Victory Old Horizontal

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

Bottle. Wow, this one has it al.. Great malty sweetness balanced by hop bitterness. Great alcohol backbone but not overpowering. I’m tired of this style, but I really like this beer.

Bottle: Wonderful ruby color, mid-sized milky off-white head.   Pours somewhat viscous with lovely lacing.   Aroma of sweet caramel, light hops, and alcohol.   Smooth... initial taste is fantastic.   Flowers, nuts, some vanilla, and some minor alcohol greet you up front.   Follows with a sweet toffee and a tinge of alcohol.   While the alcohol is apparent, it is not abrasive.   The 11% is masked very well.   Warming til the end, notes of honey and brown sugar near the finish.   One of the smoother Barleywines I have had.   This is almost too easy too drink!   Amazingly smooth...   Great mouthfeel, long lasting finish.   Another superb brew from the folks at Victory!   Thanks goes out to raindog for the trade!

Bottle date Nov 21, 2003: This barley wine has been rated pretty highly and I was excited to try it. It certainly lives up to its high scores. Pours Amber/red with a medium head that diminishes quickly to hug the sides of the glass. Great aroma of sweet malt, apples, pears, maple syrup, caramel and raisins. Excellent taste of apples, very sweet and malty at first, but the more I drink of this, the more I can detect the hops, and other flavor of butter, roasted malt, caramel and some slight zesty spiciness. Amazingly smooth on the palate, with very light carbonation and great taste from start to the aftertaste.

12 oz bottle pours a hazy apple red color with an off white head that produces sheets of lace. The aroma is quite fruity and woody and a touch sour like that of berries. The flavor is very balanced, somewhat sherry and cask like, but also hoppy but missing some of the character I noticed with some other Barley Wines. Having said that, this one is much more drinkable! The palate is well balanced with the flavor, just right. The alcohol is nowhere to be found. Overall, this is dangerous, for it is so drinkable that you notice the 11% ABV when it is too late. This is my seventh rating today; I'm done.

duvel tulip glass: syrupy liquorish aroma; succulent and sweet. you just know delicious complexities are awaiting underneath ;o) dark copper body, ruby/orange highlight. tight off-white head, cremey. cremey palate, syrupy but not disturbingly cloyish. tastes of well blended flavors; sweet, bitter... fruits and breads... a bit of alcohol. wow! average duration; moderately sweet, salty, bitter. wow! well together! i need to sit with one for an hour or so!

Dark reddish brown. Nose is hoppy. Flavour is malty with citrus and floral hops. Finish is moderately dry and alcoholic.

from the bottle poured a amber brown, with a tan head that stayed around for awhile and left good lacing. aroma a nice malt caramel, hops, citrus, honey, alcohol as it warms some sour fruits came out. flavor I hope as good as the aroma, got a nice alcohol bite right up front, malts, orange, molasses nice mouthfeel, very good

12 oz. 2001 bottle: ooh, really nice smell. pours a beautiful deep ruby color, with some floating yeast sediment. smells of malt, fruit, (melon/apricot) and slight hops. a nice thick toffee head, that dissipated a swirly head residue. really smooth palate. nice fruity malty flavor. very little bitterness, and a mellow hop aftertaste.