Viking Brewing Hot Chocolate

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

12 oz bottle courtesy of The_Enemy. Very interesting beer, due to the addition of coca powder and cayenne pepper. This beer pours to a slightly hazy, deep brown to black color, with a tight, soapy, tan head that fades, and a moderate amount of carbonation. The nose on this beer is excellent with some really good dark chocolate, coffee, cocoa, and roasty aromas. The palate is soft, with some good dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, and light roast flavor. Body is a little thin for the style, but this is a minor flaw in my opinion. Hot Chocolate finishes with more of those good chocolate and coffee flavors up front, then ends with a nice, spicy, peppery burn, that hits the back of the thoat and lingers. The cayenne finish really starts to heat up when this beer warms, and I for one love it! I really enjoyed this beer. Cocoa aroma and flavor are really great in this beer, along with coffee and roast character. The spicy burn the cayenne gives this beer in the finish makes it all the more interesting. Unique and flavorful, I’m sure this beer has it critics, but it has its fans as well. Many thanks to The_Enemy for giving me the chance to try this one.

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.

I like this beer! There’s a smoothness to it that is nicely contrasted with the peppery hottness of the cayenne. Also the maltiness. Really, I like the way this turned out. A bit of a problem with head retention and lace, but wth. Nice n dark, very chocolatey, silky. Nice finish. Had a bottle of this at Bodega Brew Pub, downtown La Crosse, Wis.

Chocolate and bready,and some spice, must be the pepper, in the end it smelled like chocolate on pizza dough,taste WOW,this is different,you get an initial chocolate taste in front,fades into a basic wort sweetness, then on comes this peppery burning in the back of your throat,very warming,very interesting,you know I like it,and will seek to but some more. Thanks Kingpin

Well now here’s something different. Huge chocolate aroma with a nice roasty background. Seems like there’s a little rummy alcohol in there too, or maybe its the peppery kick of the cayenne? Right there in the first sip, the cayenne is unmistakeable. Check that - if I hadn’t known the beer had cayenne, I would have thought it was a spicy fusel alcohol. Well built stout behind the pepper, with plenty of roast and good smooth carbonation.

Dark brown color,small rown head.Dark malty aroma with plenty of chocolate.The taste was not exactly what i was expecting but better.Malty chocolatey flavor with a spicey peppery side that seemes to hang on the pallate for some time but not in an overly bad way.Nice combination and well worth getting a few 6er’s for a cold winter night.

Bottle... Muddy brown ale with a small, fizzy, light brown head. The nose is of chocolate, vanilla, caramel and yes, a hint of cayenne pepper. The flavor is chocolatey and sweet, then dry and spicy at the last possible second. Medium-bodied and buttery with medium carbonation. Finishes chocolatey and almost hot (cayenne hot). Different, but very good. I’ll go against the grain here and say "I really like it!" Thanks to MilkmanDan for filling my glass with this brew!

Pours a nice brown color with a small head.The nose is full on chocolate with a peppery heat nose.The flavor was the same.The chocolate was up front and slamming into you then it was followed by the pepper heat.The finish had some heat behind it definately feeling it in your throat.The heat was mild, it just made a presence.Thanx Troy for sharing this.