Victory Old Horizontal

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

Pour is dark brown/red with small head. Aroma is fruity and a little sweet. Taste starts off smooth then comes in sweet with a little alcohol bite, but nothing overwhelming. A really great beer. Highly recommended.

Bottle. Pours a copper brown, with little head, and a (somewhat off-putting) thick floating yeast sediment. Aroma is malt and yeast, with a bit of fruit sweetness, and a slight metallic tinge. The flavor is very nice - dark fruits, brown sugar, and caramel, with a slight hoppiness in the finish. The 11% ABV gives the beer a nice warming bite, without being overpowering. An excellent barleywine, though a tad underwhelming, given its phenomenal ratings. A bit more hops would balance the beer nicely. UPDATE: Added 2 points to the overall impression score, as I just cracked open one of these that had aged for ~6 months, and it was phenomenal - much more flavorful, drinkable, and well-balanced.

Wow, this is one amazing barleywine. I was happy to find it on a road trip and my only regret now is not buying a lot more. Pours a reddish brown color, some haze to it, and a thick tan head with some really nice staying power. Aroma is quite fruity with pine, caramel, sugars, alcohol and it all creates a wonderful scent. This is a nicely hopped barleywine but not over the top allowing so many other flavors to play a major role. Toffee, brown sugar, sweet candy malt, grapefruit and pine hops and even light traces of darker fruits. Really well done. Warming but the 11% is hidden with very little alcohol sting. This can compete with any barleywine out there.

Bottle. Pours a hazy reddish-brown with a small off-white head that fades quickly. Big sweet citrus hops aroma. Sweet and bitter taste of hops, malt, and a hint of under-ripe fruit. Lingering fruity bitterness. Really tasty barley wine.

One of my all-time favs. Dark luscious caramel color. The aroma consists of a wild combination of nearly every fruit found in the western hemisphere. Going down, it is seductively sticky. The array of sweet fruits becomes apparent and the alcohol performs its warming effect. At about that time, it becomes obvious that this is an excellent barley wine. Not at all overpowering, but not for the weak. Really glad I stocked up on this one last spring!

Bottle, most recent release. Aroma has some peachy/mango notes that seem to come from otherwise faded hops, many other tropical and red fruits all abound. Flavor malty, malty, malty, strong, fleshy fruits continue to shine. Full full bodied malty goodness. Excellent.

2007 vintage. tap @ Victory. dark ruby/brown with lacing. nose of cologne, port, brown sugar, liquorice, fig, and prune. taste is loads of malt, dark fruit, candi sugar and caramel. smoky. hops sneak in and then assert themselves. woody, dry finish. smooth, a bit oily. warm and seductive. one of the finest beers on earth!

12oz bottle. Holy schnikes! This is glorious. A deep red pour, thick lacing on my pint glass and creamy one finger head. Beautiful beer. First flavor is huge and complex. The alcohol is present and the sugar like molasses flavor is pretty strong. I can tell that this beer will kick my butt.