Victory Moonglow Weizenbock

Brewed by Victory Brewing Company
Style: Weizen Bock
Downingtown, Pennsylvania USA

Pours a dark cloudy orange with a thin white head. Aroma is mostly yeast with some malt and spices. Has a nice well balanced, smooth, and crisp flavors of yeast, malt, fruit, pine, and spice.

Marginal small-bead head on a deep, hazy, rich orange-brown beer. Aromas are peach, apple cider, cinnamon, cardamom, and some crystal malts. Light-to-medium and creamy on the palate, with a long, easy finish of cider and pear -- a lot like a mellow kriek with the yeast and fruit. Flavors are gentle but fruit-forward, with a nice spice background and well-hidden alcohol. A unique and tasty beer for late fall.

Sampler (then pint) from brewpub. This is what I expect in a weizenbock. Nice and creamy mouthfeel with a decent amount of carbonation. Phenolic and estery aroma and flavors from the hefeweizen yeast. Brown and cloudy in appearance. Overall, possibly my favorite Victory beer.

(12 oz bottles: Obtained in trades with jah noth, goldtwins and IMtheOptimator, thanks Dan, Larry and Andrew!) I’ve collected four bottles of Moonglow in trades from sources in three different states because I’ve had very bad luck with this beer. All previous attempts to sample this beer from a bottle have been unsuccessful as each one was sour and presumably infected. All have been aged for at least a few months, with this one being aged the least (4 months beyond the so-called expiration date). This is the first bottle of this recently-acquired group and fortunately, it’s healthy and delicious. It pours a bright ruddy amber color, and by swirling in all the yeast sediment, the beer is cloudy and translucent, so I can barely make out the carbonation bubbles rising to the surface. The light-tan head doesn’t pour terribly large, but it has settled at a thin, complete layer atop the beer, though it does eventually fade to a small ring. The nose is very yeasty and estery, with some banana and a bit musty. Wheat and esters first and foremost, sweet and caramely, some banana and bubble gum, a gentle tartness, and a hint of spiciness in the finish that’s pretty unusual for the style. There is also a mild bitterness in the finish, but I’m less enthused about this development. Eructation presents a massive blast of banana and bubble gum. Body is medium-full, well-carbonated, somewhat dense and thick, but thanks in part to the gentle tartness, it’s not in syrupy or sticky, so maybe too, that mild bitterness in the finish is a good idea after all. Well, even though it easily falls short of Aventinus (what doesn’t?), this is very tasty, wonderfully authentic, and worth the effort to finally get some good bottles. And I’m very happy that I still have three more bottles in my cellar.

Bottle. Bottled: 08/25/05. Pours a thick, murky, diarrhea brown with a big, creamy dark-khaki head that leaves a thick ring of lace. Wheaty, yeasty aroma with some lemony citrus, banana, apple cider and spicy notes. The body is as thick as it sounded in the pour. Wheat, yeast, lemon and banana in the forefront, followed by a very rich caramelly and estery maltiness. Hints of dark fruits and pears. Finishes with some spices and a big alcohol burn that dries the back of the throat. This would be near perfect if they dropped the alcohol down just a tad.

Has a nice amber color.has a really nice sweetness to it. but it has some spice to it as well it is a very nice combination.

On tap at The Ginger Man, NYC. Pours a cloudy brown color. Intense apple aroma with mild notes of spice. Medium bodied and smooth. Heavy sweet flavoring of apple cider and candy (cotton candy possibly) with notes of alcohol and spice. Unusual combination but somehow Victory makes it all work. Very unique and quite good.

Cloudy amber,large beige head,intense bead.Light spicy pear,soft malt nose.Sweet wheat malt palate,with yeastiness and spice.Not bad, but not one of my favorite styles