Viking Brewing Berserk Barleywine

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

Bottle. Aroma was of yeasty bread, sweet malt and alcohol. Brown/red body with a horseradish mustard head. Flavor was alcohol up front. Near the middle this beer was creamy rich malted chocolate with some sweetness. Ended smooth on the palate. A real good beer brought back from Wisconsin.

12 oz bottle courtesy of The_Enemy. Pours to a hazy, deep caramel color, with a slight tan head that fades to nothing, and a soft carbonation. The nose on this beer is very malty, with aromas of sweet malt, caramel, toffee, hints of cocoa, and some peppery alcohol. The palate is slighly slick and oily on the tongue, with good flavors of caramel, toffee, sweet malt, light flavors of cocoa, and estery flavors of prune. This beer finishes with more good sweet malt and caramel up front, then ends with a waming, peppery, alcohol bite that lingers. At 12% abv, this is a stong beer, to sip and savor, and makes for a fantastic after dinner drink, or night cap. Another impressive beer from Viking Brewing, a brewery that I have quickly become a big fan of.

Color’s as dark as sin, rich, besotted, like a turned prune, caramelly at bottom, near total opacity, with a rich, toffeeish head, good and thick, at the top. Tastiness in the nose, dark fruits abound, profoundly powerful grapes, dates, figs, and more...nicely roundedbeckons a taste... In the mouth, it’s a mo’fo...12% ABV rings loudly and proudly from the onset, and the taste is rich and smooth...full in body, to say the least, full in flavor, to boot...remarkable...not too sweet, not too hoppy...they have a balance, here, fills the mouth and stretches flavor wide and true...I’m actually impressed by a barleywine that’s not too bold or brash in flavor, in hops, in malt, in alcohol, though it is a champ in the last regard...pretty well done, got to hand it to them, especially after sampling one of their lesser offerings. I’m going to be enjoying this for a while longer, through this bomber, and I’ll enjoy every second...nice one, Viking!

Bought a 4-pack of 12 oz. bottles of this on a whim. Sometimes whims turn out great, as was the case this time. A pour into a tulip glass showed an opaque deep coffee brown with a medium tan head. Nice lacing. Nutty, fruity aroma with a helping of breadiness. Quite sweet initial taste with a full palate of toffee, vanilla and plums. Residual "earthy" taste as it finishes; surprisiingly clean for a big beer such as this. Alky is well hidden. I pronounce it "superb"!

Initially I questioned the brewer’s classification of this beer as it poured like a porter; dark with a ruby hue and an initial big chocolate-like head but its distinctive barley wine aroma of raisins and the hint of alcohol gave it away. This beer had a great mouthfeel and the finish contains a slight chalky taste with a light smoky-peat flavor that ended up dry on the tongue; unique but I actually enjoyed it. Usually I don't like to be duped by my beer but somehow this "what you see is not what you get" fact about this beer is why I'll probably pick up a few more on my next trip to Wisconsin.

Dark, ruddy brown--almost stoutish in color--topped with a whisper of head that still manages to mark it’s territory with a spot or two of lace. Nose is intensley malty, fruity with not a hint of the big ABV. Thick and filling with almost no carbonation and really low on hops---this is a barleywine that at least approximates the english style. Notes of various fruits--plumb, appricot, raisin, apple--and a hint of vanilla and oh so smooth. Strangely, the 12% ABV doesn’t seem to catch up to you ever and there’s not a hint of it anywhere. Finishes with a lingering earthy bitterness that matches well with cigarette smoke and reading back issues of Modern Drunkard Magazine. Top notch.

12oz bottle acquired in trade with DavidP (thanks!). Poured a darker and muddy mahogany color with a very small sized off white head. Aromas of toffee, caramel, with some dark fruits. Tastes of caramel (lots of it), dark fruits (raisins, plums, and dark cherries), toffee, and lightly earthy. Alcohol content hidden.

Speckled, shadowy crimson. Thick ring surrounds the broken, off-tan patches of foam. Delightfully rich and tangy aroma of burgundy wine-coated malts, birch, and vanilla. Refined notes of caramelized sugars, milk chocolate, and full bready malt richness (most likely Maris Otter). Soft body with very mellow carbonation. Initially tangy and vinous, but there’s a soft malt counterpoint at the center, which is more flavorful than it is rich, as plump black cherries lurk beneath. Malt richness is slow to develop, but eventually does, toward the finish, as it becomes extremely bready before taking on more of a husky character at the end of the swallow. Vinous notes wipe away much of the residual sweetness, as there’s very little hop character to speak of, other than a gentle tangy/bushy edge. Overall, the malts are rich and the alcohol is well-masked, but the acidity is quite prominent, which has probably spawned after a half-year of age, likely due to their funky yeast strain. More like an Old Ale infused with steroids. Thanks, Cougar!