United Nations of Beer

Viking Whole Stein

by Jason Pinkowski
(Beer Delegate, WI, USA)

Viking Whole Stein
Viking Brewing, WI, USA

It's Sunday night and my wife Katie and I are driving home from the northwoods of Wisconsin from a weekend of hanging out at a cabin my parents own. On the drive back it suddenly dawns on Katie that Tuesday is the Chili Cook-off at her work and she is going to be very tight for time on Monday to go shopping and make the chili since she had some appointments she had to attend to Monday evening.

Seeing as I don't have anything that I NEED to do on Monday before I go to work, I told Katie to just leave me a shopping list of things she needs and I will take care of it. I run to our normal grocery store and find that they have everything except one thing. I talk to the clerk and they have been ordering the item for over a month now and still cannot get it. I figure that is okay since there are several grocery stores in the area so I should be fine.

I run across the street to The Outpost Natural Foods which I figure it might be a long shot, but hey they have a small but interesting beer selection so it is always worth a stop in. I walk in and find the can of Chilis in Adobo sauce and pick them up and head straight for the beer section.

In the cooler I see a brand of beer that I have only seen before at the Great Taste of the Midwest, a small brewery out of Northwestern Wisconsin called Viking Brewing. There are several selections on the shelf and I take a look to see what they have. One option was a Dopplebock that really piques my interest, and a Vienna Lager that seems very good. Which do I choose?

Then my eyes cross paths with Viking Whole Stein, a coffee, oatmeal, milk porter. That's it, that's the one! I get home before I go to work and decide to check out their website to find out more. There is not much info there, but I do find this blurb on this beer: "Breakfast Beer!" Whole Stein is a coffee, oatmeal, milk porter. Yesiree, all the best parts of breakfast, right in your glass. All I can think is how I cannot wait to go to work so I can come home again to try this beer.

As I arrive home I am greeted by my wife still up making chili for the next day, so I give her a kiss then like a good beer reviewer, head to the fridge to check out the Viking Whole Stein. I quickly pour it into a pint glass to see zero carbonation and no head at all. This instantly gets me worried that this beer may not be that good.

As I lift the glass to the light I see a deep brown, almost black beer that is nearly completely opaque. When I roll the beer up onto the side of the glass to thin it out a bit, it is a deep brown color similar to a Coke or Pepsi. I lower my nose to the rim of the pint glass and take in a good whiff. My nose is greeted with a strong coffee aroma and a hint of chocolate.

Time to taste this beer. The mouthfeel of this beer is nice and velvety, but I really do miss the carbonation, without it the body is a bit thinner. The flavor, like the aroma, is dominated by a nice coffee flavor. I also detect a bit of chocolate, some toffee and some light nuttiness to the beer with possibly a tinge of a sour lactic flavor hiding in the back.

Overall my impressions are that Viking Whole Stein is a good beer that could be better with a bit of carbonation. I would recommend this as a nice beer to sit down to for dessert after a nice steak.