Viking Brewing Big Swede

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

this was kind of a disappointment. very thin body with watery chocolate flavors. some carmel and coffee but honmestly, i expected this to be bigger, fuller, with a lot more flavor.

12oz bottle courtesy of mj. Dark brown body with a large tan head. The nose is fairly sweet with molasses, roast and coffee. The flavor is very sweet and lightly acidic with molasses, burnt coffee, ashtray and chalk. Full body is thin and astringent with moderate carbonation.

12oz bottle. Nose is simple ash/roast/chocolate, a little heavy on the yeast, but it’s more ashy and dry than most. Sweet up front, with light roast and light chocolate flavors, but then after about 5 long seconds there comes a huge ash and chalk coating, with some overripe rotted plums and heavy cigarette smoke and ashtray. Pasty and chalky on the palate, this beer has some problems.

12oz bottle, courtesy of mj. Thanks, Mike! Pours an oily brownish-black color; thin medium tan head with patchy lacing. Ashy, charred malts and dark chocolate in the aroma; pretty abrasive smokiness. Boozy, overly sweet mouthfeel: nougats and ashy malts and chocolate; just messy and completely unbalanced sweetness; hard to get through much of this; sticky sweet, roasted malt and bittersweet chocolate finish.

Bottle thanks to Boboski. Pours dark mahogany with a huge brown head. I had to let this sit a while before I could drink. Aroma of roasted malt and ???. Something in there I cant place. Flavor is mostly roasted malt and a bit smokey. Certainly unique, bun not an easy drinker.

Bottle. Quite an odd aroma. Not like other Imperial Stouts that I’ve run across. The roasted malt takes a backseat to an odd berry infused coffee aroma. Theres is some malt, but you have to dig for it. Pours dark brown, nearly black with a thin khaki head. Roasted malt at first but finishes with a coffee dryness and some toffee sweetness. There a hint of biscuit there as well. Not nearly as thick and chewy on the palate as I like in my stout. An interesting take on the style.

Bottle, fairly old by now. I’d guess 2 years or so by the taste. Big, roasty aroma, a bit harsh. The cofee is very strong. Still a big head on the pour... bottle even gushed a tiny bit. Taste is lightly sweet up front, coffee in the middle, dry in the back. Has a decent start and finish, but it doesn’t connect A to B very well, which seems due to age. The age really took something out of this beer. While it is smooth and nice, it is a little round and odd, and probably would’ve been better a year ago.

12oz Bottle $5.49 Coffee Grounds, Eau Claire Viking’s Big Swede Swedish Style Imperial Stout poured (after a very hard pour) the darkest of browns bordering on black. No light shines through the body except an occasional mahogany highlight, and this is only when held to the light. A super creamy brown tan head formed on the pour and fell to a cap rather quickly. The head only formed after a very aggressive pour. Leaves some patchy lacing. The aroma on this beer is unique and I’m digging it. It’s hard for me to even describe. Mild black coffee and super concentrated sour inedible berries (like what? I’m not sure). Roasty malts glide around in the background and as it warms a toffee/butterscoth like character comes forward. It all comes to a halt with a nice pine sap finish. Starts off with a decent but not overpowering roasted maltiness and leads quickly into those slightly sour and tart berries I mentioned in the aroma. Fresh coffe beans show up on the swallow along with a nice dose of pine needle hop bitterness (more than your average stout). Unique and tasty brew. Medium bodied with a slightly oily mouthfeel. Mild carbonation lets this beer mosey on through coating every tastebud on it’s way through. This is a good stout that goes down easy. It doesn’t taste to me like the alcohol is too big to get in the way of having a few bottles in a sitting. My first beer from the brewers at Viking. A unique stout that I could keep on drinking. I wish now I would have gotten more than just one 4-pack my list trip up to Wisconsin. Good stuff. 9/22/07