Viking Brewing Big Swede

Brewed by Viking Brewing Company
Style: Imperial Stout
Dallas, Wisconsin USA

Bottle. Thanks to stine for the bottle. Pours a deep dark black/red body with nice head. Aroma is of burnt coffee, milk chocolate. Flavor is of burnt coffee/chocolate, lightly hoppy with a dry taste. Not bad but with a waterdowned taste.

(Bottle, thanks Ughsmash) Pours black. Rather vinous aroma with dark fruits like cherries, blue grapes, plums and light notes of figs. Malt brings chocolate, coffee, caramel and roasted nuts. Also hints of soy, smoke, sal ammoniac, vanilla, hops and dark truffles. Roasted flavour with tones of chocolate and caramel up front but also some smoke, vanilla and sal ammoniac. Some sour roasted notes in the finish with hints of coffee. More sweet than bitter. Round, soft, smooth and a bit silky mouthfeel, just lovely - like all Swedes. The finish holds some dry notes. Medium to full body. Complex aroma, wonderful palate but the flavour could have been more diverse.

bottle from robertsreality: pours completely black with a large tan head. aroma is of sweet chocolate, some poasted coffee and some fresh fruit. flavour is very rich full of roasted grains, milk chocolate and some coffee.

Doesn’t come across as very “imperial,” but it’s fairly enjoyable. Pours inky black with a small head. Very little aroma. The up front is roasty and smokey, satisfying in the way of a good stout but not very intriguing. It finishes a little bitter-sweet. Before this, I’d never had a beer as high as 8% ABV with so little detectable alcohol – for me, that’s not a plus. This is an okay-to-good imperial stout, but its problem is that it lives in a world with more than a few great imperial stouts.

12 oz bottle served at cellar temperature. Poured an opaque black color. Head was khaki and reduced quickly to a thin ring. Aroma was of soy, molasses, brown sugar, and alcohol. Slightly sweet on the tongue and medium bodied. Tasted of roasty malt, alcohol, and dried fruits. Overall the flavor was a bit lacking and there was a light cardboardy note that detracted.

Lactose aroma with some roastiness. Pretty black appearance with a slight tan head. Lots of roast in the favor, mild pear and a hint of cinnamon schnapps. Fairly thin with some residual alcohol. Decent.

7/31/2007: According to the label, Viking Big Swede is a "Swedish Style Imperial Stout". Not sure what that means, but I’m going to find out shortly... Pours ebony with a dense, lasting tan head. The aroma is yeasty and earthy with some licorice and banana (I kid you not!). Roasted malts, yeast, bubblegum (?! - maybe not, but something fruity...), molasses, and sweet char can be found in the aroma as well as some alcohol in the dry, roasty (ashy with a slight hint of smoke), and bitter finish. Overall this is a good beer except for the weird fruitiness in the aroma and mid-palate. The body is medium-full, with a smooth and creamy texture. Pretty good and the best of the Viking brews that I’ve had (<a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/viking-brewing-m <a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/viking-brewing-j and <a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/viking-brewing-b Barleywine).

12 oz bottle from buckybeer. Thanks Mark. I appreciate it! Rating #180 for this beer...

C-Bus 8 - Bottle: Pours black with a creamy tan head. Aroma, caramel, brown sugar and chocolate. Flavor, chocolate, fruits, caramel, some yeasty notes. Starts sweet, but finishes with a roasty bitterness.