Victory Old Horizontal

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

Easy to drink barley wine with excellent blend of malt and moderate hop presence. Flavors of toffee and fruit evident. I sipped a bottle of Old Horizontal while bottling a home brew.

Bottle: poured a dark amber/orange. Sweet complex aroma even as I pour. Light head. Big malty sweet flavor, with hops and more hops. There ate certainly some citric and spice in here, but the alcohol and hops are all swirling and just so nice. As I try to let this warm, I think my taste for the bigger beers is growing. This was worth searching for.

Pours deep amber with a small amount of yellow-tan head. Sweet and spicy aromas, with deep orange hoppiness. Ripe plum fruitiness and alcohol show as it warms. Rich, sweet and fruity tastes, with a nice clinging hop bitterness. Pleasantly warming. Mouthfeel is big and chewy without being syrupy--a tough thing to pull off in this style. Generally, I’m not a huge barleywine fan. So many seem overly sweet and one dimensional. This however, is a superior brew, full of interest and very well crafted.

pours ruby with a big, eggshell head. Aroma is almost indescribable. Big, malty, sweet, spicey, hoppy. Flavor is sweet and hoppy. Balanced, subtle, and deceptively drinkable. No trace of the 11%. Wonderful brew.

Dec 05 12 oz bottle. Pour is a dark reddish orange with thin off-white head. Aroma is very sweet. Fruit, spice, raisins, and caramel nose. Flavors is fruity and sweet, with caramel, spice, and maple. Not quite as good as I was hoping, but still a good barley wine.

Draught @ Victory: Nice reddish color, poured with a small head. Big sweet, fruity aroma, and the alcohol is well hidden. The taste just warms you to your feet. Some hoppiness with the malts & fruit. Also, I get a hint of roasted and chocolate malts. It might have been better with age, but why wait! 7-2-05: Had vintage 02 and 03 brews on -tap at Victory. This beer is absolutely stellar. Without a doubt, the 2002 was the best of the lot.

Has someone already used the "like sticking your nose in a jam jar"? Probably. Well the lid of this jar was smeared with hop oils and caramelized. The sweet malts roll out over the tongue and roll back with a pleasant bitter finish. Oily looking non-head. And I found that the couch beaconed me to be in horizontal unison.

Bottle. Pours thick and hazy dull red/amber with a thin head. Candy like aroma, fruity and hoppy. Big malt and caramel flavor, sweet and hoppy. Like sucking on a barly wine lolly pop. The alcohol is not too prominent but is noticable. Mellow bitterness.