Sometimes a drink can be a game. Take a drink, find out what's in it, and, if you're in to it, try and recreate it yourself. It's a nerdy libation; methodically breaking down a completed unit into its constituent parts to see what ticks. Reverse engineer a drink.
While this may take some time - and many "test samples" - taken alone, I have some help with my latest tasting, Mikkeller Coffee IPA. I know, of course, there must be coffee in there. But Rate Beer also tells me it contains Tomahawk hops, and flaked oats. The hard part, as it turns out, is finding the coffee. Like an adult version of Where's Waldo, the coffee hides itself among many similar flavors.
Coffee IPA pours a dark orange color with a persistent, just slightly off-white head reminiscent of soap suds. Aroma is of hops - citrus - though not at all powerful. No coffee, yet.
The first sip doesn’t bring the coffee forward either. It’s playing hide and seek. I check behind some hop bitterness... no, it’s not there. Next comes some caramel sweetness offsetting the moderately intense bitterness from the Tomahawk hops. Then, at the end, after the sweetness leaves, the bitterness returns, but in new form: coffee. It’s delicate. If tasting blind, it may be easy to miss. But that's part of the fun.
Coffee shows up again in the body. The smooth, thick mouthfeel may be from the flaked oat, but it also supports the feel of a morning cup of espresso. Slightly oily and lingering.
Overall, this is a quality IPA and while hunting for the coffee was fun, I’d prefer something a bit more upfront.
