Profiled by Maria Devan for PGA
Hi everyone today I have a a very special beer. This is Mikkel Borg Bjergsø ‘s collaboration with Grassroots, Wheat is the New Hops. Grassroots is a subsidiary of Hill Farmstead and Mikkeller is a phantom or a gypsy brewer who despite the fact he does not operate a brewery has won the title best Danish brewery twice and fifth best brewery in the world twice also. This is my first beer from Mikkeller ever.
Grassroots/Mikkeller Wheat is the New Hops
The beer pours with stately and pristine beauty to the glass. A lightly hazed and pastel lemon straw color with a crown of pillowy white foam that is slow to fall and clings to the glass leaving plenty of lace.
Nose is airy. The wheat is golden and subtly sweet grain. A bit of yeast that is powdery and silken on the nose. Instead of funky it’s more of a light dry scent and the brett is as light as a feather. There is a brilliant hop floral on this nose. Rose petals. For fruit a delicious ripe peach.
Taste is refined and demure. These flavors are all perfectly balanced and mysteriously complex. For an IPA that is rare. The malt is soft and gently sweet. The hops have the lightness of fresh rose petals. The yeast is shy and a bit sultry. The bitter on this one is perfection. It’s also gentle and somehow proper. The mouthfeel is creamy.
Rather than run roughshod over your palate like so many of today’s IPA’s this one is exquisite. It has polish and elegance. It’s a like a pretty bird that you have to stand far away to see or you might scare it away.
One of the best beers I have ever had. Cheers!
4.5
Welcome to the PGA beer rating system: one beer “Don’t bother.” Two: Eh, if someone gives it to you, drink. Three: very good, go ahead and seek it out, but be aware there is at least one problem. Four: seek it out. Five: pretty much “perfecto.”
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Maria Devan lives in Ithaca, NY and is frequent reviewer of beer and a beer lover deluxe.