Mikkeller Stateside IPA, 7% ABV.

It totally passed me by that the 4th of July has a special significance for people in the US, otherwise I might have put on my Harvey's Tom Paine T-shirt and drunk some American beers. So to make up for it here's a review of a beer made in tribute to American brewers: Mikkeller Stateside IPA.



Mikkeller list the ingredients, a practice I thoroughly approve of:

Grist: Pilsner, Munich and Caramunich malt, Flaked oats.

Hops: Chinook, cascade and centennial.

I wasn't entirely taken with the first Mikkeller beer I tried but they're a very interesting brewery so I was looking forward to this one. The initial taste was fantastic. It had the strong, citrussy hop flavour you would expect from an American inspired IPA but the malts gave it a light but tasty caramel flavour which I've not found in American IPAs before. It worked really well and is definitely something I'll try in my own brewing.

Sadly on further drinking I was not quite so impressed. There seemed a sour note to it which made me think, 'hang on a minute, that's no ordinary caramel, that's diacetyl'. Some diacetyl can be acceptable in beer but this was too much. 

Excess diacetyl is removed from beer if it's given sufficiennt time to mature whilst in contact with the yeast, as the yeast reabsorbs the diacetyl and breaks it down. Mikkeller were close to a classic with this beer so hopefully they'll take a bit more time making it in future.