Another day, another Victory. This low gravity Dry Irish Stout is only really available on tap (and I’m pretty sure it’s only locally available too), so it’s not one that I’ve had often, but it’s a solid beer (and though I didn’t drink this on St. Patrick’s Day, it makes a nice local alternative to the ever present Guinness, especially when it’s on nitro tap).
In other news, I’m pretty sure this is the lowest alcohol beer I’ve ever reviewed (unless you count that non-alcoholic swill we had that one time at Beer Club). Let’s do this:
Victory Donnybrook Stout – Pours a very dark brown with a tiny amount of highlights and a finger of thick, light brown head. Smells strongly of roasted malts and a little coffee… Taste features that same roast and coffee character. Mouthfeel is smooth and creamy, very lightly carbonated with a nice light body. Almost quaffable. I’m pretty sure this one was on regular tap, but when it’s on nitro, it’s much smoother, though still light bodied. Overall, it’s a nice stout that’s as good as any I’ve had in the style and as previously mentioned, it makes a nice local alternative to the ever-present Guinness. B
Beer Nerd Details: 3.7% ABV on tap. Drank out of Victory’s 0.3L glass on 3/24/12.
I’d like to say that this will probably be my last Victory review for a while, but I think we all know that’s not going to happen.
Update: Nope, this is only the second lowest ABV beer I’ve reviewed. The lowest was Tetley’s English Ale, clocking in at 3.6% ABV. However, this beer was a heck of a lot better, so foo on you.
I heard great reviews about the Donnybrook, but then, my Victory connection might be a little biased =)
I sorely wish we got better distribution of Vitory up here. We get the main stuff, and very occasionally bombers or the fancier stuff, but even those are hard to come by, and no regular six packs of anything other than the the Hopdevil, Prima, Stormking, and Headwaters. I do love the Stormking and Headwaters, and like the Hopdevil, so its not a bad thing, I just wish we got cool stuff like this.
Yeah, I don’t think this one gets to far out of Philly. It’s a draft only thing (and usually it’s on nitro draft). I think part of the reason their stuff isn’t being distributed as much is because they’re crunched for capacity. They still have lots of stuff in the brewpub, but they haven’t been making some of their other big beers (for example, Old Horizontal or Wild Devil) because they’re trying to keep up with demand for stuff like Headwaters (which is great). Once their new brewery comes on line, I would expect more of their adventurous stuff get a wider distribution…
I do feel lucky to be close enough to Victory that I get to try a lot of their brewpub exclusives and one-offs. I feel bad sometimes that I post about these local one-offs, but that’s part of the fun of beer!