Surly Brett Mikkel's IPA Review

Name: Surly Brett Mikkel's IPA
Style: India Pale Ale
ABV: 7,5%
IBUs: 80 (per RateBeer)

It's been a busy past couple days for myself, so it's time to play catch up on a couple of beers. What better way to start than with some Surly? Today I've got their Brett Mikkel's IPA, which is a collaboration with Mikkeller Brewing based out of Denmark. As you may have guessed from the name, it's an IPA made with Brettanomyces yeast.

I recall having this at the Surly Taproom a couple months back but I wasn't taking notes, so imagine my shock when I discovered this stilling on the store shelves last week. I've only had one beer from Mikkeller and that was their 1000 IBU beer, which I think is a beer only for the truly curious. Let's see how this one turned out.

Appearance - Mildly hazy orange color with a moderate amount of visible carbonation. The head is rather thin in appearance but not much in terms of lacing.

Aroma - Citrus hops & grapefruit notes with some caramel maltiness. I'm picking up on some sour cherry funk/tartness and a hint of lemongrass

Taste - Tart raspberry and citrus hops on the front of the palate followed by caramel malts and grapefruit sweetness. The middle of the flavor is mainly just more caramel malts while the back end of the flavor is where that tartness and citrus hoppiness starts to reemerge

There's some funk & tartness in here, but they're secondary to the rest of the overall flavor and not what I would consider to be strong. With that said, if you're looking for a great introduction to sour beers, this would definitely be one of my first recommendations. As an IPA, it's a great beer and I could get used to drinking this, permitting it's not a one-off offering.

Surly Brett Mikkel's IPA - 8.5/10