Victory Old Horizontal

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

Pours an opaque deep amber colour with a minimal tan head that fades quickly. The aroma is a magnifisent display of malt sweetness, candy sugar, and fruity hops with seemingly low bitterness. Well so much for seemingly low bitterness, cuz these hops definitely pack a punch in the flavour. This barley wine has an especially vinous character and is extremely quaffable given the alcohol presence and actual content. Plum, brown sugar, red grapes, toffee and honeydew make up the malty-sweet backbone with citric hops and malted barley coming through up front. The finish is port-like, but a little thin and muted, making the fnish surprisingly clean and dry. The abv is well hidden on the palate, but you can’t hide booze from the throat and chest. The mouthfeel is intially slick,but finishing dry.

Bottle. Dark golden colour with a beige head. Aroma is alcohol, fruit, licorice. Flavour is hop, fruit, alcohol, licorice, malt. Lovely beer.

Bright malty aroma, dark amber color; not much of a head. Wonderful caramel fruity taste with tart hoppy finish. Excellent carbonation and smooth on the palate. It isn’t too sweet or syrupy or winey, and the alcohol is very well disguised; very drinkable. Another victory for my taste!

Poured into the ol’ snifter. A finger and a half of french vanilla colored head slowly emerges upwards from a dark murky brown body. Head is quick to regress and leaves only a thin halo and little lacing. Sweet mellow fruit on the nose, maybe melon, fig, overripe plum. Molasses. New England maple syrup, toffee, sticky hops, maybe even pecan as far as flavor notes. You can’t taste the alcohol but you can feel it in your chest, an excellent winter beer. Thick syrupy body finishes surprisingly dry. Alcohol warmth is pleasant. Exemplary carbonation. A very drinkable 11% beer.

12oz bottle from BevMo Carmel Mountain. Citrus hoppy aroma with banana bread and some malty fruitiness. Pours a dark transparent amber with a big off-white head with excellent retention. Very nice lacing. Malty up front with caramel, fruit, and light banana bread. Citrus hops in the finish, but not as much as I anticipated considering it only a few months old. Alcohol covered up very well, a touch of burn is really only noticeable if you’re looking for it. More malt and more fruit compared to some hopped up American barley wines (not that I have a problem with hopped up barley wines). Very nice.

A red, muddy clay color beneth a frothy caramel head. Apricot, fig, raisins, prunes and pretzel dough aromas with a nice piney hoppiness to it. A medium bodied beer with noticeable alcohol on the tongue. Im normally a fan of high ABV beers but something with this one didn’t quite click. Still, an excellent winter offering from Victory.

Bottled, consumed on 01/24/08. Pours a deep reddish hue. Head disappears fast without much replenishment from the low carbonation. Slightly thicker than water (but no chewier or smoother). Sweet cherries and alcohol tickle the nose. Flavor is bold and complex: yeasty, fruity, acidic and even a little sweet with some chocollate/coffee notes then bittering hops near the end. Finishes with some warm spices and alcohol vapor. Reminded me more than a little of some imperial stouts I’ve had!

Bottle. Seeing that my snifter broke (doh!), I poured this into a balloon style red wine glass, which seems to work out quite well as a substitute. Dark murky ruddy brown with an almond colored head. Sweet and rich toffee malt aromas along with cherry, peach, orange and some piney hops. Nice earthy and sweet toffee malts with a tingly pine hop bitterness in the end. Notes of dark fruit provide a pleasing dimension underneath. This is exactly what I like in a barleywine--not a syrupy malt/pine bomb--but rather a well balanced structure of toffee malts, slightly acidic stone fruit (apricot, plum) with a finish of resiny hops. Warming and very pleasurable. Nice work.