Viking Brewing Abby Normal

Brewed by Viking Brewing Company
Style: Abbey Tripel
Dallas, Wisconsin USA

22 oz bottle: murky red brown, minimal head, but does show a slight bit of taupe coloured, ringed retention...plum, fruity aroma with nutty alcohol, raisins, bittersweet honey. Grainy palate, with with interesting flavours of paint, cookies, vanilla, and alcoholic cherry skins. Here lies a one and a half dimensional Abbey ale, enough to spark an interest, but not enough to say WOW, this is outstanding...

Deep plummy, crimson hue, brighter at the bottom, with a thin, perfunctory layer of foam on top. Aroma is rich and sweet, very unique, nothing I could tag as this-or-that, ...I’ll struggle some for awhile, though, for your amusement...molasses, carob, apple, anise, ..sure as heck not what I was expecting! taste is dark, yet smooth, and tasty. dark fruits running rampant here, cherries chiefly, raisiny at times. But it seems as if they’re shooting for an Abbey Dubbel, but just missed it, lacking the zip and zing on the palate, and the greater complexities that the better examples provide. A nice enough beer, yummy as it goes, but falls a few shades short of where it’s trying to go.

Dark Vibrant Red Coloring With Good Head. A little Sweet...but Seemed to Have a Great Deal of Yeast. Alcohol Very Noticable. Barley? Hard to Pick Out, But Decent Offereing.

Dark ruby color with a medium sized, slightly tan head. Aroma primarily of alcohol. Yeast and alcohol seemed to dominate the taste, but there was something else I just couldn’t put my finger on... prunes? It was good, but needs a bit more balance.

Dark brown with a thin off-white head. Brown sugary aroma with a touch of smoke, soap, and faint Belgian yeast. Sugary body has a touch of acidity and caramel. This needs some more balance, a fuller body, and less soapy flavor.

Dark brown. Malt aroma. Flavors of malt and soil. Also a vinous and fruit quality. Medium bodied. Light finish.

Nice hazen darkened ruby reddish color with a thin and loose tan head of big bubblyness, popping down to leave some of those bubbles clinging and grouping around the edge, inky blots of lace stick. Aroma doesn't have to much to offer up in the way of impressionable, has a very slender quality about its appoach. Dried peet moss, dirt, dust, earthy, slight roastyness, lighter then air yeast which gains a better presence as it warms. Taste is milder than most belgains, but what it lacks in power and strong flavors this makes up for it and more in extreme subtlities. Wow, I could get use to this, nothing strong here, mild and calming through and through. Starts dulled in malty fruityness, again, nothing over the top, just a drop, a hint if you will, actually, a dusting, how 'bout a mist of dulled fruits bringing a bit of fig, starfruit, and persimmon. And guess what, thats just the front, and its over pretty quick, from there more of a blankness of roastyness thats attuned to the same dusting of strength and longevity, which ain't much I'm afriad, the only part thats missing in the flavors is in the middle. Oh but the finish is crazy with subtle layers of fantastic little things, if only the whole thing was like this...basically it goes from lightly earthy to a nice lighter chocolatey drying within a another small stint of palate time before it dries out very mildly, milder still, where a nice deep flavor of whole grain bread coming through very late...wait for it...ahh, there it is, wow, very cool and a very nice effect. By far my favorite part of this beer, a timely, somewhat helpful late lingering malty breadish finish. If it didn't have it, this would've been nearly hollow. Although, it does seem to be missing alot of gumption, I gave it a boost in my numbers for taste and palate due to the intreguingly interesting yummy little finish. As far as the feel it doesn't quite live up to a good fullness and roundness, its just kinda there, with a milding texture, subtle drying, and tangy yet plain carbonation. An OK beer really, nothing I would seek out again I think, I am torn between wanting to give it a bit better numbers, but it doesn't impress me enough, even though the subtlities were nice, I need a bit more out of it. I kept hoping it was going to improve as I got through the bomber but it primarily stays the same. This is one of those beers thats not bad, and its not excellent either, it does however promise subtlity and tries to keep you interested, but in the end its time for something else.

Bottle. Dark mahogany in color with a light brown head. A lightly spiced (candy) malt aroma. It had a fairly thin body but an enjoyably sweet and mild dubbel flavor.