Victory

Victory Ranch S IPA

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Having exhausted Victory’s regular catalog of beers (and most of their seasonals…), I set about sampling their irregular catalog of beers. This one appeared out of nowhere. No fanfare, just a new Double IPA on tap at the brewery. With a cryptic name.

As it turns out, this is a 100% Cascade hopped beer. Victory sourced the hops for this beer from a family owned hop farm called the Segal Hop Ranch (i.e. Ranch S), apparently the first hop farmers to commercially grow cascade hops (starting back in the late 1960s), so these folks ain’t fooling around. In an interesting Victory blog post a while back, one of the Victory brewers recounted his visit to the farm, talking about the Cascade Hops (which are apparently also used in Hop Devil) as well as Citra and then there’s this intriguing tidbit: “During the visit, the Segals showed me an unnamed experimental hop they are growing that had a fruity aroma with notes of banana and vanilla.” Well that sounds interesting, but I’ll have to make due with this Cascade single hopped double IPA for now. I picked up a growler of the stuff a couple weeks ago and ended up drinking the whole damn thing that weekend. Incidentally, Victory’s growler filler machine thingy is absolutely badass.

Victory Ranch S IPA

Victory Ranch S IPA – Pours a really striking clear golden orange color with a finger or two of fluffy white head. The smell is filled with earthy citrus hop aromas. As it warmed and/or as I drank more of it over the course of the weekend, I started to pick up more of a pine-like aroma. You know how all the descriptions of Simcoe hops say that they’re like Cascade on steroids? I never understood that until now. This Cascade beer really does have the smell (and taste) profile of a Simcoe beer. The taste is sweet with some of that earthy, piney citrus, but also a more floral or even herbal character leading into the dry, bitter finish and lingering aftertaste I expect from an IPA. Again, I feel like my palate adjusted to this the more I drank, with the pine taking a more pronounced position. Mouthfeel is smooth and just a bit sticky, with a light to medium body. Quite an easy drinking beer. I even got a bit of alcohol warming out of it, though I think that’s because I drank a lot of it quickly. It’s a lot like a souped-up Hop Devil (and it has less in common with Hop Wallop)… Hop Devil was the beer that sold me on IPAs, so this is very good thing, and a nice surprise from Victory. Again, as I drank more of it and that Simcoe-esque quality started to shine through, it perhaps came into its own. I really like this beer. A-

Beer Nerd Details: 9% ABV growler (2L), filled on 12/30/11. Drank out of a tulip glass on 12/30/11 and 12/31/11.

I have no idea if this beer will return (I went to the brewery again this past weekend and they were already out of this) or if Victory has bigger plans to bottle this or something, but I’m glad I got to try some, as I enjoyed it greatly.

Victory Baltic Thunder

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Beer styles are strange beasts. There are a lot of stories surrounding the origins of many beer styles and they’re often vague or conflicting. Take the Baltic Porter style. In my 5 minutes of research, I come away with a number of unanswered questions. Did the style originate in England? Or did it originate in the Baltic states (like Finland, Poland, Denmark, Sweden, etc…)? What’s the difference between a Baltic Porter and a strong English Porter? Is the difference that Baltic Porters were brewed with lager yeast (rather than the traditional ale yeast)? Come to think of it, what the hell is the difference between a stout and a porter?

Near as I can tell, the style originated in the Baltic states as an attempt to imitate the English Porters, but perhaps because they’re Baltic, they amped up the alcohol. The British were exporting their beers throughout the Baltic region and Russia, so I guess the locals enjoyed the beer so much that they tried their hand at it. There are some sources online that say many of the Baltic breweries switched to lager yeast and processes later, which would certainly lend a different character to the beer (and it makes sense that brewers in the frigid Baltic region would gravitate towards processes that required lower fermentation temperatures), though I also get the impression that many breweries continued to use ale yeast. All of this is still rather fuzzy though.

Ultimately, when you see something at the beer store labeled a Baltic Porter, what you can expect is a porter with a higher than normal alcohol (in the 7-9% range). It’s basically the Porter’s equivalent of the Russian Imperial Stout. Today’s example comes from local brewing hero Victory, who collaborated with Tom Baker from the now defunct Heavyweight brewing to create the beer:

“We were always fans of Tom’s beers, his Baltic porter in particular. After he chose to close his brewery and his Baltic porter vanished from the shelves, we were left thirsty for that beer. So, to quench our own thirst and that of consumers, we worked with Tom and shared his notes and thoughts on the style.” said Bill Covaleski, president and brewmaster of Victory Brewing Company.

Though inspired by Heavyweight’s Perkuno’s Hammer, this beer has a slightly different recipe (apparently they wanted to use the same Perkuno’s Hammer label, but the local beer distributer objected and Victory thus came up with the Baltic Thunder name). It’s also apparently one of the lagered varieties of the Baltic Porter, though I didn’t really pick out any of that character in the beer. Speaking of which, here’s what I did pick out in the beer:

Victory Baltic Porter

Victory Baltic Thunder – Pours a dark brown color with just a hint of amber highlights and minimal head. Aroma is full of chalky roasted malts, maybe just a hint of fruitiness and chocolate. Taste is nice and sweet, with the caramel and roasted malt character coming out in the middle and lasting through the finish. Really well balanced mouthfeel; nice full body, but the alcohol is well hidden and it still goes down easy. Overall, this is my kinda porter. B+

Beer Nerd Details: 8.5% ABV bottled (22 oz. bomber). Drank out of a tulip on 11/5/11.

So I’m still mopping up some old reviews, after which you can expect the Holiday beer review deluge to begin.

Victory Dark Wednesday

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So today saw the release of Victory’s Dark Intrigue, a bourbon barrel aged version of their Russian Imperial Stout, Storm King (in an event they called Dark Wednesday). I’ve never been to a big beer release, and this one was purported to be a big deal. Apparently all of last year’s batch sold out in 45 minutes or so, and Victory announced that this would be the last year they’d be making this particular beer. They apparently made more of it this year, but given the extremely rare nature of the beer, I decided that I must go to the brewery early and get me some bourbon barrel goodness.

Because I’m a nerd, that’s why.

Victory Brewery

Victory’s brewery is in a weird location. It’s like you’re driving around in a neighborhood, lots of houses, when suddenly you make a right turn and bam! Brewery. I actually know several people who live in homes within walking distance of the brewery. This, of course, makes me want to sell my home and look for such houses, but I digress. Not really knowing what to expect, I left my house rather early this morning, arriving at around 8:45 am. I ended up being #44 in line. They have a nice, stress-free system here, rather than the clusterfuck I was expecting. You arrive, they give you a numbered wrist band, and you’re thus free to do whatever you want until around 11 am, at which point they request you get in line, in order. Nevertheless, most of us just stood around in a rough approximation of order. It actually rained this morning, which I think decreased the turnout a bit (300 cases were apparently available, and well more than that showed up, but still), but it was all good. Most folks were well prepared, and those that weren’t were able to head to their cars without losing their spot in line.

Dark Wednesday line

The few hours passed by quickly. The rain died down, the sun came out, and thus we assumed God was blessing the occasion. Beer nerds are apparently quite friendly folk, and I spent most of the time talking with my neighbors in line. Oddly, we did not introduce ourselves. I have no idea what their names are and I didn’t give mine. Strange. But we talked beer and shared stories and had a generally good time. The time came, and we got our beer. It was all quite exciting, in a nerdy way. Upon returning home, I immediately cracked the case and put one in the fridge for later. I was assuming that the beer would still be young and brash, not very well balanced, and that it would take a while for it to mellow out, but I got a case of the stuff, so I might as well try one as soon as possible:

Victory Dark Intrigue

Victory Dark Intrigue – Pours a pitch black color with a finger or two of light brown head that slowly disappears, leaving some nice lacing patterns. The nose is very complex and surprisingly balanced for such a young beer. I’m getting some roastiness, some hops, and a nicely matched amount of oak and vanilla, with just a bit of bourbon and booze. The taste starts off with some sweet and maybe even chocolately notes, with some bitterness settling in the finish and aftertaste. Booze cuts in on the bitterness though, making it all seem balanced. In addition, the oak, vanilla and bourbon come out in the middle and last through the finish, but it’s not nearly as overpowering as I was expecting. The mouthfeel is very strong and full bodied. It’s thick and coats the mouth, what the beer nerds would call chewy. There’s a bit of a bite to this too, though things seem to smooth out a bit as it warms up. The booze and bourbon give the beer a sorta hot character, which lends itself to the typical warming alcohol feeling as I drink. Overall, I was not expecting this to be as good as it was. I was thinking that it would need to age a bit before all the various flavors would come together, but damn, this is working right now, on day one. I’m sure it will mellow out some, perhaps that hot bite will smooth out with time. Great stuff from Victory. I’ll give it an A, though I’m sure that’s partly the novelty speaking here. So sue me.

I actually had a regular old Storm King last night, in preparation for this bourbon barrel version. I actually reviewed this beer a while back, but the one I had last night was much better than I remember (at least a B+ if not an A-), but perhaps having it on tap makes a difference (I’m also told that having it on cask is amazing, but I’m dumb and haven’t tried that yet, despite it being available regularly). That being said, the bourbon barrel version is definitely a step up, which basically means that this was all a fantastic idea.

Victory is saying that this was an experiment with barrel aging. The general idea was to take one of their existing beers and put it in bourbon barrels to see what happens, then take their learnings and apply it to making new and unique barrel-aged wonders. Given how this turned out, I can’t wait to see what they do with barrels next.

Octobeer Club

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Tonight’s beer club was most excellent. Good turnout, really good beer, and an overall good time. For the uninitiated, the beer club is basically just a bunch of folks from my work who get together once a month to enjoy a nice dinner together… along with lots of different beers and wines and other alcoholic wonders. The past few months have been sparsely attended, so the beer selection was somewhat sparse, but tonight we had so many beers that we didn’t even get to them all. As you might expect, lots of seasonal beers were brought, and we had a couple of quite excellent brews:

octobeerclub.jpg

(Click for bigger image)

For reference, here are some brief thoughts on most of the pictured beers (some we did not get to, though at least two of those I will review separately). As usual, this isn’t exactly ideal tasting conditions, so take them with a grain of salt. In order of tasting (not necessarily the order in the picture):

  • Ithaca Flower Power IPA – While not popular with some folks (i.e. non-hopheads), I thought it was quite a good beer. Very floral, so much so that it does tend to differentiate itself from the throngs of other IPAs. Quite enjoyable and something I’d like to try again at some point. B+ (Beer Nerd Details: 7.5% ABV bottled (12 oz.) Drank out of my mini English tulip pint glass thingy.)
  • The Bruery Autumn Maple – Wow! This was a really fantastic beer. Full of Belgian yeast character and full bodied, this was a dream to drink. Perhaps it was just the power of suggestion, but I felt like the molasses and maple syrup flavors were very apparent, along with the general spiciness. It doesn’t taste like a pumpkin beer, but it’s definitely got a fall seasonal feel to it, which is a nice change of pace. The Bruery never ceases to amaze me with their beers. I loved this one and will need to find myself a bottle to try out by itself, but for now I’ll give it the A it surely deserves. (Beer Nerd Details: 10.5% ABV bottled (750 ml capped.) Drank out of my mini English tulip pint glass thingy.)
  • Shmaltz Coney Island Freaktoberfest – Perhaps the weirdest beer of the night. It pours an odd blood red color with a pink head, but it tastes more along the lines of an Oktoberfest beer, though there was something distinctive and odd about the taste that was throwing things off. As a gimmick beer, it’s certainly successful. The appearance is certainly a hoot, and the fact that it’s 6.66% ABV is pretty funny as well. Ultimately, it’s got some neat gimmicks, but it’s an average beer. C+ (Beer Nerd Details: 6.66% ABV bottled (12 oz.) Drank out of my mini English tulip pint glass thingy.)
  • Otter Creek Oktoberfest – A not particularly accomplished version of the Octoberfest style. In discussion, someone mentioned that it tasted a bit like rotting otter, which is perhaps an exaggeration, but this isn’t a particularly good beer. Maybe drinkable, but not something I’m rushing to try again. My least favorite of the night. C- (Beer Nerd Details: 4.8% ABV bottled (12 oz.) Drank out of my mini English tulip pint glass thingy.)
  • Blue Point’s Mother Pumpkin Ale – Another of the more subdued pummpkin ales that I’ve had this year. Certainly not a bad beer, but the pumpkin and spice flavors were somewhat faint here. That’s not necessarily a horrible thing, but it also doesn’t really make the beer stand out either. It’s an ok beer, worth trying, but not something I see myself seeking out at any point. C+ (Beer Nerd Details: 6% ABV bottled (12 oz.) Drank out of my mini English tulip pint glass thingy.)
  • Post Road Pumpkin Ale – I didn’t realize it when I tried it, but this is actually Brooklyn Brewing’s take on a pumpkin ale. It’s yet another of the more sessionable pumpkin ales, perhaps slightly better than Blue Point’s entry (see above), but not nearly as good as some of the other pumpkin ales I’ve had this year. Well crafted and worth a try, probably something I could drink again, but also not particularly special. B- (Beer Nerd Details: 5% ABV bottled (12 oz.) Drank out of my mini English tulip pint glass thingy.)
  • Dundee Oktoberfest – Ah, a stealth macro! Not bad, but I’m also not sure if I’d identify this as having that distinctive Oktoberfest character either. It tastes fine, and it maybe has a hint of the typical flavors associated with the style, but it’s certainly not an eye-opener either. I don’t see myself seeking this out again, but I wouldn’t turn it down either. B- (Beer Nerd Details: 5.5% ABV bottled (12 oz.) Drank out of my mini English tulip pint glass thingy.)
  • Victory Otto – This is one of my most anticipated beers of the year; a smoked Belgian style dubbel from my favorite local brewery. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite live up to expectations. It’s got a nice smoky character and it doesn’t seem like that would overwhelm the rest of the beer, but I would have liked to have tasted some sort of Belgian yeast flavors here as well, and they were just absent. This makes it somewhat one-dimensional. I will say that it seemed to get better as I drank, and it certainly isn’t bad, but as Belgian dubbels are one of my favorite styles, I wish this had more of that sort of style going for it. I’ll probably try this again at some point, as it did end up being enjoyable, but I did find it a bit disappointing as well. B (Beer Nerd Details: 8.1% ABV bottled (750 ml caged and corked.) Drank out of my mini English tulip pint glass thingy.)
  • Cape Ann Fisherman’s Imperial Pumpkin Stout – Wow, this is really fantastic beer from a brewery I’ve never even heard of… It’s basically an imperial pumpkin stout. It’s got the typical pumpkin pie flavors and spices, but it’s all very well balanced. The stoutness is downplayed and not very roasty, but that’s the way I like it, and the pumpkin pie character fits well with the dark style. It’s full bodied but smooth, and it definitely hides the 11% ABV well. Dangerously drinkable stuff, and perhaps the most flavorful beer of the night – certainly the only beer that even came close to comparing with the Bruery Autumn Maple. I’m not sure where I can get this, but I need to find myself another bottle of this stuff. Really wonderful beer. A (Beer Nerd Details: 11% ABV bottled (22 oz. bomber). Drank out of my mini English tulip pint glass thingy.)

Well, that covers most of the beer we drank. We also had another of my homebrewed saisons (which, again, I should review, but not now) and some of the less beer inclined folks had a Leinenkugel Berry Weiss, but I kinda knew that’s not for me, so I didn’t try any of that. Of the unopened bottles, I’m sure I’ll be trying the Warsteiner Oktoberfest this weekend, and I’ll get to Founders Centennial IPA at some point as well.

Victory Perfect 10 Lager

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Wherein I succumb to that annoying beer-blogger tendency to talk about limited-edition beers that most readers are unlikely to ever taste. Over at his new digs, Jay H. has had the opportunity to try out an ultra-rare, one-time-brewed, sour ale from The Bruery called The Wanderer. Not only is it a rare beer, but Jay has awarded it a 10/10 rating, which is pretty rare in itself. Alas, I will probably never cross paths with this beer unless The Bruery upgrades it to a staple brew…

Victory Brewing Co. has a different, less trendy reputation, but they also put out a lot of different beers, ranging from simple, session brews to whopping 12% face melters. I arrived at a local bar recently, scanned their beer menu and saw this Victory Perfect 10 Lager listed… I asked about it and found out that it was brewed specially for the bar, which had just recently celebrated its 10th anniversary (hence the beer’s title). Sign me up! Perhaps unsurprisingly, the beer isn’t even listed on Beer Advocate. It’s a relatively straightforward lager, so it’s not going to be a “White Whale” beer the likes of which I discussed earlier, but I actually did enjoy it quite a bit:

Victory Perfect 10 Lager

Pours a clear golden color with a minimal white head. Not much going on in the nose, but the taste is sticky sweet. Despite the stickiness, it’s a really clean feeling brew. Well carbonated and medium bodied but still smooth and easy to drink. It reminds me of Victory’s St. Boisterous Maibock, which I’ve also had recently. I actually seemed to enjoy this a bit more, which is a shame, as I’m pretty sure this will be the last I ever see of this brew. B+

Beer Nerd Details: 7% ABV (on tap). Drank out of a… whatever the heck you call the glass in the picture… on 8/9/11.

Victory continues to be my local hero and I’m extremely excited to get my hands on some of their upcoming smoked dubbel style beer, dubbed (pun intended!) Otto. It’s not due to be released until mid-October though, so I’ve got a bit of a wait…

August Beer Club

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Today was beer club! Due to various factors, the variety of beer was somewhat limited this month, but there was still plenty of merriment to be had, and when we got to the BYOB restaurant, we saw this sign out front:

Free Beer!

Certainly a good omen! Apparently the restaurant had some Lager, but since they had no liquor license, they were just giving it away for free. Score! There was no real theme for the month, but we did end up with about 7 different beers (not including the free Yuengling) as well as some wine, cider and homemade Limoncello (unpictured, but it was very sweet and incredibly alcoholic!) Here’s a quick picture of what we had:

August Beer Club

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As usual, tasting conditions were less than ideal, so take the following with a grain of salt (beers listed below are basically in order from left to right in the picture, not necessarily the order in which we drank them):

  • Victory Sunrise Weissbier – Hey, I’ve actually reviewed this before! A friend had been at the brewery lately, so they had picked up a growler of the stuff. It struck me as being somewhat better than the last time I had it, but I’ll leave it at a B-. Solid hefeweizen style beer, but not particularly special either.
  • My Homebrewed Saison – I know I mentioned this last time, but this is definitely my best homebrew yet, and the first that I think is truly good. Sweet, spicy, well carbonated and easy to drink, it came out really well. Indeed, I’d probably give this a B+ or maybe even an A-. I should really review my other homebrews, which I’d probably rate much lower.
  • Lancaster Milk Stout – Yep, I just reviewed this one too. I think the coffee flavors were more prominent this time around, but otherwise it’s pretty much the same. B+
  • Founders Dirty Bastard – Yet another beer I’ve reviewed before. Indeed, I’ve had a few of this since I originally reviewed it, and I do believe I like it better now than I did that first time. I had originally noted that there wasn’t any fruitiness in the flavor, but in the recent tastings, I’ve definitely gotten a really nice fruity quality out of this. Tonight I could also really taste the alcohol as well. It certainly wasn’t unpleasant, but I think it might have been a reflection of the other relatively low ABV beers of the night. B+
  • Samuel Adams Rustic Saison – A very light example of the style, though still very flavorful and smooth (looking at it now, I’m surprised it’s only 4.35% ABV), featuring a nice twang in the nose and taste that I couldn’t place, but which someone had mentioned might be honey. It’s not a beer that will melt your face or anything, but it’s definitely a quality brew and well worth a drink. At 4.35%, it would probably be a decent session beer as well. B
  • Samuel Adams East-West Kölsch – Not a style that typically fares well here at Kaedrin (or at beer club, for that matter), but this one was apparently brewed with Jasmine, and that addition really does make this a much more interesting beer than it would have otherwise been. Again, not setting the world on fire, but a quality brew that’s worth trying. B-
  • Cave Creek Chili Beer – When I first saw Aaron’s awesome video review of this beer, I thought he had to be exaggerating, but that first swig of this beer gave me that same, out-of-breath, it’s so spicy feeling. It was a really weird experience too – the spiciness seems to really hit at the back of your throat and tongue, but the rest of my mouth/tongue didn’t really pick anything up. And that spicy hot aftertaste didn’t go away either (I’m glad we opened this last). It was really, truly horrible. When you open the beer, it almost smells like you’ve opened one of those pepper bottles with the brine in it – overpowering chili pepper aromas and not much else. I can’t imagine drinking an entire bottle, and indeed, I could only really take a few sips of it. Unanimously the worst beer club beer ever. In some ways, I’m glad I got to try this, as it certainly is an experience. In another way, I really hope I don’t burp this up later tonight. F

Despite the fact that I’d had/reviewed half these beers before, I think it was another successful outing for the beer club. It’s looking like we might get a bonus beer club meet at The Whip in addition to our normal meetup next month. Score!

Victory St. Boisterous

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Have you ever seen that episode of The Simpsons where Reverend Lovejoy loses the faith and Marge becomes “The Listen Lady”? At one point, while Reverend Lovejoy sits alone and depressed in the church, the stained glass windows in the church come to life and chastise him for failing to inspire his congregation. The joke is that the circumstances of each window are rather gruesome:

Stained Glass Window from The Simpsons

The one on the far left features a man standing in a boiling cauldron, the second one is a man holding his own decapitated head, and the last one is a man being eaten by a lion. This is mean to be parody; making fun of the Christian fascination with martyrs and the violence they endured. And yet anyone who has spent their childhood in Church and other related areas will see that, like a lot of parodies, this one strikes home more than you might suspect. Witness saint Adrian:

Stained Glass Window of Saint Adrian

At first it looks kinda normal and then you notice… What’s the deal with that sword? Wait, where are his hands? Is that… bone? Yes, apparently St. Adrian was a martyr who had his hands cut off at the wrist. In all honesty, that Simpsons parody isn’t really that much of a parody.

Fortunately for the rest of us, Victory’s Spring seasonal Maibock, St. Boisterous, does not feature any such macabre imagery on its label, and the beer itself is generally more uplifting.

Victory St. Boisterous

Victory St. Boisterous – Pours a clear golden/yellow color with a finger or two of head. Aroma is dry with a sweet malt character (maybe honey?) and some floral hops as well. There’s just a hint of fruitiness apparent. Taste is surprisingly hoppy at the outset, but it doesn’t last through the finish, which is sweet and sticky. Surprisingly rich and full bodied for such a light colored beer. The alcohol is more prominent than expected, all throughout the taste, which I guess means that this beer is living up to its boisterous name. Overall, it’s still an interesting beer that’s reasonably well done. B

Beer Nerd Details: 7.3% ABV bottled (12 oz.) Drank out of a goblet on 7/2/11.

Victory also makes a Doppelbock called St. Victorious, which I’m pretty sure I’ve had before, but not recently. I’ll have to try that one out (it’s a Winter seasonal, so I’ll have to wait a while).

Double Feature: Wrong Turn Wheat

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So the Wrong Turn movies kinda suck. They’re like a second-rate The Hills Have Eyes, which is, in itself, a third rate imitation of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Oh, and the second movie? It stars Henry Rollins. Somehow, all of this is ok.

Beerwise, things were a little better. I picked up both of Victory’s wheat beer offerings. Thematically, wheat beers don’t really match with bad horror, but being able to say “Wrong Turn Wheat” was good enough for me.

Victory Sunrise Weiss

Victory Sunrise Weissbier – Pours a cloudy golden color with lots of white head. Nose is typical hefeweizen banana and clove. Taste is also quite straightforward, but well crafted. Light bodied, crisp and refreshing. I have to admit, I was expecting a bit more out of this. A solid example of the style, but not a front-runner. B-

Beer Nerd Details: 5.4% bottled (12 oz.) Drank out of a shaker pint glass on 6/24/11.

Victory Whirlwind Wit

Victory Whirlwind Wit – Pours a cloudy yellow color with a finger of white head. Smell is full of light spices and wheat. Taste is also quite spicy, anchored by a strong wheat flavor. Again, light bodied, crisp and refreshing. This one’s more complex and interesting than the Sunrise, and it’s tastier too! Ultimately not a face-melter, but very well balanced and one of my favorites in the style. It hits the spot on a hot day, or, as now, after a long day at work. B+

Beer Nerd Details: 5.0% bottled (12 oz.) Drank out of a shaker pint glass on 6/24/11.

I tend to like German-style wheat beers more than Belgian-style varieties, but of these two Victory varieties, I have to go with the Belgian Wit.

Again with the IPA Double Feature

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I didn’t plan this, I swears! There just happened to be some interesting IPAs on tap last night:

Russian River Blind Pig IPA

Russian River Blind Pig IPA – Apparently this bar had a keg of the vaunted Pliny the Elder on tap a couple days ago, but I missed out and had to settle for Russian River’s standard IPA offering (Not that I mind too much, as this has been on my wants list for quite a while!) Pours a clear golden color with a couple fingers of bubbly white head. It’s got a fantastic smell – citrus and floral hops, maybe a little pine. Taste matches the aroma well, with that nice bracing bitterness coming through prominently. Extremely well balanced. Mouthfeel is very smooth. A dangerously easy drink – I could drink these all night. In a lot of ways, it reminds me of Victory’s Hop Devil. Maybe not the best IPA ever, but overall a fantastic beer. A-

Beer Nerd Details: 6.1% ABV on tap. Drank out of a shaker pint glass.

Victory Hop Wallop on cask

Victory Hop Wallop – Yes, I’ve reviewed this before, but this time… it was on Cask! I’ve really come to enjoy beers on cask, but I have to say, I don’t think this was a good match. Perhaps I got this one too long after the cask had been tapped (beer in casks quickly degrade), but it was a real disappointment. Gone are all the fantastic grapefruit and orange aromas, gone is the tart citrus in the taste. Cask pours usually produce a smoother beer, but this was still pretty well carbonated, and it just didn’t work right for me. What I was left with was an ordinary bitter and boozy IPA… which isn’t that bad for what it is, but it’s not as good as what I had in the bottle. Again, not sure what the source of this disconnect is – it could be the cask (or associated hardware), it could be the time since the cask was opened, or perhaps it could be that the Blind Pig just set too high a bar! I still love Hop Wallop in general, but I’d recommend it in the bottle rather than the cask (luckily, finding this on cask is probably unusual). On cask, I give it a B-, but in the bottle, it was an A-

Beer Nerd Details: 8.5% ABV on cask. Drank out of a shaker pint glass.

Someday, I will get my hands on Pliny the Elder (or, if I’m really lucky, Pliny the Younger), oh yes.

Victory V-Twelve

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So I haven’t actually reviewed my homebrewed tripel yet, but it’s definitely good enough that I might want to give it a name. Unfortunately, I kinda suck at that. I always end up with informative, but ultimately bland names. Witness the name of this blog: Kaedrin Beer Blog. Boy, I really pushed the envelope on that one. This is mildly depressing. Lots of beers have fantastic names and crazy backstories and I’m going to end up with, what? “Mark’s Tripel” won’t cut it. “Tripel Play”? Yeah, no one’s come up with that before. I just don’t have a knack for it. I wish that I could come up with something like Johno’s Trogdor The Burninator “Consummate V” Belgian Strongbad Ale, but even funny referential naming escapes me when I try to think of a name for my beer.

So when I see something like Victory V-Twelve, I’m somewhat relieved. It’s such a pragmatic name. It’s the sort of thing I would name a beer. I like to picture Bill Covaleski and Ron Barchet sitting in a boardroom brainstorming names while drinking the beer, but because it’s fucking 12% ABV, they quickly get shitfaced and say “Fuck it, we’re Victory and it’s 12% alcohol, we’ll just call it V-Twelve!”, then do the Go Team Venture symbol and pop the cork on another bottle. Incidentally, this was sitting in my fridge for a while. Not only is it 12%, but it only comes in 750ml bottles, so you either need to share it with someone or you need to be in the right mood.

On Victory’s website (and the bottle itself), they say that it’s a “vintage-dated, Belgian-style specialty ale”. Alas, my bottle had no date on it (or perhaps it just got rubbed off or something). I know I bought it before the new year, so I’m guessing it’s at least half a year old, and given the high alcohol and flavors involved, I’m sure it could stand up to some long-term aging.

Victory V-Twelve

Pours a relatively clear dark amber/orange color with a minimal white head. Smell is full of dark fruits (plum?) and spices, with just a hint of Belgian yeast. Sticky dark fruit in the taste as well. Very sweet, I worried that it might get a bit cloying after a while, but that annoyance thankfully never developed. Some warming alcohol character is present as well. It’s got a full body but a smooth texture. Beer Advocate calls it a Quadrupel, but it seems more like a Barleywine than a Quad. Of course, Victory doesn’t really call it a Quad either – they call it a Belgian Specialty Ale (or an Amber Ale), which is probably more accurate.

Whatever the designation, this is quite good. Again, I was a little worried that the sweetness would get cloying, but I never actually got there, and as it warms, it evens out a bit. There’s no real bitterness at all, but its texture and alcohol keep it from getting too overwhelming. And speaking of that alcohol, it’s clearly present, but not in a bad or overly boozy way. It’s very well balanced with the rest of the brew. This is one of those beers whose quality has grown in my head as time goes on, making me want to get a few more bottles so that I have one on hand if the mood strikes. A

Beer Nerd Details: 12% ABV bottled (750 ml, caged and corked) Drank out of a tulip glass on 4/30/11.

Victory continues to be my local hero. Even when I’m disappointed by one of their beers, I’m glad I tried it (and they’re usually still worth drinking anyway). I’m most definitely going to pick up a few more of these and age them, just to see what happens.