Victory Old Horizontal

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

[Bottle] Pours a beautiful coppery ruby color with a smallish beige head. Aroma is sweet malts, loads of citric and floral hops, and the typical, somewhat metallic yeast. Flavor is quite strong. Lots of mid level fruity notes intermingled with the high levels of hops. Alcohol is evident but not overpowering. Again a touch metallic on the finish, but not too bad.

Bottle from SoCal. From other barleywines, this one lacked the alcohol burn and had a great mix of malt and hops. It had a light spice and a distinct tastes of caramel. Excellent brew.

An interesting difference from most barley wines in that this one leans towards malty instead of hoppy. One thing I couldn’t get over is the ridiculous carbonation. I see previous raters talk about the little carbonation, however, mine was overly carbonated. Quality issue?

1998 12 oz. bottle thanks to trading with TheRealBastard. Very little carbonation. There’s a ring around the glass and a bit of lace. Color is of sun brewed iced-tea with a light haze. There were so many strong smells with this brew it was hard to pin down individual characteristics. Malt, cloves, dark fruit, and alcohol stood out. Taste is sweet, then malty sharp. A bitter comes in late in the back of the mouth. It got better and better as it relaxed and warmed. We were too anxious to enjoy it to fully wait for all of the nuances to come out. It opened up more sweetness, fruit sugar, as it warmed. Cherry and licorice. Really good.

Pours a rich ruby color with a medium off-white head that fades quickly to a thin white bubbly ring, that leaves a few streams of lacing. Aroma is hops, plum, raisin, molasses, and sugary sweetness. This baby warms as it goes down. Taste is slightly fruity up front, brown sugar, plum, apple, caramel malts, and some hop bitterness. Mouthfeel is surprisingly creamy. I had high hopes for this but the mouthfeel seems a bit thin, and not very rich. Maybe with a little age my opinion will change.

Pours a clear but dark red with almost no head. Smells a bit pungent with citrus notes underneath. Hops with sweet ripe plum and molasses, very smooth for such a high ABV. Finishes a bit dry and notes of spice linger. Smooth mouthfeel, almost like a cask ale, very little carbonation. Solid.

Very hazy deep orange pour with a large slow-to-settle almond head. Sponge toffee and citrus aroma. As it warms some woddiness creeps in. Very malty again with the sponge toffee and brwon sugar followed by a wave of citrus hoppiness. As I got further into this and my palate adjusted to the magnitude of flavours some spiciness and dry woodiness came through. Delicious!

Crushed with Jakebra. An ultimate barleywine. Awesome in every way. Like an alcoholic plum injected with hops. This barleywine kicks some serious ass.