Victory Helios Ale

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

Serve in Tulip

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Hazed, straw yellow, thick, gossamer, snow-white foam capping it, lasting long. Aroma of light citrus and tingly spice....lovely and invigorating. Taste: forward flavor of lemon, orange, grapefruit, and various spices blasts the tongue on first encounter, then softly slides back into the mouth. Occurs anew with each subsequent sip, coating the palate, leaving a palpable impression. Light to medium in body, with an insistent, citric, spicy finish. Plenty hoppy, too. Very tasty. I like it more as I drink. In fact, why don’t I just wait a while before finishing this review?....dum de dum, doo de dee... ...soft and mellow as I enjoy the remainder of the bottle, with a considerably consistent and pleasurable flavor continuing...deliciously yeasty...this is a nice one, a good drinker, an ale I wish I could reach for with regularity...alas...

As saisons go, more spicy and yeasty than fruity and estery, with a sweetness that didn’t quite mesh. I tend to like a drier beer when they’re spicy. A medium mouthfeel and lots of yeast, which added a doughy aspect. Didn’t drink like 7.5%. Good medium carbonation, and some wheatiness.

Orangy nose with some vanilla tones, peach too. Cloudy orange color with a clingy white head. Doughy wheat malt taste with citrus notes. Creamy smooth texture, but it leaves a tingly sensation on the tongue. Very interesting and certainly a quality beer, but I expected something different. Still, you really can’t go wrong with this.

750mL bottle. Bottled on: 04/01/05. A hazy gold body with lots of little floaties and a thick off-white head. Lemons, bananas and cloves in the slightly musty, yeasty and wheaty aroma. VERY high level of carbonation combined with the spiciness gives this an intense bite. Medium to thin-bodied. Refreshing. Lemony, tangy and wheaty with a slightly dry finish that features hints of spices. Solid beer, but it seems like a fairly generic saison. This beer gave me all kinds of searing gas pains.

UPDATED: DEC 10, 2005 Pours a hazy yellow color with a thin white head. Good aroma of barnyard, spices and fruit. Good flavor of barnyard, spices and fruits. The body is light to medium with a dry texture and lively carbonation. A solid effort, it feels authentic.

UPDATED: SEP 1, 2009 Lemon gold with a thin head that lasted, but tended towards fizzy. Aroma was distinctly bready with some underpinnings of fruit. Flavor also tended towards bread, with an interesting citric but not at all bitter hop presence, balanced by notes of honey. As it warmed, a chamomille soap note emerged that reminded me quite a bit of the Avery Saison. Not bad, but not brilliant. Sampled again at Relentless Thirst tasting on 8/29/09. Same basic perception, minus the chamomille soap.

Thin fizzy head containing bubbles of every size. Reduces quickly but has great carbonation to keep a thin sheen on the surface. Big citrus aroma with yeast, grass and spices. Color is a hazy golden orange. Fizzy in the mouth. Spicy and grassy flavor with a little lemon. Slightly dry palate. Finish is crisp and pretty clean. A decent saison. Nothing really sets it apart from others though.

Bottled April 2005: Beautiful orange color with a small frothy head which leaves thick laces on the glass. Grape spicey taste with honey and coriander. Yeasty, bready nose.

Poured a lighter and cloudy yellow color with a smaller sized white head. Musty and earthy aroma with some spices and fruits. Tastes of the same with lemons and citrus. Lively body.

Pours a slightly hazy golden, head was big and bubbly at first pour. Went down to a small lacing head as it sat. Aroma of Belgian spices (similar to what is in their Golden Monkey), earthy, slight hops and yeast. Tingles on the tongue. More spices yeast, some hops and various fruits (pears/citrus) in the flavor.