Viking Brewing Mjød

Brewed by Viking Brewing Company
Style: Mead
Dallas, Wisconsin USA

Surprisingly medium amber. Lightly cidery alcoholic aroma. Some honey. Some hot cereal maltiness, with a medium sweet finish. Strange lingering ciderish note.

Festival sampling. Clear brown body. Corn stalk center aroma with a sweet honey background. Honey/plum in the sweet flavor with a floral finish. An interesting blend of honey sweetness and organic/vegetable "spice".

Sampled at the 3rd Annual "Between the Bluffs" Beer and Cheese Festival in La Crosse, WI. Appearance is a bronze color. Non-existent head. Aroma is of honey, casky, grassy and orange (is this the honey flower?). Fairly strong, sweet aroma. Flavor is a sweet honey. Light caramel malts. Grassy hoppiness. Sweet apple/orange. Palate is lightly carbonated, very sweet, oddly refreshing given the sweetness. I could drink LOTS of this. VERY GOOD!

Thanks to slikwily for this one. Pours a clear brown similar to maple syrup and with a small light-brown head. Aroma is honey with alcohol and caramel malt. The flavor is a slight tart honey with a warm hoppy finish. Light silky mouthfeel yet full-bodied.

Bottle - many thanks to Badgerben for this treat! Pours clear, amber-red with a small ring of bubbles around the rim of the glass. Aroma is of very ripe bananas and clover. Flavor reminds me of strong, honey sweetened green tea with a bit of alfalfa and banana. Medium body and virtually no carbonation. Quite an interesting experience, I could imagine being in a great, noisy, damp hall full of norseman and serving wenches, eating and celebrating the returj from a successful raid. Yeah, that’s it and I’ll add an overall point for that impression as well.

Smells like ripe bananas with brown spots, and just a touch of maltiness. No head, but not being familar with mead I will not detriment on this. This tastes like a mixture of grapefruit, nutmeg and green bananas. Aftertaste is surprisingly hoppy with a prevalance of raisin bran. Not sure what the alcohol % is on this but it it sh*t-kickin’!

Clear, bright crimson in color, with a slim ring of foam around the edges. Brash, bright sweetness in the nose, a burnished cherry sensation, brandy, sherry...cough syrup..wicked stuff, really. Taste, at first, is less impressive...then speaks up, slick, sweet, and a bit twisted, sloshes around a bit, slips away. Wish the folks at Viking would tell us the strength of their stuff, especially this humdinger..it’s starting to ring around my ears right about now. Mouthfeel’s a bit thin, finish fades too fast, but the flavor returns with a vengeance at every new sip. Doesn’t have enough body or character, like a nice barleywine or old ale would, to balance with the booze and bold fruit...it is what it is, though, even if I’m not crazy about it. Maybe I’m no expert on meads...maybe if were, it’d knock my knickers off...who can say? It’s fairly nice, where we’re at, anyway... (look at beermatrix’ effort for a better assessment of the taste.)

I’m new to mead and this is my first braggot. I like it. Pours a fiery red with a ring or head. Smells strongly of sweet cider with some floral notes lurking in the background. Medium to light bodied, maybe even a bit watery. It stays to form throughout--fruity, yet somewhat dry. It’s got me interested in braggot as I much prefer this to other meads.