Victory Old Horizontal

12 oz bottle at Cole Barleywine Festival. Dark amber, didn’t have as sweet a flavor as some of the barleys I had, light head, smooth taste. Out of the beers I tasted this didn’t stand out as exceptional, but I also didn’t find any of the brews bad at all. Would put this as an ’average exceptional barley.’

2007 bottle. This starts with the piney nose of northwestern hops. It pours a cloudy reddish-amber, with just a lacing of an off-white head. The flavor is surprisingly sweet, with just a finish of hops. The alcohol content in this is dangerously hidden. Several bottles of this have been cellered, and I will re-rate upon opening them. (One from the cellar) The hop nose has faded away, going with a bit more sweetness. Still pours with a large foamy tan head, and the same cloudy dark red. Hop flavor has almost completely disappeared, leaving a balanced sweetness, hints of brown sugar and dark fruits predominant. Very nice.

Pours a hazy reddish copper, topped by a scant head of tan foam. Nice lacing. Malty aroma - sweet with raisin and brown sugar and alcohol. Very malty flavor with earthy maple, toffee, caramel, brown sugar, and alcohol. Bitter hops, black tea, leather, oak and alcohol in the finish. A full bodied ass-kicker. Softly and fully carbonated

Sweet hoppy spicy aroma. Taste is sweet alcoholic, hoppy bitter, fruity with a long bitter hoppy finisch.

12 oz bottle. Pours bronz with a slight light brown head. Aroma is oily with hops, and molasses prevelant. A really interesting aroma. Taste is a thick syrupy sweet maple with alcohol present. Very complex. A good beer.

Very sweet this one, somewhat the opposite of the ridiculously bitter Great Divide Old Ruffian. Supposedly this would benefit more from aging. Some head, rapidly dimishing to zilch. Aroma kinda there. Taste is thick and syrupy and sticky sweet but in a really good way, and it goes down smooth smooth smooth. Subjectively this is a solid 8, though the silly "objective" scoring system downgrades this for so-so aroma and appearance. I really did enjoy this more than the initial 3.8 would suggest; maybe I’ll find a way to manipulate it up a bit. Okay, manipulation done. (1 point each for aroma, flavor, and overall.)

Currently playing: Sibelius 4.

Umm, wow. This is a huge beer. Brown pour with no head. Thick aroma of malt, caramel, pine, and alcohol. Heavy taste of the same, with maple, sugar, oily hop resin, and a big alcohol warmer. This knocked me on my ass, but it was well worth it.

The first time i had a barleywine was a SN Bigfoot. This one is quite a bit smoother. Pours a nice dark amber color. Nice thick head :unsure: . But the drinkability for 11% is freaking great. Just a solid brew. JTG, :hifuckingfive: