Victory Old Horizontal

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

2002 bottle. Poured a dark golden orange. Aroma is sweet and hoppy. Citrus, caramel, brown sugar. Flavor is big on the sweet malt. Caramel, toffee, and fruity hop flavor. Plenty of hop bitterness is still present on the finish along with balanced alcohol flavor and plenty of throat warming. Full bodied, syrupy, and sticky. Had the 04 a few weeks prior. Very similiar except everything was amped up. Vintage 1998 (on 8/4/05). Old ripe fruit, malty sweet, and cola. Still has a good backing of hop bitterness and nice warming. Still great.

This beer poured a reddish amber color and formed a foamy off white head that stuck around and coated the side of the glass with lace. A medium amount of carbonation was presnet. An aroma malt, caramel and raisins was present with a hint of hops. The flavor was of malt, caramel and butterscotch with touch of the alcohol present. A medium body with a slightly sweet finish offset by the alcohol present. Hopfully the newer Victory's will sell well enough here that they will ship this to our state next season.

2002 This beer rocks. The aroma is malty and sticky sweet. Notes of black pepper and basement musty. There is a definite hop presence but, c’mon. Although it’s brewed by Victory with their hoppy, Left Coast leanings, this barley wine has to be all about the malt, right? This is a very dark, crystal clear amber beer. The head is medium-sized and off-white. Frothy head that is mostly diminishing with excellent lacing. The flavor? I was right.. Malt!! Sweet, sticky, thick Malt!! Malt, Malt, Malt!!!... and guess what! That’s just the flavor on the frontside. Hops galore disguise the huge malt presence on the backside. Warm alcohol throughout. Clover honey in there too. Full-bodied with a syrupy mouthfeel. Softly carbonated. A long, dry woodsy, bitter finish with a burst of clover at the wee end of the finish. Excellent barleywine!

Bottled: Clear orange coloured. Beige head. Hoppy and light flowery and sweet aroma. Fruity and hoppy flavour. Sweet and wellbalanced. Is very bitter in the end, almost acrid. This is one hell of a brew provided by Raindog. Thanks.

pours amber, tight off white head. big hops, citrus and cararmel on th nose. very nice mix of orangy fruitiness, butter, tangy hops and mild alcohol. very nice.

A nutty almond aroma with a hint of goat cheese, a frothy tan head that thinly sheets the surface, and a deep dark clear copper color make for dangerously tempting beer. I get pecans and honey in the mouth, so sweet. Hops are big, but can do nothing to catch up to the toasty sweetness in this. Drinks like ginger ale and packs a wallop of a punch; or may be it tastes like punch and packs a sinister ale. I think I'm falling.

A clear red beer with a yellow or orange head. The aroma is sweet hoppy with notes of oranges and alcohol. The flavor is rather sweet with a lot of hops, oranges, and caramel. The hops burns your palate because it is extremely hoppy. A great beer for me - but only for hop lovers.

On tap at Marker 20, Hampton VA: Candy red but dark. Served a bit too cold. Strong candied licorice. Bitter bite. I loved the bartender: "Have you had it before?" like he wanted to make sure he knew what I was getting into. Got even better as it warmed up.