At the end of February Mikkelers IBU 1000 will be available in Denmark and abroad/domestically as well as internationally. Even though this beer has been called the hoppiest in the world numerous times and even though it was debated vigorously on beer blogs prior to its release date around the world, the story about the IBU 1000 cannot be told properly without the information that Mikkellers intention was never solely to brew a beer with an extremely high IBU. The purpose of this project was to brew a beer with an impressive IBU that at the same time was relatively easy to drink. And that is exactly what Mikkeller has done with this beer.
Because – believe it or not – this beer is actually very well balanced. Residual sweetness contrasts nicely with the bitterness from hop and the result is a beer, that is much easier to drink than what you would assume.
The name IBU 1000 refers to the theoretical IBU of this beer. There are physical limits to how much bitterness beer can soak up. For the benefit of those especially interested in the process of brewing we can tell you that 6½ kilogram of alpha-acid extract was used og 10 kilograms of simcoe-pellets per 1000 liters beer! This means that ”easy to drink” is only for the hardcore hopheads....
