Victory Old Horizontal Review

Name: Victory Old Horizontal

Style: Barleywine

ABV: 11%

It's been a couple of years since I've dabbled in anything from Victory Brewing Company, but that's all going to change tonight with my review of their Old Horizontal, which is their annual barleywine release. On the top label, there is some small text that says "2013", which gives us the idea that this was brewed in 2013. I bring this up because I didn't start seeing this on shelves until about 2 months ago, which I find odd because either I missed this when it first came out or it wasn't put on shelves until fairly recently.

Old Horizontal pours a hazy dark crimson color with foamy head that settles into thin filmy form and the lacing is quite abundant and sticky.

In the nose, I'm picking up a ton of dark fruit notes with some caramel malts and some fairly strong citrus hoppiness. 

The best way I can describe the flavor is powerful. Not powerful in the boozy sense, but more like "in-your-face" strong. Otherwise it's very much the same as the nose with some dark fruit/plum notes, caramelized malts and strong citrus hops. The only key difference here is that there is more of a pine/resiny flavor kick than in the nose, which is most noticeable in the aftertaste.

The palate is quite hefty with a very thick body and some moderate carbonation. It's one of those barleywines that you really have to take your time with.

Old Horizontal is a pretty good barleywine style ale but the sheer strength of flavor (again, not boozy) may be off-putting to some. I think with some aging this could be an absolutely fantastic beer; I know I'm cellaring one for myself. With that said, even in it's current state, I still think that Old Horizontal warrants your attention if you're looking for something a bit on the stronger side.

Victory Old Horizontal - 8.25/10