Victory Old Horizontal

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

Deep amber robe with a thin beige head. Bottle-conditioned with generous small sediments. Intense hop aroma, floral, piney as well as a sweet candy peaches presence. In mouth, it's pretty complex, possibly the most well done american barleywine I've had to date excluding the HOTD jewels. Great flavor balance with a complex layer of hops making for an obvious bitterness that is never too much. The malt profile is also there and very balancing lending this an outstanding silky medium body to bring up all those malt subtleties. Notes of pears, oranges, resin, alcohol(wouldn't guess above 10% though), honey, vanilla, pepper. Yep, that's one top notch barleywine, generous in all the senses of the term.

Pours an excellent orange amber color with a small off-white head. Aroma is quite malty with the hop notes shining through. Taste is malt and orange peel (actually reminded me of the Chinese chicken I had for dinner last night). Body is syrupy and the alcohol is hidden quite well. What a great beer.

’02 vintage. Murky orangish brown color. Barely any head retention. Very light nose, mostly consisting of alcohol and a touch of hop zing. Sweet malts with very nice bready characteristics give way to tangy, spicy, bitter hops. Full bodied. Intresting finish with bitter chocolate and orange peel. Very well balanced. Hides the alcohol behind assertive, zesty hops. Quite good.

Bottled 11/8/03. Small off-white head. Clear body with a medium orange-red color. Light aroma of flowery/perfume hops, cherry, apple. Seems like a light flavor also... with some dark fruit, brandy, and honey. Slightly creamy/syrupy texture. Alcohol is very well masked. Very well balanced to me, nice thickness.

(Bottle) Pours a hazy orangish-amber color with a medium-sized beige head. Has a rich hops aroma and a delicious hoppy and citrus flavor. Creamy mouthfeel.

Definitely not a letdown! Super malty, lots of sweet flavors. Incredibly smooth for a barleywine, which actually is a good thing. I'm loving Victory.

This pours from a bottle similar to a light syrup. The smell is very hoppy and full. The taste is quite powerful of fruit and hops. The alcohol is not at all noticeble (until you drink the second bottle).

My 1000th beer rated. Dark amber in color with a limited yellow head. Has a big mouthfeel. In fact, it’s quite tingly to the tongue. Almost an extracting quality that a chelating detergent might have. MOPS buffer I would say, not that you should ever taste MOPS buffer, mind you. The finishing bitterness is discernable after the first bolus of flavor is long a memory. UPDATE: In the bottle at my 2006 Barleywine tasting. 2005 vintage. Has improved with aging. Flavors are pronounced maltiness, without the unbalanced harsh bitterness. This has a crisp finish to such a complex bolus of flavors. Much better with aging.