Tasting Notes: Mikkeller: Beer Geek Bacon

Mikkeller: Beer Geek Bacon (Denmark: Smoked Beer: 7.5% ABV)

Visual: Dark black, thick creamy toffee head.

Nose: Smoke. Fudge. Distinct smoked meat, maybe even smoked ham, though I may be influenced by the beers name. Cherries and strawberry occasionally subtly come out, quite unexpectedly

Body: Smooth thick frothy texture. Roasted nuts and smoke. Bitter with light hops. A touch of citrus and light strawberry peak through. Orange juice. Salted meat, maybe pepperoni.

Finish: Dry, with smoke again.  Embers. Roasted nuts and light grapefruit hops. Bitter chocolate, bubble gum, salted ham and bitter coffee.

Conclusion: They actually managed to get a smoked meat aroma in the beer. Sod me sideways, despite the name I was not expecting that.

The base of the beer comes from the roasted elements and smoke, which aren’t too harsh due to the thick and smooth texture, in which it seems quite restrained.  This means that the smoke doesn’t fully dominate it, allowing touches of sweetness to poke through.  Definitely a good call there.

This a mix of many odd flavours, it could almost be considered what a smoked Alice Porter would be like in some ways.  Some of the flavours seem to very hop based, but without that horrid sticky hop feel of some highly hopped stouts. Thank goodness.

As a beer it is pretty good, as a novelty it is quite special, and as a mix of flavours to be examined it opens up continuously. Another beer that may not be the most uber polished and refined, but intrigues enough and is flavoursome enough to be enthralling in its oddness.

Background: I’m not a smoker and can be wary of heavily smoked beers as some of them bring a nigh ash tray taste to the beer which I can’t appreciate.  Despite this the use of smoked beers and smoked malts intrigue me on what they can do when applied well.

I can’t translate the bottle label, but I am fairly sure no actual bacon was used in the making of this beer, instead being a reference to smoked meats. I think. Then again, as said, I can’t read the label – for all I know they chopped up Piglet and stuffed him in the bottle.

Mikkeller do not actually own a brewery, using other breweries to make their beers. This for example was made at Nǿgne Ǿ