Viking Brewing Berserk Barleywine

Brewed by Viking Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
Dallas, Wisconsin USA

12oz, no date. Pours a very dark caramel brown with a ring of beige head. Aroma of maple syrup, toffee, figs, raisins, prunes, some paper oxidation, grain, alcohol--very sweet with a bit of odd tang. Flavor is some roasted malts and alcohol up front--fairly bitter--with some dark fruits and more oxidation. Semidry finish. Medium full body with minimal carbonation. Kinda crappy. After having three or for brews from these guys, I do not like Viking Brewing Co.

Pours a dark red-brown. Aroma is nice and roasty with a decent candi sugar presence. Nice toasty flavor with a good light hop finish.

i had heard good things. i went into this already liking it and man what a dissapointment. it pours with absolutly no head i thought i had a bad bottle this stuff was so bad but the other 3 were the same way. dark reddish brown aroma is sour dark fruits with something like alcohol and old candy wrapper. taste is very lame. i don’t know what else to call it there is nothing outstanding good or bad. it still has that sour dark fruit and alcohol and it could just be because stine wrote before me about the chocolate chip pancakes but i get thet too. oh the power of suggestion. it has a slick cloying mouth feel that is a real turnoff and there is a lingering aftertaste of alcohol and mabye burnt toffee not nessesarily bad but not at all what i expected with this. i normaly love barley wines and this is the worst i think i have had.

The pour is sludgy in consistency, muddy red in color. Chocolate chip pancakes with syrup and toffeecake aroma. It has a surprisingly mild flavor that highlights alcohol and metal for the most part. The main body tastes like the expired nasty chocolate the grade school fundraisers sell. Touches of caramel, chocolate soda fountain, dirt. Not a well-integrated brew and I won’t finish it, but I’m beginning to think that I might not be in love with this style.

Bottle courtesy of Ughsmash. Murky brown with only ring of bubbles for head. Huge caramel and toffee aroma, faint alcohol. Flavor not as big as aroma suggests. caramel and toffee, balanced by some aged hop mustiness. Residuel sweetness. Would guess English bw for sure. Thins out a tad in finish.As it warms moreand more alcohol begins to appear. Decent overall.

2004, 12oz btl. Pours a rich looking caramel brown, with a diminutive but persistent dark tan head with sickly hints of grey. Aroma is of scorched cane sugar, alcohol and chocolate covered cherries. Medium bodied for a barleywine, syrupy on the palate. Flavors of cherry compote, caramel malts, hints of teriyaki and molasses. Alcohol warmth and slight bitterness succeed the aforementioned. Hop bitterness throughout, but not an exciting aroma or taste is derived from what seem like stale hops. Really average but drinkable barleywine. The flavor profile does seem like it will be better suited to my palate with a few more years of loving cellaring behind it. Ok.

Bottle: Courtesy of Styles. The aroma has lots of raisin, caramel, alcohol, and hints of chocolate and banana bread. The appearance is sort of a muddy reddish-brown with virtually no head. It’s almost still looking with only a few stray bubbles. The flavor starts with caramel, rasin, and a sweet fruitiness. The finish has notes of apple and minimal bitterness. The mouthfeel is flat and a tad thin.

Bottle (courtesy of JK). Melted caramel, pinetree and alcohol aroma. Cloudy dark brown with small head. Strong alcohol bite initially that quickly fades to a creamy caramel flavor. Strong hops finish. Very interesting brew - strong alcohol and extremely pleasant caramel flavor seem to stay separated.