Victory Old Horizontal

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

12 oz bottle (drink before nov 12, 2014). Pours dark orange with gigantic cream colored bubbly head, great lacing. Pine, honey and tea aroma. Great sweet caramel and a huge bitter great hop flavor. Touch of treacle on the finish but a long bitter fruity hop finish. Great carb, full bodied with a slight boozy warmth. Would love to see this with some age.

12oz bottle, best by october 2013, so I’m assuming its a year and five months in the bottle at this point. Plays the barley wine part well in appearance with a deep amber to red and brown hue, capped by a small beige head. The aroma has richly sweet malt, caramel, brown sugar, fruity alcohol, orange marmalade on toast, and actually has some fruity and piney hops in there after all this time. The flavor immediately shows some mellowing of the considerable bitterness that this stuff has fresh. You can tell that there was a lot of alpha acid in this fresh, but a large portion of it has dropped off, Richly malty with lots of toasty grain, and an ample sweetness, though not cloyingly sweet. What bitterness is left still balances the big malt sweetness well. There is a touch of apricot fruitiness and warming alcohol as well. Full bodied with a clean and smooth feel. Creamy carbonation. This seems like a good age for this beer, as the balance between the hop bitterness and malt is pretty good right now. Still some fresh hop character remaining though, which adds some nuance. I can see this going quite a bit longer, but this is a very good for style American barley wine right now.

Bottle.A deep amber color pour with a small offwhite head , medium carbonation . Aroma of caramel , brown shugar citrus and piny hops . Flavor is much the same , brown shugar ,rasins,figs,caramel , a hint of maple sweetness , nice level of bitterness lots of piny and spicy hops . Full body , creamy mouthfeel , lots of sticky lacing left behind , long slightly alcoholic finish. A very good strait forward hoppy BW quite drinkable and good.

07 and 08 bottles after the Gratitude release. Both look chestnut brown in the glass but are red when held to the light. 07 really malty, boozy. Some bitter hops, just dominated by strong malt and fruits like dates and rasins. 08 was great, way better than 07. Malt a bit more subdued, with a perfect balance between malt sugars, dark fruit notes, and some bittering hops. 08 works perfectly at this age. Rating is a combination of the two bottles.

golden brown with a huge thick and frothy head. Nice alcohol bite and rich dark caramel maltiness. Hops are just right.

Bottle. Pored a deep amber with an orange hue and a small tan head. Nose is slightly bready with stron malt and big hop notes also a good amount of alcohol. Mostly full bodied with a smooth mouth feel an soft carbonation. Lots of alcohol and bitter hops up front, mid way I got much more dark fruit and malt, finished with more hops bitterness and warming alcohol.

Served in a goblet this beer is glowing ruby red in the dim of the bar. Smells of cherries and sugarcane with big malt character. I let it sit for a while to warm up before sipping. Fruits, candied sugar, and raisons first appear. Medium hop bitterness. After a while strong alcohol subdues some of these flavors from coming out fully. Really luscious texture, full and rich. A warming, delicate sipper great for enlightening conversation.

2007 bottle. Pours a thick copper-brown color with an off-white head that disappears quickly. Powerful nose! Hops nose from a distance. A closer inspection reveals hops, caramel, and dark fruit. Sweet flavor of caramel malts, plums, apple, and a touch of hops. Very nice beer for a cold night.