Victory Old Horizontal

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

A great barley wine from one of my favorite breweries. This one is easy to drink but at 10.5% watch out. A few of these and you’ll be feeling good.

Bottle thanks to 1_2many. Another excellently hopped up barely wine. Dark amber red in color with a pretty thick head. Hoppy, yet fruity aroma. Flavor is hoppy, fruity, alcohol, and sweet malt. Probably the smoothest barley wine I’ve ever drank. Not extreme, definitely not weak, but very well balanced. I was surprised at the drinkability of this 10%+ barely wine.

Bottle. This beer was very surprising. Burnt dark orange with a decent head that stays around. Tons of piney hops at first but then the second sip was a standard barley malt aroma. These went back and forth with every drink. Hops then malt, hops then malt. Very well balanced sweetness with bitterness. Gave this to bigmmartin blind and he guessed it as a hoppy barleywine which was right on. Very smooth. This has piqued my interested in Victory. Fantastic.

12oz bottle, purchased sometime in early 2006 I think (best by 2011 on the bottle, so maybe it was a bit later). Anyways, this beer remains a very fine one, a favorite American barleywine for me. On the pour it looks like nice amber, trending ever so slightly to brown, with impressive carbonation. The notes are mildly fruity with a bit of sweet malts. Still a bit hot, amazingly enough, though not so much that it interferes with the complex flavors. Some bite from the hopes, sweet sugars, and a lovely combo of tobacco and bitter herbs round out the finish. Delish!

Pretty pour, looks tasty. NIce chocolatey fig flavors come off the top as well as dried fruits. Dusty character to the scent. NIce warming chocolate almost wheaty flavor. A long and warming finish is quite elegnt with a lasting malty richness and features a quiet lemon zestiness and an oaky followthrough. Very enjoyable.

Bottle from SoLan, thanks! 11% on the label. Orange dark brown color. Malt, plums, blackberries and a hint of oak in the aroma. Sweet, syrupy, malty flavor with plums, peppermint, oak and earthy hops. Blackcurrant, vanilla. Slightly alcoholic, but still well balanced.

Sugary caramel and toffee. Nice hops reminiscent of Bigfoot. Very rich. Palate is smooth, slightly sticky, but somehow slightly watery. I’m not sure how it works but somehow they balance thick and sticky with watery to make both appear. Finishes dry but lots of candy sweetness.

Pours a deep copper color with a red hint. Has a small beige head on it that lingers for a few minutes, but is gone shortly. A touch of fruity banana in the aroma, with a good bit of floral hops. Brown sugar and raisins. Still smells a little bit hot. Some time would probably do it well. The flavor is a creamy roasted caramel with some sweet toffee and a little fruit. Definitely has an alcohol presence, but not that overpowering for 10%. A slight hop bitterness that is kind of surprising but balances out the intense sweetness nicely. The hop character is almost a peach cotton candy. The body is excellent with a very thin carbonation, but a palate like half and half. Leaves a slight bitterness and warming alcohol on the tongue.