Mikkeller Beer Geek's Breakfast

mjohnston · Post by **mjohnston** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 2:14 pm

Our order through R+R came in so I thought I'd give one a try last night. Right out of the car it was about cellar temperature and I drank it out of a tulip glass, a bit at a time.

First thing I noticed was that the bottle was labeled by the LCBO as being 5.5% instead of the 7.5% it's supposed to be. I still don't know what to make of this, but I'll get back to it in a minute.

It's quite heavily carbonated, but a bit sticky, and was probably somewhat agitated by the transportation, so the head erupted quite a bit off the pour. It stuck around for quite a while too. I didn't think to note the lacing qualities as the head fell, so I don't remember.

It smelled like a nice semi-sweet stout with some coffee in it, which is exactly what it is. Quite a bit of flavour for 5.5% - I know it's not all about the ABV but there's at least some correlation between fermentables and how much flavour potential you've got.

I'm pretty sure that this is higher than 5.5%. I don't normally feel a pint of lager over an hour like I felt this. I've never had this before but I didn't feel like it was missing much. That said, I'd like to try it side by side with another LCBO tested version reporting a higher ABV.

The real surprise was at the bottom of the bottle. I'd say a good two or three inches at the bottom of the bottle is some kind of thick semi-gelatinous sludge. Don't get me wrong - it was very tasty sludge! Only the very bottom of it got yeasty, grainy or bitter like you'd expect the sediment to be.

I wonder what it's made of. Some kind of protein phenomena from the oats? It's not just a bunch of yeast. It has a bit of the texture of cold stock, how it thickens up into a kind of thin jelly. Next time maybe I'll pour the whole bottle into a suitably large glass and stir it. Anyone else ever encountered this?

In all, quite a tasty but strange beer. I look forward to drinking the rest of them.

Guybrush · Post by **Guybrush** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 2:18 pm

who eats sludge? honestly...

Malcolm · Post by **Malcolm** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 2:23 pm

I believe I had one of these at The Rhino a couple of months ago and it was definitely higher than 5.5%. I got quite the buzz off of it. No sludge though.

mjohnston · Post by **mjohnston** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 2:25 pm

Yeah sludge probably isn't the best word. How about "Beer Geek's Consomme"?

Belgian · Post by **Belgian** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 2:35 pm

Wow I'd love to try that. The Rhino, you say???

I think any beer with a decent addition of malts (especially unfiltered) will tend to settle out some of the suspended solids. Gravity over time equals sludge. Some of those solids are tasty however, and belong IN the beer. A beer like an old Rochefort 8 will pour almost too 'clean' and thin with some of the tasty goodness trapped in a dark layer on top of the yeast sediment.

The best thing might be to agitate the bottle a few days before opening, and let it settle just enough to separate the heavier 'bitter' stuff - but not lose the full flavors.

Malcolm · Post by **Malcolm** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 2:48 pm

Yeah, The Rhino. I had ordered something else which they were out of and the waitress brought the Beer Geek instead.
Look on their seasonal beer list and hopefully they'll have some left.

Torontoblue · Post by **Torontoblue** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 3:39 pm

The head on the Beer Geek breakfast is always large, so it wasn't the agitation of bottle that caused it to "explode". My bottles from early last year also have a lower alcohol LCBO label applied, so it's not a new phenomena that the LCBO 'mislabel' beer strengths.

The 'sludge' at the bottom is very tasty and is always added to my glass, not too sure if the beer is b/c maybe it's just residual coffee/malt sinking to the bottom.

esprit · Post by **esprit** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 7:26 pm

Not likely that the LCBO "mislabels" alcohol content...more likely the supplier does. The LCBO uses a gas chromatograph to measure alcohol and this is a pretty sophisticated piece of equipment. Few breweries can afford one and most use a hydrometer which is stone age technology and very inaccurate, that is, when any fsmall oreign brewery even bothers to test....trust me, the LCBO's alcohol testing is very accurate as I have challenged it in the past and always proven to be wrong.

tupalev · Post by **tupalev** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 10:00 pm

Talk about beating a dead horse - the LCBO cannot possibly be wrong - no way!

Had one of these tonight - it was terrific and very similar to the one I had last year. And it was not 5.5% . Lots of sludge though!

mjohnston · Post by **mjohnston** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 11:54 pm

Haha, seriously on the sludge, eh? I've never seen anything like it.

On the ABV issues, it's possible that this is a different batch than was tested as well.

Sanchex · Post by **Sanchex** » Sat Jan 24, 2009 2:54 pm

I'll back up mjohnston on effects of the BGB. I had a bottle after dinner and it felt closer to 7.5% abv. Not that I care either way... 5.5 or 7.5, it's still a solid beer and would order again from R+R.

matt7215 · Post by **matt7215** » Sun Jan 25, 2009 12:21 am

this BGB is different then the same vintage i enjoyed about a year ago. the sledge is very tasty and when you mix the sledge with the beer it makes for an awsome impy stout. the coffee is all gone but the chocolate is just begining to come out. if i had another bottle of the 07 id let it go another year. its a hell of a stout. those of you with multiple bottle please wait and see what this becomes.