Viking Brewing Big Swede

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

This imperial stout is big on chocolate. Very syrupy and sweet, with relatively little roastiness. I also picked up hints of honey and flowery hops. There is an odd metallic aftertaste and lots of fruity white wine flavors, a tad astringent, which is either due to a lot of honey or the yeasts that Viking uses. I say this because both the Honey Moon and Mjod have this same sort of flavor which, while working well for the meads/braggots, does not work with an imperial stout. Although far from tasteless and fairly enjoyable to drink, this beer does not sit well with me overall as an imperial stout.

Swedish Style, eh? Aroma is roasty, creamy with notes of vanilla and banana. Pours dark, nearly black and thick. Head is thick and dark. Very tight bubbles, almost as if poured on nitro. Taste is roasty and malty. Vanilla and banana notes come in the middle, but the finish is roasted malt bitterness all the way. Alcohol is well hidden for an 8% beer. Out of the 4 or 5 beers I’ve had from Viking, I think this one is the best so far. Nice big beer, lots of flavor profiles to pick out and enjoy. This may not be a textbook Imperial Stout, but after all the labe DOES say "Swedish Style" Imperial Stout, not Russian. Good beer, I’d buy again.

Bomber. Black body with a frothy tan head. Oily, oatmealy aroma with milk chocolate and plum flesh, hints of coffee, too. Big lip-smacking flavor and mouthfeel. Intense chocolate, juicy fruity, leafy hops, and sweet condensed peach juice. Coffee bean dryness and that peachiness in the finish. Read over JP’s review, and his mention of port strikes a chord with me, it has that deep fruitness that’s hard to describe. Thick, yummy mouthfeel. I’d like to rate this stuff higher but the port-like qualities don’t totally jive with me. Otherwise the mouthfeel, sweet malts and roastiness contribute towards a tasty impy stout.

Gitchee Gumee Brewfest 2005. A syrupy dark brown pour, with a diminished off-white head. The waft of this beer is of acorns, but that quality morphs into a more even buttery nuttyness, like pecans in the flavor profile, joining up with some savory toasted notes and some unexplainable things here. It finishes up with a sweet honey and almond kiss. This is very good, but different from the curren Imperial Stout production pattern.

pours a not quite opaque dark brown, with a thin tan head that faded instantly. aroma has slight chocolate tones but brings huge amounts of molasses and anise. flavor is the same, molasses are the main flavor, anise, coffee and chocolate make minor contributions. body is a little on the thin side for what i consider the Impy standard, and the tail has a little too much bitterness for my personal liking. this is definitely what i would consider "different" than the standard imperial stouts in terms of flavor, so if you want something a little off the very beaten path, this may be the i.s. for you.

hello coffee. pours black with absolutly no head. just a few bubbles. smells of chocolate and guess what coffee. not that this is a bad thing. taste is coffee bitter chocolate and a hint of hops. there is a kind of sweet after taste. not bad at all. re rate. i leave the numbers the same, but now that i have had more experience with stouts the coffe is almost non existant hops, chocolate taste is caramel and a little dark fruits. sweet. still a damn good beer.

Dark brownish red. Aroma and flavor was malty sweet and fruity. But not much else going on other than sweet.

Sweet, syrupy Godiva liqueur chocolate aroma. Ruby translucent. Diminishing head. Taste sooooo syrupy molasses worty sweet. Ummmmm?