Mikkeller: Drink In The Sun: 2013 0.3% Version (Denmark: Low ABV Wheat Ale: 0.3% ABV)
Visual: Hazy apricot. Large white mounded froth that leaves lace.
Nose: Apricot. Pineapple. Custard crème biscuits and moderate hops. Mass market ice cream. Coriander.
Body: Apricot. Moderate bitterness. Fresh lemon. Tannins and tea. Pineapple. Orange juice. Custard sweetness. Passion fruit.
Finish: Tea, tannins and hops. Slight lemon and pineapple. Some bitterness. Passion fruit.
Conclusion: The quest for a great low abv beer continues, and in this hunt in the darkness I have found this from Mikkeller. This beer actually sits nicely between my prior two picks stylistically in addition to a distinct Mikkeller character of its own.
The hops are well used to compensate for the low abv, very fruity and fresh, I would say in a Nanny state style but these are much smoother and more rounded in flavor. From aroma to early body there is a bomb of citrus hops and sweet flavours. It is almost like a hoppy fruit juice. Then as the hops fade out we get the element that causes me to make my second comparison, that being to the Erdinger Alcohol free beer.
The similarity comes in the tea and tannins like flavours. I’m guessing that the flavours were always there but early on the hops hid them. As with Erdinger it is interesting but not what I am looking for in a beer. With the two being wheat based beer I am wondering if this is a characteristic of wheat beers at that low abv.
This however is better that Erdinger by far, more pronounced hops and beer feel early on really sells it as an actual beer, if a slightly strange one. If they could find some way to keep that feel and flavor throughout the entire beer then it would easily be a new favorite of mine.
As is I am still impressed, while it isn’t perfect it is the most beer like of any of the super low abv beers I’ve tried and pleasant beer to drink when you don’t want alcohol. The citrus burst is enjoyable by any standard, if obviously not rocking with the big abv guns.
Not bad at all.
Background: I’m eternally on the hunt for good low abv beers, though with very mixed results. Mikkeller are generally awesome. Thus this seemed like a good chance to get a low abv beer I can really enjoy. At 0.3% it is nigh taking the piss, which amuses me. They seem to have done many different versions of drink in the sun. I have a few bottles of the slightly higher abv 2013 version for sampling at a later date to compare.
