This beer was interesting to say the least. Wild yeast is notoriously bad for the beer-making process. (The major exception for wild yeast and beer are Lambic Ales. I’ve posted before about this, so here is the link that deals more in depth with the subject.) When a company attempts to make a wild yeast beer, it is really an ambitious effort. It is even more ambitious that they don’t add any fruit to the beer, which many Lambic makers do to render it more palatable. Importantly, I’ve never had an actual unbuffered Lambic. They are difficult to find in the U.S., and a Lambic is rarely not in the form of Gueze, Faro, Framboise, etc. So, I don’t have a point of comparison with an actual Lambic beer, which is apparently what Mikkeller is going for. Here goes nothing.
As an aside: this Danish brewery Mikkeller sure gets around. They have done brews with Three Floyds, Stone, and everybody else that they can. And why not? They were voted the best Danish brewery and are rated among the world’s elite. Their story is what I hope for mine and Nate’s to be: two homebrewers turned pro.
The beer came off as being pretty clean in body (unless the yeast is intentionally let in), which is not what I expected. One would normally expect a little haze in this type of beer. There was a thin but pretty stable head that rested on the beer.
Aromas are sometimes difficult to explain and other times easy; this one was not awfully hard to pin down. Sour notes similar to lactic acid were very noticeable. In addition, there were musty, stale, and woody notes. When smelling the aromas, if one did not know better, it could easily be thought the beer was bad or spoiling. Honestly, hints of bad foot odor could be used to describe some of the beer’s aromas. I know that I’m not making this beer sound appealing. Hints of sour fruit and a certain amount of corn chippiness were also features.
Was I brave enough to drink the beer after the aromas? Yes, I was! The sourness and corn chip qualities were definitely present in the flavors of the beer. I couldn’t pin it down totally, but roasted corn/corn chips would certainly be a main feature. It’s Alright was somewhat bitter, had a sour woody must to its flavor, and actually had some nice fruit qualities on the end. I can see why fruits really help to make this style of beer more palatable–in fact, they make it delicious.
Let me tell you truly when I say that this beer is not for everyone. My wife hated it. I appreciated and would drink it again with setting and pairing as considerations. I suppose the only way to find out what you think is to drink it… but you’ve been warned about its nuances. I’m not writing Mekkeller off just yet. This is a very eccentric style of beer, and they have other stuff. My rating reflects the fact that this beer was not too enjoyable but that it was still well done for what they were attempting to achieve.
Mike’s Rating
Overall Satisfaction: 
Among other Belgian Styles:
Overall Weirdness:
