Victory Kirsch Gose Review

I forgot to take a photo, here's the label...

Name: Victory Kirsch Gose
Style: Gose
ABV: 4.7%

I apologize for the lack of reviews this past week. I've had a lot going on that I've had to deal with. Amongst them was dealing with the death of one of my best friends, preparing things for grad school and getting things packed for my move in a couple of weeks. So if my reviews are spottier, you now know why. Anyways, let's get to the beer.

About 2 years ago, I had my first Gose ale and I wasn't too impressed with it. In fact, I was so unimpressed with it that I actually haven't had a Gose since then. Frankly when I did that review of Goosetown, I had written off the style as a whole and thought that it would never catch on. Well since I did that review, it seems like every brewery and their mother has released their own interpretation of the Gose style. But I always continued to ignore the trend because my first experience with the style was not-so-ideal. It's something I'm ashamed to admit considering how popular this style has gotten.

Today I'm turning a new leaf in regards to this style with Victory Brewing's Kirsch Gose, which is a Gose that is brewed with cherries. I'll admit I'm a bit anxious to see how this turns out seeing how as my first experience was not good.

Appearance - Fairly hazy dark red/salmon color with a foamy pinkish head. There's a little bit of carbonation in here and some soapy & sparse lacing.

Aroma - Bitter hoppiness mixed in with some cherries. There's some mild sour funk along with some pale maltiness and some salinity. So far so good.......well, bottoms up!

Taste - Sour cherry notes followed by some pale malts. I'm getting some saltiness too, some grainy notes and a very light touch of funk.

I'm guessing this is how a Gose is supposed to taste because I'm enjoying this quite a bit! Sure the flavor didn't quite blow me away, but it's quite good when everything is said and done. My only regret is that this wasn't the first Gose beer that I ever had. Then again, it wasn't released until long after this blog was first made.

Victory Kirsch Gose - 8.5/10

Victory Prima Pils Review

Name: Victory Prima Pils
Style: Pilsner
ABV: 5.3%

Today I'm going to be reviewing an old favorite of mine from when I first started drinking craft beer: Victory Brewing's Prima Pils. Why is it called Prima, you ask? According to the beer description, Prima is a German exclamation of joy. From what the ever-reliable internet tells me, the English equivalent of Prima is "great."

Prima Pils pours a clear yellow with a moderate amount of visible carbonation. The head takes on a foamy white appearance but the lacing is very sparse.

The nose starts out with a strong aroma of lemon zest & pilsner malts followed up by some maltiness and some light citra and floral hoppiness.

The taste is lemon zest, pilsner & pale malts, citrus & bitter hops. The aftertaste is strong with some bitter hoppiness. Very robust and complex flavor for a Pilsner. It does have a very crisp body though.

Even though this is one of the first Pilsners that I've ever had way back when I first got into craft beer, this still ranks up there as one of the best that I've ever had. In fact, I would consider Prima Pils to be a textbook example as how to do a Pilsner right. The name may seem a bit presumptuous, but this is indeed a Prima Pils!

Victory Prima Pils - 9.25/10

Victory Golden Monkey Review

Name: Victory Golden Monkey
Style: Tripel
ABV: 9.5%

It's time to take a look at another beer from the Victory Brewing Company. For this review, I have Golden Monkey, their Tripel style ale. Since their availability has gotten better where I live, I hope to be doing more reviews from Victory from the future.

Maybe it's just my overactive imagination at work but having grown up on Hong Kong action cinema, I can't help but think that "Golden Monkey" would be a good title for a 1970's Kung Fu movie. Interestingly enough, when I did a search on Google, I did find this....

Okay, so maybe it's not my overactive imagination after all. Anyways, let's take a look at this beer!

Golden Monkey pours a fairly clear yellow color with a slight haziness. I'm picking up on some pretty active carbonation in the center of the glass and moderately active along the sides. The head itself quite thin, yet slightly foamy and the lacing retention is sparse and soapy.

The nose starts off with a fairly strong clove and Belgian yeastiness scent. There's also some citrus hoppiness in here with some toffee maltiness.

The flavor starts out with some strong cloves and spiciness, taking on an almost cinnamon-like characteristic along with some prominent Belgian yeasts. The citrus hops really don't show up until the end of the flavor which provides for a fruity yet bitter aftertaste. The toffee malt backbone also provides a good foundation for the flavors but it takes a while for that to really shine through. The palate possesses a very heavy body and the carbonation is also very high by Tripel standards.

While I would prefer the flavor to be a bit more balanced, this is still another great beer from Victory Brewing and I would recommend checking this out. As for pairings, I say it would go really well with an old school John Woo movie.

Victory Golden Monkey - 8/10

Sierra Nevada Beer Camp 2014 Reviews - Part 1

Last week, I came into possession of the Sierra Nevada Beer Camp 12-pack, with each beer being a collaboration from different breweries all over the country. This 3-part series will cover each beer included in the said 12-pack with my score underneath each beer.

Now the reason why I'm not giving each beer it's own separate review is because each beer is a one-off collaboration, meaning that it won't be brewed again; With the exception of Hoptimum which was originally a "Beer Camp" beer. Since these are twelve beers that will never be brewed again, I figured it would be more efficient this way.

Electric Ray India Pale Lager (8.5 % ABV) - Brewed in collaboration with Ballast Point Brewing. The flavor is very citrus hop forward but with a solid pale malt sweetness as opposed to a caramel/toffee maltiness. The aftertaste is quite bitter with some grapefruit and citrus hop notes. IPLs tend to be around the 5-6% ABV range so this is definitely strong for it's category. However the alcohol content is masked quite well and the flavor, while not complex, is quite robust and tasty. I could see this being a regular visitor in my fridge if it weren't a one-time only offering.

Verdict - 8.5/10

Alt Route Altbier (6.6% ABV) - Brewed in Collaboration with Victory Brewing Company. Pours a solid ruby red color. This is a very malt forward beer in terms of flavor with caramel malts, roasted barley, a bit of dark fruitiness and a surprisingly bitter hoppy finish. Nothing terribly special in terms of flavor when it comes to the style, but it's quite good nonetheless.

Verdict - 8/10

Tater Ridge Scottish Ale (7.0% ABV) - Brewed in collaboration with the Asheville Brewers Alliance. This ruby red colored beer has a distinct bitter hoppiness on the front of the palate with a roasted barley & chocolate taste. There is also some light grassiness and another type of bitterness that isn't of the hoppy variety which I'm assuming is the potatoes used in the brewing process. My only exposure to potato based beers is from Indeed Brewing with their Sweet Mama Jamma, which I found to be very good. As for this beer, it's balanced in terms of flavor but I'm not really a fan of it at the same time. I'd rather just have a regular Scottish Ale instead.

Verdict - 6/10

There and Back English Style Bitter (5.6 % ABV) - Brewed in collaboration with New Glarus Brewing. Pouring a hazy orange color. The front of the taste has a maramalade-like sweetness to it, some pale malts and a bitter finish. Like the Altbier, it's a pretty standard English Bitter that tastes good and is drinkable. The only thing that makes this beer stand out is the higher-than-normal ABV level (most English Bitters fall into the <5% range.)

Verdict - 8/10


I hope you all enjoyed the first part of this series. Stay tuned for the next part which'll be posted tomorrow night. If you are still able to get "Beer Camp" in your area, I would highly recommend checking this out!

Cheers!

- Nick

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