whatchudrinkin?

I’m breaking out Mikkeller’s single hop IPAs while they are still fresh. Mikkeller is a weird brewery because it’s not a brewery. Mikkeller is one guy without a home. He travels the earth brewing beers all over. He doesn’t brew any five beers all the time like a brewpub. Dude brews whatever when ever, all of them are experiments. I was super surprised by some of the flavors present in each bottle.

The Amarillo IPA tasted the most like a normal IPA. The nose was full of citrus and flowers like an orange blossom. Immediately hoppy on the tongue. I recognize that flavor from the IPAs brewed around Portland, down to the rough bitter bite. There is a hint of jasmine in there, too.

The Citra IPA surprised me. Lately I’ve been really into beers using citra hops, this years Hop Henge in particular, but I didn’t see any of the flavors I was expecting. The nose was super faint, less citrus and more sweetness. Tasted like blood orange with a bitter finish and a pleasant floral aftertaste. Leaves an oily taste on the tongue.

The Apollo was nuts. The tangerine nose burst from the bottle, but there was a definite earthiness. There was something savory, something that goes on a pizza. The taste was overwhelmed by that earthy flavor, truffles oil or something. A little bitter, but tasted like it needed salt. Left an oily taste on the tongue, and reminded me of the galaxy hopped beer I drank in Amsterdam.

The experiment started out familiar, but it ended up super surprising.