Tasting panel "Grape Fruit Dead"

MIkkeller / 18th street Brewery - Grape Fruit Dead

This collaboration beer with a tribute to the mighty Californian band, Grateful Dead pours a hazy orange with a fine thin white head.
The nose clearly reveals the grapefruit as a key figure in this brew. With a fine hoppy profile that is best described as nectar, blood oranges and even grilled lemons with some caramel and fine spice notes such as allspice.
This beer has a pleasant mouthfeel with a slightly oily texture. It is balanced between sweetness and bitterness. With that in mind, this is somehow a schizophrenic beer - but in an interesting way. First you get a massive bitterness and after a short break the sweetness kicks in. The bitterness is dominated by impressions of the grapefruit that is used both as peel and as juice. Lovely. When it comes to the sweetness we get impressions of brown sugar and burned malts as we normally find in darker beers.
The finish is bitter and peppery - the power of the grape fruit peel. This bitterness will stay with you for a long time.
The longer it stays in the glass the sweeter it gets and the more bitter the finish gets.
This is a bitter beer and not in that hoppy sense. When paired with food this should be in mind. We suggest a grilled mackerel or even grilled octopus with herbs and lemon.