Follow Sean Inman to the best in craft beer
Almost to the advent finish line but the days are getting colder and you may need to be layered or at least Layered Up in a Winter Stout from Victory Brewing.
“Get cozy this Winter with the complex layers of our newest release, Layered Up. This smooth-bodied stout starts with a roasty richness and a hint of dark, unsweetened chocolate followed by notes of biscuit. This curious blend will have you ready to embrace the cold this season.”
Heading out of California to the east to heritage brewery Victory who have a discerning monkey on their Christmas beer…
“This Belgian-Style holiday ale combines the beloved flavor profile of golden monkey with notes of cranberry, orange peel, cinnamon and nutmeg to deliver a delightfully smooth finish, perfect for merry gatherings with family and friends.”
Who here hasn’t been on this list at some point this year? But maybe it isn’t such a bad place to be if there is a Victory barrel-aged beer available for you. I think 11% abv will leas to more naughty, not less.
“Rum Barrel Aged Winter Warmer small batch ale gives off alllll the vibes; a luscious medium bodied copper ale, with warming notes of vanilla, rum, brown sugar and cinnamon that will seduce your taste buds. “
As a brewery turns twenty-one, it is appropriate to celebrate in a bubbly way.
And that is exactly what Victory Brewing is doing with their upcoming 750ml bottle release of Jubilee, a Biere de Champagne
“fermented with Champagne yeast to marry the lively and effervescent character of sparkling wines with the rich, fruit-forward flavors of Belgian-style ales.” Adding to the mix are the somewhat wine-ish German Blanc hops.
Not too many beers of this style out there in the wild, so you might want to check for this one.
Check your Craft Beer Acquisition bingo cards. If you have Southern Tier and Victory teaming up, you might be a winner.
The first big business transaction of 2016 is thankfully straightforward and shouldn’t cause too much waves amongst the craft beer fans. Basically Artisanal Brewing Ventures (ABV) is now the parent company to the two East Coast breweries both with extensive brewing behind them. Southern Tier with 14+ and Victory with 20+.
The brewing operations will remain independent but where the combined strength will come is “in collaborative sales and marketing efforts to strengthen, support and expand its distributor and retail partnerships. Victory and Southern Tier brands will become increasingly available to loyal and new consumers across their combined markets as a direct result of this union.”
Both companies have pretty large distribution footprints but we in SoCal may be the beneficiaries because we get only Victory now but some Southern Tier may end up hitching rides to our favorite beer shoppes. The other benefit is that these two are off the table for the big sword swallowers and ABV is now an option for those who have been approached.
Will Idaho 7 be the hip hop of 2016? Victory Brewing is using it for their 20th Anniversary Experimental IPA. So maybe that will open the flood gates. Though it doesn’t have a “real” moniker like Equinox or Cascade as of yet, the to be named experimental hop imparts three main flavors that I think will work wonderfully in an IPA. Orange and apricot flavors with hints of mildly astringent black tea.
Here is the pertinent info from the press release: “The IPA is brewed with pilsner, carapils malts and a very rare, experimental hop. Idaho 7, a recently developed hop variety, takes center stage in this celebratory but sessionable liquid homage. Through two decades of global hop-trotting Victory has forged enduring relationships with hop growers and brokers that permits Downingtown’s famous brewery to enjoy a leadership role in hop experimentation and implementation. Discovered in the third largest hop producing state in the country, Victory helps the hop make its east coast debut by utilizing twenty years of craft brewing knowledge to harness all of its juicy hop power into a 12 oz. bottle. Part of the reason for Idaho 7’s promising power lies in the location where it grows – a land formation dubbed the ‘shelf,’ in a remote area in Idaho. This extremely low mesa in western Idaho creates the ultimate soil and climatic conditions for growing hops.”
It’s a Victory for ice cream. Yes, Belgian Brûlée and Strawberry Love would be great ice cream flavors not matter what, but add in the fact that it is made with Victory Brewing wort, then it sounds even better to me.
The Victory website describes Belgian Brûlée as a melding of “the rich, silky flavors of crème brûlée with subtle, delicious notes of V Twelve wort paired with the sweetness of brown sugar and the salty crunch of almonds. Strawberry Love offers juicy strawberries with refreshingly tasty Summer Love Ale wort and moist angel food cake within a rich, smooth strawberry and vanilla base.”
There have other flavors as well from Hopped-Up Devil, Triple Monkey and Storm Drop.
As I have wondered aloud before, I wonder who in L.A. could/would add ice cream to their brands.
Since last month was light and local, this month we go towards chocolate flavors and expand our reach from Pennsylvania and up the coast of California as far as Paso Robles.
~LIGHT
Surf Brewery / Surfer’s Point Amber 5.00% ABV
” Named after our local surf break by the pier, Surfer’s Point, this amber Lager is brewed in the style of a Vienna Lager. The beer brings a clean malt sweetness balanced against American noble hops. Featuring soft notes of toasted bread and hints of chocolate wrapped up with a clean lager.”
~MEDIUM
BarrelHouse Brewing / Stout 6.00% ABV
” Since the first batch, our people can’t get enough of this creamy, complex, drinkable stout. We crafted this unfiltered brew with oats for creaminess, lactose for sweetness, Belgian dark syrups for intense dark fruit notes, dark malts for a hint of chocolate and coffee roast, and just enough hops for an award winning bittersweet finish. The perfect beer made for the perfect moment. “
~DARK
Victory Brewing / Deep Cocoa 8.50 % ABV
“We’ve unlocked the mysteries and nuances of malts to deliver these luxurious and provocative flavors in this complex and satisfying porter. Raise your glass and taste the Victory of Deep Cocoa! Aromas of roasted malts blend with deep, dark chocolate in this bold and intense chocolate porter. The deceptively light body bursts with chocolate and nuttiness finishing with a lingering chocolate bitterness”
If you think about, if you followed my beer buying advice, you would have purchased 36 really great beers. But there are so many more out there. Changing at such a rapid pace that even the most speedee drinker couldn’t catch them all. So, let’s find more new ones on Southern California shelves.
~LIGHT
Perennial Artisan Ales/ Saison Lis 5.00% ABV
“A straw colored Belgian-style Saison brewed with chamomile flowers. It is fermented with a traditional saison yeast strain that imparts fruity and spicy notes that dovetail perfectly with the tea-like quality of the chamomile. Finishes dry, tart, and refreshing.”
~MEDIUM
Victory Brewing/ Moving Parts 2 6.40% ABV
“We like to mix it up. New flavors, new ideas, new ingredients; we welcome them all. In celebration of our penchant for prolific experimentation, we present Moving Parts: The Ever-Evolving IPA. Each release in this series (every four months) celebrates a tweaked ingredient or two, creating an endless array of possible flavor profiles. For us, Moving Parts are a good thing!”
~DARK
Anchor Brewing/ Zymaster No. 7 7.00% ABV
“Portrero Hill Sour-Mash IPA. The mash is sour but the beer is not. Instead, the sour mash we blend with our regular mash results in this IPA’s unique piquancy. The dry tartness from the sour mash, the bitterness from the Nelson Sauvin hops, and the subtle spiciness from the rye meld to create a singular, thirst-quenching IPA with a clean, crisp finish. Dry-hopping with Nelson Sauvin adds tropical complexity with notes of grapefruit, mandarin orange, and passion fruit. “
Last review was ESB and now another iconic and oft ignored style, the Alt. Widmer made their bones on this and an American Wheat. So how does Sierra Nevada teamed with Victory of Pennsylvania see this style in 2014? Let’s take the Alt Route and find out…..
The Alt Route pours a reddish to dark brown. Lots of bubbles on this one. This beer really pops. I had imbibed two other dramatically different beers earlier this day but this one stands out. That can be hard to do when palate fatigue sets in. I am getting notes of cola and a little bit of spice here. Maybe licorice as well. Light and refreshing are descriptors that pop into my mind and stay there.
I don’t know what I was expecting from this. Maybe something heavier and Germanic but this is almost liquer-ish in flavor profile while not in alcohol. If you had told me that the Bell’s and Victory beers would be my top two, I would not have been shocked but certainly surprised. This is most certainly my second most favorite beer in the pack. With only two left!
