Viking Brewing Whole Stein

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

12 oz. bottle. Poured black with a respectable cap of creamy caramel head.. iced tea highlights around the edges. Nose was quite sweet.. with chocolate, coffee, and lactose notes coming through. Roasted, almost burnt dark malts (chocolate and coffee), milk chocolate, and cream in the flavor. Coffee bitterness and spices become more prevalent as it warms. Chocolatey/spicy finish. Average mouthfeel.. nothing stood out.. nothing was unpleasant.

Courtesy of The_Enemy. <P> The aroma is a melange of coffee, lactose and sweet malts. Deep black with a finger sized tan head. Fore is quite smooth and silky and has a sweet cream and oatcake flavor. Milk chocolate and sweet cream are also present int he middle range and on intot he finish. Amazingly smooth palate. Some grassiness in the finish detracts, but this is a pretty nicely done beer.

(22 oz bottle: Obtained 24-Jun-05 in trade with hezron, thanks Nathan!) The light tan head nearly erupts out of the glass on the first pour, a potential mess prevented only by a deft, quick, deep slurp. The head is fairly fizzy, receding noisily yet still slowly. Lots of milk chocolate in the flavor once the head dies down, fairly sweet and candy-like, mildly bitter, some anise and light roast in the finish, but a hint of apple skin confirms the cause of the serious carbonation issues that plague this medium-bodied beer. Although, considering the voluminous amounts of foam, the palate is only lightly carbonated. Chocolaty, sweet, lightly roasty with that hint of apples again. Jet black in color, even at the edges, but the head does dissipate completely. Looking at the big picture, this is a decent porter, despite not being in top form. Still, I wouldn’t mind retrying this again in the future.

basically opaque as much as i can tell. aroma is of coffee, cocoa, lactose. flavor is mildly bitter with lots of coffee, cocoa and lactose flavors. nose and flavor are in sympatico. very roasty finish and aftertaste. a little thin..that’s the only real problem.

12oz bottle.
Pours a light-demolishing dark black. Some hints of red nearly escape but are promptly sucked back in and mercilessly crushed by the darkness. Modest carbonation -- a vast improvement over Viking’s typically flat beers -- forms a thin tan head that quickly recedes to the edges and leaves a small bit of lacing. Aroma is a dash of coffee, a sprinkle of red pepper, and surprisingly smoky. Flavor is light roasted coffee, a bit of lactose, unexpected but welcome slight pepper spice, light hop bitterness, a hint of green apple and a tiny touch of smoke. Creamy but slightly flat palate owing to the modest carbonation. Viking is known for its daring experiments, some of which fall on their faces. However, this "throw a bunch of stuff in the pot and see what happens" concept produces an unexpected, surprisingly decent result. I rather like this one.

(bonus brew by way of robertsreality)poured super black with no sign of light.the small head was a deep dark brown.the aromas were a mix of chocolate,milk,beef jerkey,oats,and tiny bit of sourness.flavor was much of the same with some powdered dark chocolate,and the finish was on the dry side.

Out of a bottle, thanks richlikebeer. Aroma a little different definite grassy hop character. Pour was nice, dark brown and tan head. Flavor was good had a nice coffee flavor and slight licorice to it. Roasted malts and touch of oatmeal do nicely. Palate was good nice and smooth. Again different and good.

thanks goes to styles for shaing this at the kuhnhenns gathering on 6/10. poured a dark brown with a light tan head. aroma coffee, roasted malts, chocolate, oatmeal, and a nice touch of hops. flavor gotta love the coffee, roasted malts, chocolate. very good.