Viking Brewing Hot Chocolate

Brewed by Viking Brewing Company
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
Dallas, Wisconsin USA

Sampled at the 3rd Annual "Between the Bluffs" Beer and Cheese Festival in La Crosse, WI. Aroma is of chocolate and lactose. Very strong aroma. Appearance is a dark black with a thin tan head. Head is almost non-existent. Flavor is a light, subtle cayenne spice. (Hardly noticeable by someone with strong spice tolerance). Chocolate. Milk. Sweet coffee. Palate was a hint of spicyness. Lactose sweetness. Full body. I like this beer very much.

Gitchee Gumee Brewfest 2005. This beer pours a peculiar milky brown, almost like molten caramel. The aroma is stingy and taning, but a little sweet and floral. The flavor starts off somewhat rounded and chocolately, but then I get blasted by this bland hot spice, that speaks slightly of roasted pepper. I’m not pleased. I don’t like hot things in my beer. Again, No.

Hmm... where to begin... Smell is a bit chocolatey with some interesting carrot notes. Initial taste of root vegetables (carrots, turnips, yam) with a heaping helping of cocoa powder and pepper. The taste turns sour, and not sweetly sour, nauseatingly sour, and the lingering aftertaste is of dry gin and sour milk. The body is very thin and a bit chalky. The spiciness is apparent, but not overwhelming, leading me to believe the main problem lies with the actual stout itself. As a stout, it isn’t very full and flavorful, and there is a wide range of odd garden tastes that put me off. The capsaicin is rather ok, starting with a spicy blast, that fades into a subtle toxicity as it coats and numbs the mouth. An interesting taste to be sure, but also fairly unpleasant.

Holy cayenne pepper! Aroma is mildly chocolate and something sharp-spiced (mace comes to mind). Tastes like Mexican-chocolate version of a rauch. Palate is smooth, but the pepper burn is simply too too. I’d say "Interesting," but in that Minnesota euphemism kind of way that implies "bizarre and unpleasant." I poured half into the sink.

Black Coloring with Small Tan Head. Malt and Chocolate Aroma. Chocolate, Malty Notes, but Not as Evident as I Had Hoped..Cayenne Pepper Seductively Comes Out When You Least Expect it. More Spicy/Herbal Overall on the Palate.

Bought this thinking it would be a simplistic novelty but it turns out it’s actually quite inventive. Head has thick bubbles and dissipates rapidly leaving film instead of lacing, perhaps due to the cocoa. Malty stout aroma with the cocoa coming out a bit. Chocolate is also present in the flavor of course, but there is also a surprising complexity, with rather high hop content showing through and a strong dark-vermouth nature to the flavor as well as the body. The low carbonation adds to the vermouth element and is perhaps better as such in this case, as it complements the silky body of the beer. This is a well-crafted beer and should be "taken seriously" by anyone not averse to cayenne.

cloudy black porter aroma that is a tad peppery with a chocolate taint. taste is coffee and the afore mentioned pepper comes out later. this is not to my taste, but the more i drank the more interesting it became. it burns my lips in a nice way unlike the CCCB that came to mind while drinking this.

(Bottle) Pours a dark brown body with a small tan head. Aroma of chocolate and a hint of peppers. Similar flavor as the aroma. Not a bad pepper beer.