Beer Review
BrewDog - Anarchist / Alchemist 14%

Hype. BrewDog. Two words that are synonymous with each other. BrewDog do hype, and they do it well. Love them or loathe them they are out there, blowing their own trumpet and brewing some great beer and some, well, not quite so great.
Anarchist / Alchemist is a (hype-alert) Triple IPA, triple-hopped with Centennial, Cascade, Columbus and Chinook (one of my personal favourite hops) and with the volume turned up to 14 (%) to mis-use the well-worn Spinal Tap cliche. If you want to read what BrewDog have to say about this beer you can do so here , it's available to buy on their website as I write, but I'm going to look beyond that and actually taste the thing.
As I opened the bottle there was a real hit of pine and citrus immediately, in fact it seemed like it was almost as I touched the cap with the bottle opener. It pours a dark copper colour with an off-white head that billows then fades to a sustained white disc atop the beer, which I was surprised at given it's strength as often with beers over about 8-9% any head collapses due to the alcohol content. Sticking my nose in the glass I get more big pine aroma but with some sweet peach, lemon sherbert and peppery orange marmalade. There's a hint of alcohol dryness, but only a hint. On first sip, sharp at the tip of the tongue, a myriad of flavours come crashing in. Some sweet, some sour, all intense. This is a very complex beer. Tangerine, orange peel, peppery spiciness are up first, then some sticky gooey-sweet caramel envelopes it. A touch of pear juice and a little tartness like sour apple is followed by some dry yet sweet and juicy tropical fruit. The finish is long and almost chewy with tropical caramel flavours dominating. I really expected the flavours to get lost in the alcohol and thought BrewDog would emphasise the 'booziness' of this beer, but this is not the case at all.
When I started writing this review I honestly didn't know which way it would go, but I was sure I was going to be totally honest about the beer. If I'm straight with myself I really expected some fizzy big-alcohol hop juice, overwhelming in it's dryness. How wrong I was. This beer is simply wonderful.
I'l use, and extend, another music reference (this time from Public Enemy) to finish:
Don't believe the hype. Believe the beer.
That says it all.

Beer Review
Mikkeller - Barrel-Aged Monk's Brew 10.5%

It's Mikkeller time again, however this time it wasn't (directly) by my own choosing. This was another Twitter Beer Roulette choice, this time chosen by @TheRealC_BAS .
It is the red wine barrel-aged version of Monk's Elixir, a 'heavy dark Belgian ale inspired by the Trappist monasteries of Rochefort and Westvleteren'.
As soon as the wax-sealed bottle is opened there is a big hit of red wine, more precisely the deep blackcurrant smell you get when opening a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon. In the glass it pours a deep ruby red with quite a lively beige head that billows and initially fills the glass before settling down to a light dusting. More of the black currant aroma but with some vanillins that you would expect from a barrel aging, and I'm guessing this was in oak. Hints of liquorice and black cherry flirt around the nostrils enticingly too. Surprisingly light over the tongue, I suppose I was expecting it to be a little heavy like a big red wine, but it's not like that at all. More blackcurrant in the taste but also with more cherry and the merest notion of caramel. A dry bitterness sweeps fleetingly across the tongue like a sharp deep dark chocolate brush-stroke before the blackcurrant returns with it's former intensity. The finish is very like a red wine, fruity with a little oiliness - which wasn't there earlier, although expected - dry and ever so slightly cloying before some lovely spicy (basil!) vanilla notes dance around on the tongue at the death.
Another astonishingly good beer from Mikkeller, with both intensity of flavour and lightness of touch. The way it is both a wine and a beer is really incredibly clever and I would expect many wine drinkers to be fooled by this. Excellent.

Twitter Beer Roulette
Dogfish Head - Palo Santo Marron 12.0%

So what's this all about then ? Twitter Beer Roulette !
It's quite simple, and you can play it too.
Last night, possibly due to laziness, or maybe due to ... no, it was laziness, I couldn't decide which beer I wanted to drink. I posted up some criteria on Twitter, and I was lead toward a Bear Republic - Hop Rod Rye by fellow blogger and general good bloke from Norwich, Mr Nathaniel Southwood.
Tonight however I took it in stages as I wasn't sure where I wanted to go.
First up was which part of the world, quite generally, that I wanted to explore from what I had in my collection: British, American or European?
Mr Chris Dixon @ckdsaddlers responded first with USA. So far so good.
Light or Dark?
Dark.
Hoppy, malty or weird?
Weird!
So weird it is, and as weird goes, Dogfish Head do it rather well.
Palo Santo Marron is essentially an American Brown Ale but it is aged in a custom built 10,000 gallon wooden tank (made from exotic Paraguayan Palo Santo, or 'Holy Tree' wood), and is the largest wooden brewing vessel built in America since before Prohibition. It's unfiltered too.
It pours a beautiful deep dark brown with the faintest hint of deep port-like red, and a fluffy light brown head which settles down to a souffle consistency over the beer.
Lots of coffee and boozy chocolate with vanilla in the aroma, and smooth and richly untuous over the tongue. Caramel, dark chocolate toffee flavours burst forth melting wonderfully into a rich port wine. Astonishing. There's some liquorice and even some brackish herbal notes which aren't in the least bit unpleasant. The finish is a long, lingering coffee caramel port toffee. Sweet, lush and warming, hardly surprising given it's strength.
I have never had a beer aged in Palo Santo wood, but I certainly would love to try another. It seems to impart a rounded richness and I was unsurprised to learn that it is used to age wine in South America, and also for incense burning sticks.
So you might want to try Twitter Beer Roulette and see where it leads you, just make sure your criteria have beers within your reach. You might find an unexpected gem.
As an aside, Mr Dixon also suggested Pantera's - Primal Concrete Sledge as a musical accompaniment, but adventurous as I am in beer I'm afraid I can't quite stretch that far, however I will admit it kind-of works.
Cheers!

Mikkeller In May
24. Mikkeller Weinbrand BA Red Ale 10.0%

It's the last day of May, and so the last of my Mikkellers In May series. I'll briefly list some of the highlights at the end of this post, I may even have a top three, but I wanted to have something a little bit special to end with and this could well be it.
It is already a special beer to me because this actual bottle is the very first bottle of Mikkeller beer that I ever bought.
I had read a little about Mikkeller beers and when I saw this bottle, with it's seductive wax-sealed cap, I knew it had to be mine.
This is a Red Ale or American Amber style, another that is brewed at the De Proef experimental brewery, before being aged in Weinbrand (a type of fortified fruit wine, quite similar in some respects to brandy) barrels from the Kollwentz vineyard in Germany for a period of three months.
I've never had a beer quite like this before, and suitably intrigued it's time I pressed on and see how it tastes.
It pours a cloudy dark amber with a definite ruby red edge to it. The head is surprsingly heavy with a beige colouring, and although it blooms and fades, it seems to do so reluctantly. The aroma is quite pungent with losts of musty vanilla and a big kick of cherry liqueur. It's bitingly sharp at first, making it's presence felt immediately with some milk chocolate, then the big flavours of sour cherries and a hint of vanilla and orange peel sweep in. Next comes what is almost a warm alcoholic orange and cherry void before a musty lollipop flavour, more cherry but this time with a little lemon, leaves a really rounded texture in the mouth. This coats the whole mouth with some sticky-sweet sourness resonant of the aftermath of a boiled sweet. This moves seemlessly into the finish which lingers a long long time.
This is another superb beer from Mikkeller, benefiting from storing a while I think, but it makes me wonder what the flavours would have become if left for a while longer.
The big question you're asking however (well, you might be) is, 'does it make the top 3 for May ?'
Not quite.
I was actually quite surprised when I read through my reviews and thought about the beers without drinking them at the same time. All the reviews and posts were made on the days that I drank them, which made it interesting at times, but I wanted to be true to the guidelines that I set myself.
Without further ado then, here I my favourites in reverse order:
3. Jackie Brown for it's gorgeous chocolate hoppiness.
2. Mexas Ranger for it's crazy hoppy chocolate roller-coaster ride.
1. Spontanale for it's pure sour fruit juice wonderment.
I hope that you've enjoyed coming along with me on my Mikkeller adventure. I'd love to know what you thought of what I wrote, and if you've tried some of these great beers or you've been inspired to explore the wonderful world of Mikkeller beer. Thank you to those who have already contacted me here and via twitter @1970sBoy.
I'll leave you with a picture of some of the Mikkellers that didn't quite make it due to time contraints but I may well visit here soon.
It's been a very good May indeed!

Mikkeller In May
23. Mikkeller Spontanale 5.3%

Those of you who have followed my Mikkeller adventures will know that I normally start off with a description of how it was brewed, what it contains, or some irrelevant aside.
On this occasion I want you to look at the picture first.
Have a good look.

I know.
It really is a thing of beauty.
This beer is simply stunningly beautiful to look at.
Some beers smell enticing, some have the most wonderful taste that keep you coming back for sip after sip, but this ... it's gorgeous, and I've not even tasted it yet.
This is a gueuze, a spontaneously fermented beer using airborne yeast in Belgium, possibly at Cantillon however I have been unable to positively confirm this. It is Mikkellers first attempt at the style, matured in oak barrels 'for years', and blended and is 'in all ways produced according to the rules'.
It pours, as you can see the most beautiful (that word again) golden amber, it glows and looks wonderfully fresh, with a highly carbonated pure white head. The aroma is pure sour green apples, resonant of a good quality dry cider with the merest hint of vanilla, or more correctly vanillin, which you would expect from something aged in oak. Bitingly sour over the tongue, a huge array of fruit juices assault the palate. There's sour apples naturally, but also peach juice, white grape, tomato juice (really wasn't expecting that !), grapefruit, tangerine and a splash of pineapple, all fresh, refreshing, zingy, tart, sour, mellow and smooth all at the same time.
You've read all those and thought "Really Justin?". Well, I read them back myself and thought the same thing, so went back again, and again, and again to check, and yes, they really are all there. This is absolutely wonderful. There is a light resonance of the juicy sourness in the finish but to be honest it really doesn't matter. The look, the smell and the taste are sublime. Mikkeller's first attempt at a gueuze and they've nailed it, and some.
Here's something else, looking at the bottle cap for the best before date, it says 14/04/21. That means they assume it will continue to develop and mature in the bottle for some time to come if kept cool and out of the sun. I would recommend getting a great load to serve at a barbecue to any cider drinkers (don't tell them what it is though until after they've tried it) and then get another great load to put away, bringing out a bottle every year or so to see how it's going.
That's what I call a real win - win situation. You won't regret it.

Mikkeller In May
22. Mikkeller Beer Geek Brunch Weasel Calvados Edition 10.9%

After a brief interlude I finally get to taste my third Beer Geek Brunch Weasel - Calvados. It almost sounds like a film trilogy: The action moves to the Basse-Normandie (Lower Normandy) region of France. Our hero carefully watches the apples pressed and fermented into a dry cider. Biding it's time during the distillation and maturation process of the brandy, it seizes it's chance, occupying the recently vacated casks, waiting, transforming. Several months later it decides to split up, depositing some of itself in several bottles now fully matured and subtley changed. Now is it has emerged on it's final mission. This is it's time ...

It pours very like the others, as you would expect but with a touch darker head perhaps. There's a rich dark sugar aroma at first before the familiar boozy dark chocolate jumps up the nose. There's a lovely sweetness in there too with some deep fruitiness that I would more readily associate with brown sauce. Interesting. There's some fruity sweetness over the tongue but silky smooth nonetheless. More milky chocolate kicks in then a wave of dry yet sweet alcohol, warming the mouth, cuddling the tongue in a dark fruity embrace. The finish is smooth, continuing the same warming sensation with little bits of chocolate, cocoa and liquorice.

This is a wonderful conclusion to my BGBW trio. If I were to rank them this would probably be in the silver medal position although I really love the extra sweetness, just pipped at the post by it's older brother (well, like Dobie Gray sang in The In Crowd. the original is still the greatest) but absolutely superb. It's a close run thing, and I feel quite lucky to have had the chance to compare them.

Mikkeller In May
21. Mikkeller Beer Geek Brunch Weasel Cognac Edition 10.9%

Hang on a minute, I hear you say, this is a bit of a cop-out, he's reviewing the same beer as yesterday, and in a sense you'd be right. (I'll be reviewing the same beer again tomorrow too). It is the same beer, but this time it's aged in Cognac barrels.

I thought it would be interesting to review this immediately after yesterdays 'standard' (like it could really ever be called standard) Beer Geek Brunch Weasel to compare and contrast.

I'm usually not one for 'brewery blurb', but on this occasion because I think they make it beautifully clear I'll let Mikkeller tell you about their beer:
'The recipe for this beer is as simple as a childs finger painting: you take one of the world's highest rated beers - that's the one called Brunch - and then you let it splash about in a totally fresh cognac barrel for three months. After that it's just a question of, out of the barrel, into a bottle and off you go.'
Nice and straight forward. time to drink it.

The first thing that you may notice is that the bottle is smaller than yesterdays, half the size actually, 25cl as opposed to it's 50cl brother. It pours in the same silky smooth way and it looks the same captivating and enveloping rich deep brown, but the head is lighter, less voluminous and fades quicker as a consequence. The aroma is rich deep dark chocolate with a very pronounced vanilla overlay, slightly spicy and creamy, with a touch of white chocolate too. Initially smooth as it flows over the tip of the tongue then a great bit surge of dryness is sucked up by a boozy milk chocolate brandy explosion at the back of the mouth. The flavour is quite intense, clearing the nasal passages and continues into the silky sweet milk chocolate finish with lovely alcoholic edge in there too.
The cognac barrel aging has altered the character of the beer, accentuating and intensifying the alcoholic chocolate element, but overpowering and obliterating any trace of the hoppy tropical fruit caramel. Yes, it's the same wonderful beer, but it's also wonderfully different too.