Victory Old Horizontal

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

Vertical tasting of ’01 - ’05. Ratings are an average of the years.
’01: Carmel color and taste. Rich toffe flavor and mildly sweet. Excellent beer.
’02: Nice toffee and sweet, but some tart fruit in there as well. Just as good as the ’01, maybe better. These two vintages might be some of the best beer I’ve ever tried. Thank you milkmandan.
’03: Hoppy, with less toffee than the previous. Not as good as the older vintages.
’04: Same as the ’03 but more hoppy.
’05: Massive hop increase with some currant flavor. Not as good as the ’04.
The vertical started out strong, but sadly headed down a very steep hill. Would have been a 4.8 if I’d only had the first two vintages.

Courtesy of Slob. Intense malty aroma with hints of fruit, licorice and caramel. Cloudy reddish brown color...large head for a BW. Has an almost citrus lollipop flavor...typical BW feel, but the flavor profile is much hoppier and more citrus-sweet than malt/candy sweet.

Bottle - rating No. 1000 for this beer! Have been sitting on this sucker for a while now, though it’s still from the most recent batch. Lots and lots of clumpy yeast floating around at the bottom of the bottle. Huge, thickly malty aroma, prominent alcohol with raisins and black currants, doughy caramel and subtle yeast, floral tones and a strong, piney burst of PNW hops. Sugary though, barely dives under the cloying mark. Pours a gorgeous, luminescent ruby red with a rocky tanned head. Taste is strongly bitter but not bracing, accompanied by gradual warmth and light sweetness (all of which disappears by the end, in an orgy of bready, saliva-inducing dryness). Loads of malt, dark and caramel-rich, with subtle wooden tones but not dirty or earthy; no, this is both clean and complex. Hop presence is strong but not abusive (as in some (I)IPAs), adding a lot of heft and power to an already full body and robust flavor. Pine needles and dates in with the everpresent floral hop oils. Yeast backs off considerably but catches an occasional nook in the teeth during the finish. Malt is thick and seductive and smooth, and there’s a sense of complimentary blending here that is often lost in other barleywines - a true Gestalt. I’d have guessed the abv at closer to 8%. Superb, superb brew - classy, slow-drinking sipper that wants to go much faster! and not overrated in the least.

One of America’s great Barleywines; how lucky we are that it is cheap and easy to come by!

Bottled in November 2003. Poured copper-orange, with a thin ring of light tan carbonation. Citrusy, piney, sweet aroma. Flavor was very hoppy at first, with bitter pine notes fading into sweet, sugary malts reminiscent of light caramel and candied fruits. Reminiscent of Bells Batch 6000 without the same level of malt complexity, this beer's hoppiness suggests it should be cellared for a few months before trying again.

Bottle. Dark golden in colour with a medium sized head. Malty and sweet with notes of dark fruits, caramel and grass. Hints of cherry (or berries of some sort) and also a bit alcoholic.

bottle. copper body with a small white head. malty, yeasty cheese, and citrus hop aroma. this is a pretty hefty beer and is my first barley wine of the fest (actually, as I’m entering this rating it may have been the only barley wine I had). bold malty body, sweet in the middle...hoppy throughout and pretty much just the right amount of hops. some cheese and chocolate notes. very nice.

bottle, poured a dark orange into my glass, raisiny citrus nose that gives way to a fruity hopbomb with a sweet dry finish, very nice

Meduim amber in color with a floral, alcohol nose. Very sweet flavor of dark brown sugar, burnt caramel and subtle butterscotch notes. Great balance as the sweet trails into a strong hop bitterness. Great all around barley wine. Many thanks to ConiseurofBeer for this bottle.