Victory V12

Brewed by Victory Brewing Company
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Downingtown, Pennsylvania USA

25.4 oz bottle, 3/29/05. Clear woody brown with a tan haze. Nose of raisins, yeast and candied fruits with a shot of brandy. Carb tends to foamy, body a little thin but still substantial and a bit sticky. Toffee and caramel with fruitcake. A solid offering when you need a Quad.

Thin, tan head. Sweet fruity aroma. Nice alcohol burn. Taste of candy and raisins. One of the better beers from Victory.

Bottle. Thanks Rick. Nice pour with an off white head. Sweet aroma with some fruit undertones. Nice alcohol taste as it warmed. Nice beer all around. One of my favs from victory.

Thanks to my friend Sam for passing this one on to me. Pours with a clear deep orange/amber body with a tightly packed head of off-white that laces nicely. Fruity Marzipan alcohol aroma. Sweet, thick, viscous, syrupy. Too cloying for me.

Pours a dark burnt orange with a fairly small offwhite head. Aroma of brown sugar, cherries, plums, lemoncello, wood, and maybe some faint cheese in the background. Mellow aroma. Big sweet caramelly and brown sugar taste with a bit of wood, light cloves, a little bit of cherries and raisins. Yeast flavors are very clean. Finishes woody, warming, toffee-esque and bit tannic. Aftertaste is no different than the finish, which isn’t bad, but I’d prefer I slightly more complex fade on this beer. Fairly low carbonated for a Belgian beer, but I like that. Full to medium bodied, slick texture, but it’s enveloping enough, and as I said before, it’s just a bit more clean feeling (and tasting) than say Brasserie de Rocs. Mildly hot, but it’s balanced. Good stuff, I like the sweet flavors, but it could have had a more complex finish and more pungent yeast characteristics.

Pours out a nice darker brown color with a decent head. Aroma is sweet and fruity. Strange this BS did not have a lot of yeast in the aroma. Flavor was nice when it was cold. as it warmed, the alcohol became dominate. too dominate. This beer would be great at around 9% instead of 12, but i guess the name wouldnt be as cool.

750 ml bottle. The pour is a nice amber, with decent head and ample carbonation. The nose is faint, but carries scents of sugars, citrus floral, and a hint of yeast, which well mask the alcohol content. The flavor is mild and sweet, ruled by fruits, caramel and the faintest touch of alcohol warming. Overall I would say this is a well balanced brew, while complex enough to mask its high ABV.

750ml caged & corked bottle. Pours a gorgeous hue of amber - like liquid caramel - cloudy with highlights of caramel and orange. The head pours thick and light tan, with variously sized bubbles, though mostly small and tight bubbles. The head quickly fades into a tight, persistent layer of off-white bubbles. The aroma is sublime and sweet, big in alcohol, flowery (Saaz hops?), slightly grassy, and full of sweet fruit - particularly citrus and orange. The flavor starts with a lovely balance of flavors: fruity and estery, sweet and malty, balanced with notes of spice and citrus. And let’s not forget the dose of alcohol - noticeable, albeit quite mild considering this brew is packing 12%. The sweetness grows towards the middle of the tongue - caramel-covered biscuits with a touch of orange glaze. The esters and spices plateau around mid-to-back tongue, too. Towards the back of the tongue, grassy and hoppy flavors emerge - though malt and yeast are still the kings. The finish is medium and dry and has a tinge of ethanol flavoring. Needless to say, it has a slight warming effect as it goes down. The malt profile is very complex and delectable. The mouthfeel is also exceedingly beautiful. It is medium to medium-full in body, but it feels so light and delicate - thanks to alcohol and the right level of carbonation. The flavors in the beer also trick to the tongue into feeling a lighter and more delicate beer than really is in there. Genius. I most thoroughly enjoyed it.