Victory V12

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

750 mL bottle. Pours hazy amber with an average fizzy light brown head that diminishes to a patchy film in relative short order, spare lacing. Aroma is heavy malt (toasted straw, meal, bread), light hops (flowers), moderate yeast (dough, earth) with notes of alcohol and pear. Long duration, moderate sweetness and acidity, heavy bitteness; creamy warm nutty malt, yeast flavor with candied fruit notes. Full bodied, alcoholic texture, average carbonation and an astringent finish.

750 ml bottled on 3.11.03, drank 5.14.05: the pours is a hzy burt orange with an offwhite head. lively carbonation. the aroma is very fruity. i detect banana, grape, pear, apple, honey, dates, and pineapple. quite sweet smelling. upfront, seet malty fruity flavors. banana apple grape. changes to a more honeyish, date, caramelly taste. finishes with a hint of warming alcohol. the mouthfeel is awesome.

Huge aroma of figs, spice, alcohol. Overripe fruit coming on strong in the flavor. ABV was surprisingly not detected, except the warmth going down!. For 12%, this was really smooth and good.

Today I felt like a having a world-class Belgian, and I think I picked a good one. Poured a clear orange/amber. The head is a perfectly uniform creamy white, like steamed 1/2 and 1/2 on a cafe breve. As this soft blanket slowly dissipates, it leaves remnants of itself in the form of perfect lacing dancing intricate patterns around the edges of the glass. Massive swirls of bubbles are erupting from the bottom of my chalice and churning their way to the top of the beer. Aroma is dry apple cider, while deeper reflection reveals small notes of candy sugar. Taste is very well layered, with vinous notes intermixed with apples and pears making themselves known first, interlacing with refreshing alcohol. As tasting continues, the mouthful slowly transitions to candy sweetness. A fairly sweet dry alcoholic finish remains in the palate after swallowing. Considering how this brew is not as dark as some other strong Belgians, the heaviness and creaminess of the mouthfeel catches you off guard. In my final analysis as I reflect on this gem of a find, is it the most balanced strong Belgian out there? No. Is it world class? With little doubt. Does it deserve more praise than it’s receiving? With no doubt whatsoever. If you can, pick one up today and challenge my observations. If it’s not immediately available to you, trade for it.

Pours an orangie amber with a smallish head. Aroma is mostly fruity, banana and citrus. Flavor is much lighter than I would expect from such a high abv. Some nice bread like yeast mixed with a sweetness. Hardly any alcohol flavor, but a nice burn as it goes down. An exceptional beer.

Amber orange hue with rocky off white head and generous lacing. Amora of orange peel, candied bananas, cloves, citrus and toffee. Initially sweet with honey and candied caramel flavors. Pleasant hop bitterness in the back of the palate with a nice long finish.

Pours ambery red with an off-white lasting head and exceptional lacing that lasts throughout the entire tasting. Smells of grapes, tulips, raisins, caramel, bananas, flowers and sugar cane. The smell is almost overwhelming to the senses given how much is packed into this one. Tastes of caramel, nuts, prunes, raisins, and figs with a warming alcohol finish. Overall, a nice beer, but it needs a year or two of aging to help mellow out some of the sting of the alcohol notes.

750 ml. Bottled on Jan 09 06. Was visiting Wis last July and was at Discount Liquors in Milwaukee. The wife and I spotted this one on the way to check out by registers. Well I was telling her we already had a lot of beer to send back to AZ and a 750 bottle like this would be in my carry on already going to be heavy. Well glad she convinced me to get. It was good and was looking for a beer in the house to toast the Detroit Tigers for beating the Yankees and sending their sorry team back to New York. Thus a beer with VICTORY was just the right one to have.
Mild fermentation of fruit, caramel and grainy aroma. Body color was a murky caramel with tan beige head that settled to a creamy cover on top of body. Mild Lacing. Flavor was little over sweet but had a creamy texture of caramel malt and a mild zesty bitterness to balance it out. Big yeasty sour shot of alcohol in the end. Smooth on the palate with an alcohol warming effect on the body. Great brew, glad the wife talked me in to picking this one up.