Victory V12

North Carolina is finally allowing High Gravity beers. Gods be praised. This was an excellent beer and I am sure there are more to come.

Bottle, from New Beer Distributors, Vintage 2002. Great nose, Tart. Green apple, raspberry, orange, little various dried fruits,raisin, prune. Hazy orangy brown color, good head that quickly faded to a ring. Tart flavors, Like aromas with whiskey/brandy, buttery, cherry also. Medium body, oily/creamy mouthfeel, brash dry finish. Very tasty, surprised that it could probably go another year or two. Really warmed up nicely.

Full apple-ish aroma to this beer, but kinda went downhill from there for me. On tap at brewery, I just found this beer to be a bit too sweet for me. I sure needed to give it more time, and the 12% is impressive and perhaps would age well and the sugary malts might mellow, but right then it was not my favorite.

A friend aged this for two years and then gave it to us as a gift. Wow, what an excellent American Belgian ale! While the aging definitely increased the alcohol content a bit (detectable from the aroma), the flavors were very well balanced -- nutty malts, hops, spices. Golden amber color. Good to the last drop. Highly recommended if you can get your hands on a bottle.

At Brewers Art in Baltimore in June 2005. Finally got a good bottle of this stuff! Amber color with a really nice head. Wow, the aroma is full of oranges! And the flavor is sweet and the alcohol certainly makes an appearance. Delicious.

on tap-pours a little head. Color is amber. Taste is sweet, grainy. Not my style.

Bomber. Nose was yeast, and sweet. The taste had some malt to go with te sweetness. And the % came thru , but did not dominate.

Sweeter and more alcoholic than what I typically like, but this isn’t bad for a 12% brew. It seems to taste more like a barleywine than a Belgian. Heavy, as expected, but somewhat mellow.