Victory Ten Years Alt

Brewed by Victory Brewing Company
Style: Altbier
Downingtown, Pennsylvania USA

Sampled from bottle. This alt pours cloudy bronze with a creamy, light-tan head and nice lacing. Aroma is toasted malts with subtle notes of dark fruit. Bready, carmelized malts with apples and plums. Flavor lingers. Full-bodied and smooth. A bit under attenuated and a bit too fruity. Quite good.

Now that we’ve concluded our 100th review, we’ve set out on our next journey as we head towards 500. It began with the Ten Years Alt from Victory Brewing. It pours a medium amber color with an average-sized, frothy light-brown head. Hardly any lacing, and the head diminishes down to almost nothing. Still body. Aroma’s are of moderate-strength light bread malts and light flowery hops. MB and HH picked up peach and vanilla, as well as mango. Initial flavor is moderately bitter, lightening to a sweet finish. Oily at first on the mouth, we were left feeling dry and chalky. Soft carbonation on the way down. Not our favorite from Victory, but they have yet to do us wrong.

Bottle shared with GregClow, Blankboy, Hogtown Harry, and Jerc, Paul’s bottle. Spicy aroma, slightly dark fruit - hard to explain, it was odd. Copper, small off-white head. Harsh alcohol taste. Full of flavour, grainy. But harsh! It just doesn’t go away or fade to reveal anything else. I just got all alcohol, and thus, did not enjoy it that much at all. Disappointing.

12 oz bottle. Best by 8/10/06. Metallic, funky methane-like aroma. Kinda smells like ass. There are some caramel sweet aromas as well, but unsettling. Transparent garnet/copper color with a quickly dissipating small off-white head. Virtually no lacing. Sharp, boozy flavors with some sweetish maltiness present with a few bitter hops in the end. Quite medicinal, and I think this is very poor. This is NOT how to celebrate 10 years brewing.

Bottle shared with HogTownHarry, GregClow, jerc & tupalev -- courtesy of hopdog. Pours a clear orange-ruby with a good size diminishing off-white head. Aroma of -- whoa, that’s weird! -- mat, spices, fruit of some kind, hops and... what is that? Odd. Flavour of sweet caramel malt, spices and alcohol -- it’s quite boozy. Medium bodied. Not bad but I personally did not care much for it.

Clear copper body. One or two mentionable bubbles slowly gliding up within. Smallish firm capping of dirtied tanned froth. Long, boney fingered lace spans across the glass. Aroma is what I’d call tall and slim. Lovely whole grain bready aroma thats fresh and reaching with a slight nutty dryness, a slim sweet fruityness and a dusting of chocolate. Taste is well blended and balanced with malts bringing lightly dry bread tones floating off the middle from its sweetish start. From midway to the finish this is all unquitting flavors on the palate. Great bready grains and caramel with very adequately balanced floral hoppyness and dry leafyness. Finds time to squeeze in some fruits just before the swallow. Very intriguing and complex. Lengthy too. One of the higher qualities that I liked about it was that it lasted on the buds and begged for more as it did. Nice! Feel is just a notch above medium. Fairly filling, yet smooth and succulant with a well rounded appeal thats quite quenchable. Mostly detained from the middle and into the finish where it almost seemed to gain more and more control and attention. Solid carbonation. The hops begin to find their home after a while. And there where and when they find it, which is sooner than later, its dry, grassy, floral, and nutty. Fantastic. A wonderfully balanced beer with lots of flavor packed fun. It grows on ya might quick and is gone just as so. And 8.5%, please...where it is, is probably a couple more later when you’ve nearly drained em as fast as you’ve poured em. Raise another flag in victory for Victory for this fabulous Anniversary Alt!

Bottle (12oz). Shared with blankboy, GregClow, jerc and Tupalev - blankboy’s bottle. Poured clear copper with a small diminishing off-white bubbly head. Light sweet roasty malt aroma, light orange juice and bitter orange zest, sweet juicy floral hops. Taste is initially roast malt, then sharp black pepper and yeast, then it’s almost overwhelmed by alcohol and dry hop bitterness - it finishes slowly and quite bitter. Average body, okay level of astringency and carbonation - enjoyable, really dry and bitter.

Brown body with a small tan head. Sweet malty aroma, something fruity and odd, touch of alcohol. Sweet caramel malt flavour is usurped by dry bitter finish. Average palate. Interesting but is not really doing much for me.