Beer

[ericosmith]

I see question after question about included wines but not much of anything about beer.  Yes, I'm a beer snob without any desire for, or appreciation of, wine.  So my question...what are the included beers with lunch and dinner?  Off the menu or just the "beer of the day"?  Draft or bottles and cans?  If it's just the "beer of the day", can you upgrade for an upcharge?  Now, having asked all that, I've not seen any recent drink lists that include an IPA on the beer menu.  That alone might drive me back to Princess or Celebrity.  Can someone help ease my fears so I don't have to go beer shopping in town and haul my own cooler to dinner?

[Heidi13]

Viking had a reasonable Norwegian IPA, a Porter and an Amber Ale. On the World Cruise they also brought on some local craft beers.

[carolinetodd]

They have a lovely Norwegian IPA from Flåm called Ægir - no upcharge.

[Ready to Sail!]

1 hour ago, carolinetodd said:

They have a lovely Norwegian IPA from Flåm called Ægir - no upcharge.

The visual of you carrying a cooler into The Restaurant is priceless. I’m picturing it with a red lid.

 

 

 

 

 

[Ready to Sail!]

1 hour ago, ericosmith said:

I see question after question about included wines but not much of anything about beer.  Yes, I'm a beer snob without any desire for, or appreciation of, wine.  So my question...what are the included beers with lunch and dinner?  Off the menu or just the "beer of the day"?  Draft or bottles and cans?  If it's just the "beer of the day", can you upgrade for an upcharge?  Now, having asked all that, I've not seen any recent drink lists that include an IPA on the beer menu.  That alone might drive me back to Princess or Celebrity.  Can someone help ease my fears so I don't have to go beer shopping in town and haul my own cooler to dinner?

 

 

1 hour ago, ericosmith said:

I see question after question about included wines but not much of anything about beer.  Yes, I'm a beer snob without any desire for, or appreciation of, wine.  So my question...what are the included beers with lunch and dinner?  Off the menu or just the "beer of the day"?  Draft or bottles and cans?  If it's just the "beer of the day", can you upgrade for an upcharge?  Now, having asked all that, I've not seen any recent drink lists that include an IPA on the beer menu.  That alone might drive me back to Princess or Celebrity.  Can someone help ease my fears so I don't have to go beer shopping in town and haul my own cooler to dinner?

The visual of you hauling a cooler into The Restaurant is priceless. 

 

 

 

 

[Ready to Sail!]

7 minutes ago, Ready to Sail! said:

The visual of you carrying a cooler into The Restaurant is priceless. I’m picturing it with a red lid.

 

 

 

 

 

Oops, accidentally posted twice this twice and couldn’t edit it out. Sorry. 

[Peregrina651]

2 hours ago, ericosmith said:

Can someone help ease my fears so I don't have to go beer shopping in town and haul my own cooler to dinner?

 

No cooler needed, though you might want a carryall. There is plenty of space in the mini-bar to keep it chilled until meal time. Then hand it/them to your waiter or the maitre'd and ask them to keep it chilled for you until you are ready to drink it.

 

BYO can be consumed anywhere on the ship. Bartenders will supply any needed glassware and they will keep things cold for you.

 

Viking actually encourages guests to shop on shore for wines, beers and other local specialties. There is no corkage fee in the dining rooms.

 

Chef's Table might be a challenge, since the meal is about the wine pairings. (I wonder if it would freak out the chef were one to ask him to consult on which beers one should choose to go with the evening's courses?)

 

2 hours ago, ericosmith said:

can you upgrade for an upcharge? 

 

No. If we don't want any of the complimentary choices, we may purchase off the bar menu and pay list price.

 

[OneSixtyToOne]

10 hours ago, ericosmith said:

I see question after question about included wines but not much of anything about beer.  Yes, I'm a beer snob without any desire for, or appreciation of, wine.  So my question...what are the included beers with lunch and dinner?  Off the menu or just the "beer of the day"?  Draft or bottles and cans?  If it's just the "beer of the day", can you upgrade for an upcharge?  Now, having asked all that, I've not seen any recent drink lists that include an IPA on the beer menu.  That alone might drive me back to Princess or Celebrity.  Can someone help ease my fears so I don't have to go beer shopping in town and haul my own cooler to dinner?

You might want to consider the Viking Grand European River Tour in your future. Many port calls offered a tour that features a stop at local watering hole. Each has its own favorite regional beer. Bamberg is the home of a famous smoked beer.

 

 

Edited March 13 by OneSixtyToOne

[jp06241973]

I'm actually allergic to sulfa and can't drink any wine! On the '22-'23 World Cruise, one of the sommeliers was kind enough to do beer pairings for me with two of the Chef's Table menus, and it completely changed the entire experience for me. We later learned from the Viking head of food and beverage that they were looking into offering cocktails as an alternate pairing to the menus in addition to the wines.

[duquephart]

17 minutes ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

You might want to consider the Viking Grand European River Tour in your future. Many port calls offered a tour that features a stop at local watering hole. Each has its own favorite regional beer. Bamberg is the home of a famous smoked beer.

 

 

 

At the Ratskeller in Regensburg I was drinking a dunkel that the monks at Kloster Weltenburg have been brewing for over a thousand years. That part of the world is heaven to a beer drinker.

[CCWineLover]

11 hours ago, carolinetodd said:

They have a lovely Norwegian IPA from Flåm called Ægir - no upcharge.

Yes indeed!  The Norwegian IPA is indeed good - and I'm an IPA lover from California.

On our last cruise (Just off the Saturn), I also had the Norweigian Amber and Porter, which were also nice (and included).  There were some additional beer items on the menu this time as well - I do remember a Stout (but didn't have it) and another one or two items.

 

As you can bring any beer wine or spirits or whatever onboard for no charge, I often pick up local beers in port and have them on the ship throughout the cruise.  (That way you are not tied to the lunch and dinner hours).  Do this with wine as well for same reason.

 

Have fun!

[duquephart]

Has anyone here had any luck getting the mini-bar included beer swapped out for something else on the list?

[carolinetodd]

1 minute ago, duquephart said:

Has anyone here had any luck getting the mini-bar included beer swapped out for something else on the list?  

[carolinetodd]

I couldn't get that post to work for some reason.  You can get the beer switched - we didn't even ask.  One evening we discussed the Ægir IPA with the World Café servers, the next day there was some in our mini-fridge.

[CCWineLover]

44 minutes ago, duquephart said:

Has anyone here had any luck getting the mini-bar included beer swapped out for something else on the list?

Yes.  I had them switch out the beer that came with the fridge and load it up with the Aegir Norwegian IPA and also the Amber.  Refilled Daily.

[CurlerRob]

19 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

Chef's Table might be a challenge, since the meal is about the wine pairings. (I wonder if it would freak out the chef were one to ask him to consult on which beers one should choose to go with the evening's courses?)

 

Now I have to try this on our April cruise ... I'll blame you 😈.

🍺🍺🥌

[rmalbers]

The beer selection is limited, it's all (or mostly all) Carlsberg products. They were out of a couple of the more expensive beers so I'm not sure about them. Having said that, I got by with no problems, lol.  I finished most nights with the porter they had, which was very good. Oh, they had Brooklyn Lager also, not sure if that's a regular beer they have or not (it was a cruise out of NYC). 

[CCWineLover]

2 hours ago, rmalbers said:

The beer selection is limited, it's all (or mostly all) Carlsberg products. They were out of a couple of the more expensive beers so I'm not sure about them. Having said that, I got by with no problems, lol.  I finished most nights with the porter they had, which was very good. Oh, they had Brooklyn Lager also, not sure if that's a regular beer they have or not (it was a cruise out of NYC). 

You must have been totally unlucky.

On 16+ cruises I've never seen just Carlsberg.  Viking has always been fully stocked in Norwegian beers (IPA, Amber, Stout) so never had a problem.  And never had them run out, like they do sometimes with the various wines.

[rmalbers]

22 hours ago, CCWineLover said:

You must have been totally unlucky.

On 16+ cruises I've never seen just Carlsberg.  Viking has always been fully stocked in Norwegian beers (IPA, Amber, Stout) so never had a problem.  And never had them run out, like they do sometimes with the various wines.

Ya, it was unlucky, but I got over it.  It might have been because it was an 'end of season' type of thing from NYC to Iceland at the end of Aug, maybe.  They didn't really run out on the cruise, they didn't have any from even the start of the cruise, day 1.  (And by Carlsberg, I mean that 'family' of beers they produce.)

[Frisky070802]

I too am much more of a beer drinker than a wine drinker, but I found myself having wine much more on board.  The beers were OK but unexceptional (as, I suppose, were the complimentary wines).  I figure as long as it's not Bud, Miller, etc, it's fine.