Viking Blood

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Thor the Mighty

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anyone have a recipe for this magical craziness? I tried some at a local bar...all i know is that its 19%abv, REALLY spicy in the finish and smells like pure unfiltered, untouched honey on the nose. wow.
 
I don't have that recipe but if you find it, please let me know. I'd like to have a batch of that going myself!
 
Ha! I came here just now for the sole purpose of asking if anyone had a clone recipe for this.

Viking Blod is delicious, albeit a bit pricey, but anyone who sees it should try it.

To quote a friend on his impression of Viking Blod:

"It has all the punch-you-in-the-face flavor intensity of a great cognac with a big honey hug, right at the end."

It says there's hops, honey and hibiscus in there. I'll be making a sample test batch this weekend. A two-gallon batch with 12lbs honey, a bunch of dried hibiscus flowers and a touch of orange peel and lavender. We'll see how it goes.

If anyone ever finds a way to clone this amazingness, please share, the world would be a better place with a clone recipe.
 
Never tasted or heard of it, but this sounds fantastic and I'm kind of pissed I never thought of this name before.
Please post your results, I will be stalking this. :mug:
 
well.... Viking Blood, or Wikinger Blut, is really usually just cherry melomel in order to make it red. I have a few bottles right now that I brought back from Germany.

You are more referring to a brand name, which I would really like to try. Where in NY?
 
Wikingerblut actually, wiki article on it says it's cherry mead, or sometimes made by mixing cherry juice with normal mead. Best known in south Germany and gets it's name from the red colour and the drinking horn.

Wikingerblut (umgs.) ist ein alkoholisches Getränk. Zur Herstellung von Wikingerblut werden Kirschen mit Honig vergoren - es ist also eine Abart des Honigweins Met.
Getrunken wird es vor allem in Süddeutschland, wo es einen hohen Bekanntheitsgrad hat. Eine andere Variante ist, Met mit Kirschsaft zu mischen. Die dadurch entstehende rötliche Färbung und der häufige Ausschank in einem sog. Trinkhorn geben dem Wikingerblut seinen außergewöhnlichen Namen.

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikingerblut
 
Indeed, however, this Viking Blod is not that Viking Blood. This VB gets it's red color from an inordinate amount of hibiscus, I presume. There's nothing cherry about it.

In regards to finding this bad boy, I've only seen it one place; a very tiny specialty liquor store in Kennebunkport, Maine. They had one bottle.
 
Indeed, however, this Viking Blod is not that Viking Blood. This VB gets it's red color from an inordinate amount of hibiscus, I presume. There's nothing cherry about it.

In regards to finding this bad boy, I've only seen it one place; a very tiny specialty liquor store in Kennebunkport, Maine. They had one bottle.

know who made it?
 
This VB gets it's red color from an inordinate amount of hibiscus.
--
I've only seen it one place; a very tiny specialty liquor store in Kennebunkport, Maine. They had one bottle.

Two thing I would have never pictured, hibiscus and Maine. :)
This is on the todo list. And I'm stalking for a recipe.
 
I have tried both Viking Bold & Klapøjster Mjød by Dansk Mjød A/S. I found the Klapøjster Mjød more to my liking.

From the Danish website I found that the Klapøjster Mjød is made from honey, water, spices; and, in addition, they add brandy, which increases the alcohol content to 21.8% ABV (Viking Blod is 19% ABV) - mixing mead and brandy is an old Danish custom.

I was fairly certain that the Klapøjster "spices" was caraway seed (something the Danes are quite fond of), and decided to make a Klapøjster clone, which is now in its 33rd week of clearing. So far the taste is comparable... ;)
 
Would you be so kind as to share that reciepe? I have an empty 3 gal carboy needing to be filled.

Thanks

Don "Ho"
 
The caraway metheglin "port" sounds great. I'd love to try my hand at it. Is the brandy added to stop fermentation at a certain spot and halt the yeast due to alcohol toxicity?

Thanks!
 
Don "Ho";1580449 said:
Would you be so kind as to share that reciepe? I have an empty 3 gal carboy needing to be filled.
Although I am hesistant to share an unproven recipe, I will as long as it is understood that what follows is a 1st-cut recipe with no guarantee as to its result (even though it seems to be be doing quite well...)

Hightest's Klapøjster Mjød Clone (3 gal) - OG 1.123
- 4½ lbs Wildflower honey
- 5 Lbs Alfalfa honey
- 2 gal water
- 5g potassium bicarbonate
- 1st stage nutrients (4.1g ea Fermaid-K & DAP)
Thoroughly mixed
- 8g R2 yeast (rehydrated IAW my FAQ, and then poured into the must, BUT NOT stirred-in)
- Add stage 2 & 3 nutrients IAW my FAQ (stage 2: 2.5g ea.; stage 3: 1.6g ea.)

After 14 days my must SG was 0.999 at which point I added 0.9g KMETA & 2.2g sorbate, another 2 lbs of alfalfa honey, and 3 tsp of crushed (fresh) caraway seeds [I buy them from Pensey's spices online]

Allow the must to rest for 2 months, then mix-in 0.125oz. hot-mix Sparkolloid that has been mixed into 230ml water (IAW my FAQ). Allow to rest for another 2 months, then rack onto 1 L 80 proof Christian Bros. brandy in clean 3 gal carboy to within 1 " of the bottom of where the carboy stopper would be. I estimate the final ABV to be 18.3%.

Allow to mellow for at least another 3 months - mine has yeat to be bottled. I may do it this December (the 5th month).

There you have it... ;)
 
thanks hightest,
Still new at this, so all the different receipies/experminets help me understand what I can and cannot do..

I promise that I wont come back and haunt you if it doesnt work for me..

Will be starting mine tomorrow and will let you know how it works.

Thanks

Don "Ho"
 
I haven't seen or tried this mead but it sounds great & I will be seeking it out.

If trying to clone the recipe I wonder if a similar hibiscus flavor could be accomplished by adding Red Zinger Tea which is made with hibiscus and brews tea of a red hue. I have seen and made meads that use other varieties of tea for tannin & flavor.
 
I haven't seen or tried this mead but it sounds great & I will be seeking it out.

If trying to clone the recipe I wonder if a similar hibiscus flavor could be accomplished by adding Red Zinger Tea which is made with hibiscus and brews tea of a red hue. I have seen and made meads that use other varieties of tea for tannin & flavor.

I have found dried hibiscus flowers in a local Mexican store- they use them quite a bit in some of the soft drink flavors and in some of the Mexican style frozen drinks. If you have any local Mercados I would give them a look too. While I have never bought it, it was not that expensive. Red Zinger tea is quite yummy and should do the trick too!;)
 
Ha! I came here just now for the sole purpose of asking if anyone had a clone recipe for this.

Viking Blod is delicious, albeit a bit pricey, but anyone who sees it should try it.

To quote a friend on his impression of Viking Blod:

"It has all the punch-you-in-the-face flavor intensity of a great cognac with a big honey hug, right at the end."

It says there's hops, honey and hibiscus in there. I'll be making a sample test batch this weekend. A two-gallon batch with 12lbs honey, a bunch of dried hibiscus flowers and a touch of orange peel and lavender. We'll see how it goes.

If anyone ever finds a way to clone this amazingness, please share, the world would be a better place with a clone recipe.

BC, with 12 pounds of honey in only a two gallon batch your asking for something FAR sweeter than I bet you want. Id take it to 15 pounds and us some KV-1116 yeast that should make it medium sweet and then with your other ingredients it should turn out awesome! But I think, personally, that 12 pnds is WAY to much for only 2 gallons.

later brother!!
 
FYI...

Please note that I have corrected the recipe title as my recipe is for a version of Klapøjster Mjød, not Viking Blød. :drunk:
 
2 gallons of mead made with 12 pounds of honey is 1.264 og at 100% efficiency....thats a strong ass mead....even if it attenuated to 1.010, you've made the following;

Corrected Original Gravity : 1.264 Corrected Final Gravity : 1.010
Alcohol by Weight : 37.82 % Alcohol by Volume : 48.12 %
Total Calories per 12oz. serving : 1,103 Calories from Alcohol per 12oz. serving : 936
Carbohydrates per 12 oz. serving : 41.9 Calories from Carbs per 12oz. serving : 168
Corrected SG in degrees plato : 53.81 Corrected FG in degrees plato : 2.56
Apparent Attenuation : 0.952 Real Attenuation : 0.781

HAHAHA!
 
2 gallons of mead made with 12 pounds of honey is 1.264 og ....even if it attenuated to 1.010, you've made the following; Corrected Original Gravity : 1.264 Corrected Final Gravity : 1.010
Alcohol by Volume : 48.12%
I'm not sure how you've arrived at these values, but using 12 lbs of 18% MC honey mixed with 15½ C of water yields a must whose OG is 1.214 ±0.005 and has a volume of 1.99 Gal. If that were fermented to a FG =1.010, it would have an alcohol content of 27.2% ±0.3% :)
 
Viking Blood
Manufacturer: Danish mead A / S

Contents: Honey added hops and hibiscus, water, spices. 19% alc.

Available in:

* Black stone bottle of 70 cl.

* Rustic Bottle 20 cl.

* 10 l canister for restaurants and similar

Uses: Dessert wine, aperitif, marinade.
See bottle hangs for further use.

Storage: Barskab may not get sunlight.
There may be precipitate since there is no additives.
Mead're never too old, it only gets better with time.

Taste Profile: Seasoned as a madeira.


I felt really lazy and just directly translated this from the original Danish manufacturer, it should contain the info of what's inside the actual recipe, but might not be a 100% English.
 
I was fortunate enough to find and buy a bottle of Viking's Blod. At $40/bottle, i'm attempting to wait until a couple friends come over to try it out. Cannot wait to give it a try!
 
I was fortunate enough to find and buy a bottle of Viking's Blod. At $40/bottle, i'm attempting to wait until a couple friends come over to try it out. Cannot wait to give it a try!

Viking Blod was my very first mead. It was good enough that I ended up on this forum every day with 12 gallons of mead fermenting in my back room. I hope you enjoy :)
 
I couldn't wait any longer. I cracked it open last night.. My god... This stuff is delicious! Dangerously delicious. I could have easily finished of that 750ml bottle myself last night. It's a shame it's $40/ bottle, otherwise I'd buy a few at a time to keep extra on hand.

Someone needs to find a perfect clone recipe for this!
 
Looked over this thread and thought to myself...." this sounds like a job for google." So i did just that and foound this recipe on the gotmead forum. linked and posted the recipe. This looks like a heck of a long time mead. And Ironically it links back to HBT for a thread here... LOL!

http://www.gotmead.com/forum/showthread.php?t=18698
Hibiscomel (Hibiscus Mead)

1.5 oz dried hibiscus flowers
2 lbs premium grade honey
3 liters water
1.75 tsp citric acid
1 tsp yeast nutrient
1 sachet Champagne or mead yeast
Boil the honey in half the water, stirring occasionally until the honey is dissolved. Reduce heat to simmer for 30 minutes, skimming all scum off top as it forms. Tie flowers in nylon straining bag and place in primary. Pour the hot honey-water over flowers and stir in citric acid and yeast nutrient. Cover primary and set aside until it assumes room temperature. Add activated yeast as a starter solution and recover the primary to keep dust and insects out. Stir daily and punch down nylon bag until vigorous fermentation subsides. Remove straining bag and transfer mead to secondary fermentation vessel. Attach airlock and top up with water when fermentation ceases. Retain in secondary for 60 days from transfer date. Rack to a sanitized secondary, top up and reattach airlock. Set aside undisturbed for 60 days and rack again. If brilliantly clear, wait 30 days to see if light dusting develops on bottom. If so, wait additional 30 days and rack, top up and reattach airlock for another 30 days. If not brilliantly clear, wait full 60 days and rack, top up and reattach airlock. Then follow previous instructions when mead is brilliantly clear. Sulfite with one finely crushed and dissolved Campden tablet, bottle and set aside to age one year minimum. [Recipe adapted by author from creation by Brian Ryan, Western Australian]

Brian made his mead with 3+ ounces of fresh hibiscus flowers. I do not know how it turned out flavor-wise, but I suspect his alcohol was around 8% because of the amount of honey used and the increased volume to an Imperial gallon. Different sources report different figures, but I have always gone along with the conventional wisdom that you use 1.25 pounds of honey as an equal to one pound of sugar. To produce a 12% alcohol dry mead, one would then use 2.5 pounds of honey per U.S. gallon or 3 pounds per Imperial gallon. Of course, mead is not wine and there is no requirement for either that it be 12% alcohol. I went ahead and used the 2 pounds of honey and produced a dry mead at about 9.75% alcohol. When the mead was finished and ready to bottle, I added a quarter-teaspoon of citric acid to it to give it just a little more perk
 
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