Victory Old Horizontal

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

One hell of a great barleywine. Pours a nice darker amber color with a nice off-white head. Aroma is very malty, hints of carmel and maybe fruit. Taste is very sweet and malty, with only a slightly alcohol taste left afterwards. Boooyeta.

Whoa Nellie! The absolute best barleywine. Malty and flavorful.

12-oz.; thanks, BeachBum25! This is a pretty confusing beer. And that’s actually what’s such a pleasure about it. Starts off very barleywine-like, with a thick-looking, fairly still-looking, ruddy amber pour with ruby highlights and a tan head. The head falls to a psychedelic paisley swirl before you can put the bottle down. Big fruit on the nose, figgy and plummy and sharply boozy. Caramel and toffee are there, too-when it’s cooler, the caramel is actually borderline domineering: the malt is strong with this one. The attack has the obligatory tawniness, caramel and butterscotch, roast and nuts. The finish is a mystery. What is that? Orange pith? Coriander? Rauch malt? Burning leaves? It’s almost a hollow flavor, too. There’s crisp, resiny hops there, but they’re in the minority, and it’s proving difficult to name the mystery ingredient in the finish. The body’s light for a barleywine, the sugars are quite--and quite admirably-subdued, and the carb is low. There’s none of the usual lapel-grabbing trouble you get from a young barleywine here.

Bouteille de 12 oz obtenue via un échange avec Dmac621. Arôme: Odeur de malt caramélisé et d’houblons. Apparence: La couleur est ambrée foncée avec une faible densité de bulle. Présence d’un moyen col mousseux et d’une large dentelle sur le verre. Saveur: Goût de caramel et d’houblons avec une pointe de miel. Durée moyenne de l’arrière goût. Palette: Le corps est moyen avec une texture légèrement crémeuse. Moyenne effervescence en bouche. Présence d’houblons en arrière goût. (Rating #1359)

ReRate 7/02: Even greater than I remembered. Loved the feeling I got when my upper lip broke the plane of the creamy head, as my nose inhaled a fresh waft of fruity-malt aroma. Then, a rich and warming liquid super-flavor trickled across my tongue, heating my throat and warming my soul. Well-made, complex, and unbelievably tasty. By far, one of the best Barleywines in the world, IMHO. Fruity, full-bodied, malty-sweet, and decently hopped. This beer is wild; it is so thick & syrupy that it doesn’t splash when you pour from great heights (just watch out, the head continues to build long after you stop pouring!) Very good stuff.

Very hazy deep orange pour with a large slow-to-settle almond head. Sponge toffee and citrus aroma. As it warms some woddiness creeps in. Very malty again with the sponge toffee and brwon sugar followed by a wave of citrus hoppiness. As I got further into this and my palate adjusted to the magnitude of flavours some spiciness and dry woodiness came through. Delicious!

12/02/06 Walk the Line Barleywine Festival, Dunedin, FL. 1998 vintage. The beer took on a copper hue with streaks of red around the edges. The head of foam was tan. The aroma was classic Barleywine with a dark fruitiness backed up by some caramel and a hint of hops. It was difficult to tell which type of hops they were just from the aroma. The flavor was first rate. The cherry and dark grape fruitiness mixed with the smooth creamy sweet caramel. There was an undercurrent of pine hops and a sense of alcohol.

Bottle. Lovely copper hue is rich, deep and warm. Small head. Apples and brandy throughout nose and palate in fine and admirable balance. A very nice barleywine.