating of bottle of 2006 version (16.0% abv). Bottle opened and original rating entered on Wednesday, June 20th, 2007.
Bottle... O-Town Pre-RBSG 07... This beer rocks!... Pitch black ale with a small, creamy, light brown head. Decent retention... ok, enough about the looks; let’s dig in! First off, the ethanol wafting from the wide-rimmed glass stings my eyes as I’m engulfed in an intoxicating, complex swirl of esters and phenols; malts and hops. A vinous, dark-spicy cloud surrounds me. Notes of port wine, tobacco, rawhide and smoked French oak with undertones of cocoa, horse blanket funk, dark raisins, dried plums and charcoal. The flavor make a U-Turn on the road toward complexity and instead, virtually screams chocolate, whiskey and hop bitterness. Overall – moderate lactic acidity, medium port sweetness and heavy, tannic, ashy bitterness. Full-bodied and velvety with adequate carbonation. Lengthy, astringent, almost-violently-bitter, bone-dry finish. Very, very warming! I tried, but couldn’t describe my experience in fifty words or less. Thanks so much, Boboski, for sharing this world-class beer with me. A great friend and ambassador/proponent of the brewing arts!
2013 white wax bottle. Thanks Erik. Chocolate, vanilla, custard, dark fruit and a whole lot of cane sugar. Almost dark lord levels of sweetness. Only thing that brings this down is the complete lack of carbonation. Bottle didn’t even hiss when I opened. A few bubbles when poured but no head. Really tasty stuff.
Bottle shared thanks to charule. Pours a clear dark brown that forms a slight head. Aromas aren’t your typical Mikkeller stout. Aromas of candy sugar, dark fruits, caramel. Taste is super sweet. Similar flavors to Thomas hardeys.
This one poured a murky dark brown with a beige head. Aroma of brown sugar, light roast and caramel. Flavor was lightly burnt brown sugar, chocolate, dark fruit and light roast. Good stuff.