Victory Old Horizontal

Brewed by Victory Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
Downingtown, Pennsylvania USA

Bottle from Spirit Haus. Amber body. Short head. Caramel and malty nose. Taste of dark fruits, also hops. Malts towards the end. Strong alcohol level well-hidden. Excellent.

Pours a deep reddish amber, with an expectedly thin (high abv) light tan head. Smells like a dream. Tons of caramel malt, with a wonderful balance of bittersweet hops and deep, fruity, sticky malts. Even a hint of cranberry or cherry. The flavor intensifies the hops up front, smoothing out to a very malty back end. One odd thing - the bitter hops linger forever in your mouth, while the malts - even though they hit later - fade first... making the aftertaste sharply bitter. It’s thick and rich without being sticky, and very smooth - hides its 11% very well. For something sold in a sixer, this is wonderful.

12oz from Kenwood bottle-shop. Pours dark amber with off white or light brown head that sticks around the edges, spotty lace. Aroma is mild caramel malt and wet socks with slight alcohol zing.Aroma is very light, belying the bold, deep malt pine-sap, turpentine-oak with a delightful hop front and surprisingly mild bittering. "Barley wine-style" is a name I believe denotes a "lite" or "dumbed-down" version of a very old style that few are willing to go all the way with (DFH comes to mind), but this is marvelously bold and terrifically well balanced. you could drink pint after pint of this and fall down very satisfied!

Beautiful looking beer bought bottled from (of all things) a local pizza shop. Very pleasant nose, and very nice initial flavor. Finishes with a lot of malty flavor, almost too much. Overall, one of the better beers I’ve had, though.

bomber from the brewery.. floral hops with a hint of sweet caramel / honey , one of my favorites from victory... i’ve had all of their beers and this is one that i took the time to rate

12oz. Vintage 1998. As i popped the cap, there was a "pifft" Pour is murky brown with little to no head. Aromas of raisins, sweet malt, caramel, and a hint of spice. Flavor is f%$#ing smooth and amazing. The hops have faded out completly. No alcohol is present and damn, what a treat.

Bottle courtesy of onenote81. Pours a hazy dark brown with red highlights. One finger tannish white head that settles slowly. Aroma is sweet and malty with notes of caramel, honey, wood, vanilla, some slight notes of floral hops. Flavor is sweet and malty with notes of flora hops, brandy, caramel, honey, grass, yeast, caramel, grass, hay pine and malt. Generally medium to full body with a sweet and malty finish.

Bottle from brewery. Vigorous pour gets deep red with robust off-white head. Aroma of cherries and decaying leaves. Fruity sweet taste with big round palate. This bottle has been refrigerated a month plus and may be dulled because of it. But I feel its flavor are not as complex as earlier bottles. Relatively little bitterness. Very pleasant in the mouth. But I don’t detect a ton of aroma or variety of flavors. Still an enjoyable brew and rating to some extent based on other bottles from the same six-pack.