Victory V12

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

Serve in Trappist glass, Tulip, Tumbler

Bad bottle I think. Poured orange amber, astringent, alcohol, little caramel, little dark fruits, little spice.

draft at cap ale west end. dusky orange color with puffy tannish head. very raw, bread-doughy nose with some underlying banana notes, turbinado sugar. thick, rich mouthfeel (bordering on oily) and high, persistent sweetness almost suggest underattenuation. taste is bread dough and sweet malt with little accents of banana, caramel, ripe peach.

750 mL bottle. Pours clear red-orange color with a small white head with average retention. A lot of carbonation bubbling in the glass. Aromas of caramel with a ton of dark fruits and spices. Taste of caramel and banana with some slight spices and dark fruits, and a huge alcohol finish that is malty with little or no bitterness. High carbonation and fairly full bodied. Pretty enjoyable stuff!

0.75l 22 Mar 10 - Orange liquid with light tan head. Yeasty dough & spice nose, maybe some raisin too. Yeast dominates on palate, then malt and an astringent finish.

Hazy dark orange pour with a tan frothy head. Aroma is heavy malt and caramel with fruit notes. Flavor is moderately sweet and very malty, especially for a quad. Mouthfeel is oily with soft carbonation. Finishes soft with strong presence of alcohol...very enjoyable.

Pours a medium brown color, nose of figs and spices, taste is mildly boozy.

Presentation: It was poured from a brown 750ml bottle into a tulip glass. The bottle is labeled with its ABV% (12.0%) and a bottled on date of "Sep 18 2009". Appearance: It has a hazy orange amber colored body which was a little lighter than I had expected. With in it there are some small bits of yeast sediment floating around. On top the head which started out at about two finger tall settles down to just a light ring of foam around the edge of the glass. Lacing is very slick and slippery. Smell: Wow, this one lets you know right away that it’s a big serious beer. The aroma has big boozy character with strong fruity/estery yeast notes reminiscent of raisons and stone fruits. Taste/Palate: Again wow, there is some warmth here from the abv but it’s not harsh. It just adds a warm slow sipping character to the overall picture with also brings good estery yeast, sweet malt and light hops. I get notes of apricot, peaches, golden raisons and red pear. Hop flavor comes out a bit towards the finish but overall it ends fairly sweet with a warm boozy touch. Its texture is smooth but still carbonated and pleasant. Notes: This is decent Belgian, not my favorite but it was still interesting.

UPDATED: SEP 20, 2010 Pours a light golden with a full white fluffy head. Nice lacing. The aroma is rather fruity with apples and raisins, brown sugar. The taste is really nice with golden raisins, apples, bananas. The finish is a bit long and warming with a nice boozy effect. Very enjoyable beer from Victory.