MIkkeller Ris a la M'ale

This brew was another of my finds from the warehouse liquor store in Chicago. I'm a little familiar with the Mikkeller name; one of the nice specialty bars in Sioux Falls has had some of their beers available on occasion or two, and from what I could remember, Darrell and I were always pleased with our selections. Until we came across this one. Truthfully, this was more of an impulse buy than a well thought-out purchase; the label boasts that this beer is brewed with almonds and cherries, and I was instantly intrigued. And since the rest of the bottle is printed in Danish, I bought it solely on that information. I was even super proud of myself--when I got home, I boasted to Darrell "Look at this really cool and unique beer I found!", to which he responded "Cherries and almonds? I'm not drinking that". So, I smugly sat down with the beer one evening, sure I was going to be in for a treat. We had gotten a variety of fruit-infused lambics as a wedding gift (chalk one up for people knowing their audience!), and I pretty well enjoyed them all, so I was imagining that this would be very similar. Well, I was quite incorrect. It was not crisp and slightly sour like I remembered the lambics being, nor did it have much of a pronounced cherry or almond taste at all. In fact, it didn't really have any sort of pronounced taste; it was just there. I suppose that if I had been sitting on the deck of a beach house watching the sun set over the ocean it would have been the perfect beer for the occasion (but then again--is there really a wrong beer for that occasion?), but for just a normal night it was certainly nothing special. Perhaps I built it up too much, but Darrell did agree that it seemed to be lacking something--flavor, depth, hops--something.

Would I drink it again? Sure, if someone was buying it for me. Would I buy it myself? Probably not. Will I learn to stick with buying types of beers (and wines) that I know I like instead of giving in to spontaneous desires to try something new just because "it looks cool"? Doubtful. But hey--maybe one of these days I'll strike gold on a new and unfamiliar brew--maybe.