Mikkeller 1000 IBU

The beer drew some controversy a while back though Mikkel has posted up a statementup on the site clarifying the intent of the beer.

(Coperhagen, DENMARK) – Mikkeller has produced a beer with a theoretical IBU of 1000 (with a name of Mikkeller 1000 IBU, of course). It just got label approval late this past week.

There is a pretty heated discussion going on about the beer at Beer Advocate. Mikkel has probably put together another good beer here given the track record of his beers getting good ratings. However, the tide has turned on “extreme” and brewers may want to be careful about how they label and market their products. A recent poll here revealed that two out of every five beer drinkers want the craft beer trend to go back toward sessionable, lighter ABV beers. That said, there will still be a market for well-made hoppy ales, barrel-aged beers, and sour ales. Here’s Mikkeller’s remarks courtesy of the Beer Advocate thread:

“Guys,

truly sorry if we offended anyone by brewing our ’1000IBU’.
We do know about the difference in theory and actual measures and never stated to have brewed a beer with an actual IBU of 1000.
When we brew a beer like ’1000IBU’ it is a gimmick, yet it is also becourse we like to test the limits in brewing..

A couple years ago we did a beer with a theoretical IBU of 2007 for a festival in Denmark. Some people hated it, some people liked it and one thing’s for sure – it did not taste like a 100, 200 or even 300 IBU beer…I tasted like chewing a hopfield…and I personally loved it…

We ‘modern’ European brewers love innovation and gimmicks..very inspired by the most popular american brewers…

Dark Lord is on top of all lists ith a final gravity of up to 1060 (with that amount of suger you can brew a pretty strong beer) – call that innovation or call it a gimmick…who cares – people love it and it is a danm good beer.

FYI Mikkeller also brews beers at 3.9% vol., 15 IBU etc – so it is not all gimmicky….;-)

Cheers,
Mikkel
Mikkeller”