Victory Old Horizontal

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

Bottled 12/14/04. Bought a case of this last year and I wish I would have kept more of them around. At almost a year old this has really balanced out and blended nicely, yet the hops have stuck around. Pours a slightly hazy orange/mahogany/copper with a nicely sustaining/lacing head. Aroma of dark fruits, caramel, malts, vanilla, cherry and some light hops (grapefruit/pine). Flavor was along the same lines, just slightly stepped up with more of the hops coming through in the taste. The alcohol is well hidden. An overall sweetness to both the aroma and flavor. I think this year I’ll pick up another case...maybe two and let a bunch of it sit around for a while.

Somewhat hoppy. Brown in color and translucent. Taste the hops, bubblegum or candy, and some fruit and spice throughout. Possibly a slight floral taste as well. Not as strong tasting in the alcohol department as I would have expected. Powerful nonetheless. Definitely worth trying and recommended to barley fans.

RERATE: Vintage: Bottled on Jan 06 01. Clouded rust. Small tan head. Nose is more creamy rich malt now than hops, however, the hop profile is still there, albeit diminished. Toffee, citrus fruits, cotton candy, alcohol, and hints of honey. WOW! Taste is mostly caramel, sweet creamy malts, strong sugary notes, alcohol and mild hoppiness. Body is surprisingly mellow and leaning towards syrupy. Light alcohol warmth and a mild lingering stickiness. Finishes with light alcohol and hops followed by more toffee, sugar and creamy malts. I REALLY liked this but it seems to be hitting its peak even though it’s only 4 years old.

Very complex - different flavors encountered upon each sip. Initial aroma - Cherry Bubble Yum -believe it or not. Pour - light amber - but what I notice as I drip the last drops in to the glass are the way the drops bead up when they hit the liquid - does the alcohol make it do that? As it settles, the flavor dissipates in my opinion - initally I enjoyed the way the hops crept their way into the raisiny, molaosses-like maltiness - but it loses its luster after a while. Ending - aroma - sweet molasses. Still, a very good barley wine - but a tad overrated.

12oz bottle served at cellar temperature. Smelled of alcohol (ala apple brandy), brown sugar, light molasses, and tobacco. Poured a reddish orange color. The head was fizzy and dissipated quickly. Medium bodied and sweet with a warming alcohol effect. I tasted toffee, citrusy hops, toasted bread, tobacco, and black tea. Decent enough.

Bottled Nov 15/02. Aroma of gingerbread, alcohol and christmas. To me Barleywine is the most romantic of beer styles and the one I get most excited opening. Dark orange with tiny particulate. Light but maintained head. "Luxuriously rich" indeed. Warming alcohol finish. Delicious spice/malt/hop flavour. Gingerbread.

12 oz bottle via trade with Kramer17801. Bottled 2/4/05. 11% abv. Pours reddish amber with a small but stable tan head. Even through my clouded nasal passaes I can muster a nice sweet carameley aroma. The taste is a bit lighter then I had expected on the front of the taste, with a much nicer rich warming feeling that extend throughout the rest of he brew. The complexity of the flavor is slightly lacking but more then made up for by the fantastic mouth feeling. With so much good barley wine recieved in recent trades, I could have probably aged this longer, but it was too tempting.

My 1000th beer rated. Dark amber in color with a limited yellow head. Has a big mouthfeel. In fact, it’s quite tingly to the tongue. Almost an extracting quality that a chelating detergent might have. MOPS buffer I would say, not that you should ever taste MOPS buffer, mind you. The finishing bitterness is discernable after the first bolus of flavor is long a memory. UPDATE: In the bottle at my 2006 Barleywine tasting. 2005 vintage. Has improved with aging. Flavors are pronounced maltiness, without the unbalanced harsh bitterness. This has a crisp finish to such a complex bolus of flavors. Much better with aging.

Bottled Nov 16, 2002. This has held up very well for the last three years. Dark red with very small pieces of sedimen. Thin layer of foam on the glass. The aroma reminded me of Full Sail Boardhead, only because I had that first. There is apple, brown sugar, maple syrup, malt, and flowers in the complex aroma. Several flavors and all are good. The first is very sweet fruit, followed by sweet malt. Next is bitter hops and salt. Aftertaste is of light bitter hops combined with lingering sweet fruit as if it were a high quality IPA. Very thick and heavy, but also soft and smooth except for the light alcohol bite. I havn’t had this fresh, but it aged very well.