Beer Review: Victory Summer Love

Serving Type: Bottle

ABV: 5.2 percent

Appearance: This one  had a body that was bright, blonde and golden. I bet that if I hadn't told you that this was a blonde ale you would never guess it, right? Nevermind that. Anyways, there was a ton of carbonation in this. Especially in what appeared to be a thick column of bubbles in the middle portions of my glass. There was a thin layer of white foam atop the brew as well. This offered some above average retention. It wanted to hang around for a good while. In turn, this left some average lacing as well.

Smell: Holy hops. Some potent hop aromas jolted my sinus cavity. They were extremely piney and citrusy. A tiny bit of sweeter malt was able to peak through. How that was I'm not entirely sure.

Taste: Unfortunately I wasn't able to notice much of anything until the hops bit me on the back of the tongue. Still, the hop bite was an interesting and tasty one. The other aspects of the flavor seemed really lackluster and light. Aside from all of that, the aftertaste of this was quite crisp and refreshing. The texture created by the carbonation came through on the entirety of each sip. This brew still had enough juice to remind me that this was summer.

Overall Rating: 

I've heard a lot of great things about this beer. Thus, this is just another example of going into a beer with very high expectations and not getting exactly what you thought it would be. I have a feeling that those of you that enjoy this beer likely enjoy a stronger hop presence than I do. I need a little more cracker taste or sweetness to compliment the hops in this one.

Beer Review: Victory Golden Monkey

Serving Type: Bottle

ABV: 9.5 percent

Appearance: If you follow me on Twitter, you might already know that I've had my struggles with this beer within the few times I've tried it. In this particular instance this beer came out of the bottle looking fabulous. It had a lovely golden body just as the beer's name describes. There was also plenty of that Belgian-style carbonation in which the bubbles follow each other in miniature bubble trains. The head was towering above the rest of the beer. It was thick, frothy and perfectly found the rim of the glass before settling down.

Smell: This brew smelled mainly grassy and peppery. I was also able to pick out something that was a little sweet and sugary, but I couldn't figure out what it was exactly. Also, with such a high ABV I wasn't surprised that some alcohol announced its presence.

Taste: Bear with me on this one. Everything usually goes great with this beer until I actually have to drink it. I had this on draft once and it was quite watery for whatever reason. This time it was very yeasty and even more boozy. It was rough. I almost wanted to have a side glass of water to ease it down. There was plenty of the fluffy head remaining to provide a thin layer of creaminess, but this beer is really strong on my tongue.

Overall Rating: 

I'm sure this is a popular one with many fellow beer geeks out there. I usually can only give beers that I struggle through like this a one or two rating, but this can be an an exception. This is obviously a good product as evident by the way it looks and acts. It's a fabulous looking brew. I'm still developing my taste for the Belgian styles. Maybe I'm just not ready for this one yet?

Beer Review: Victory Prima Pils

Serving Type: Bottle

ABV: 5.3 percent

Appearance: Prima Pils certainly has the color of a pilsner. It's straw gold and has a thin layer of bubbly head to top it off. The head will leave a little bit of lacing inside the glass, but you have to look close to spot it. The body of the beer is really hazy. I'd bet any money that this pilsner is a touch hazier than some witbiers out there. The haze instilled fear in me that this is one of those brews that's overly-saturated in hops.

Smell: Overall, this brew smells very dry. It's very yeasty, bready and grassy. Any hop presence that's in the aroma is very subtle and comforting.

Taste: My fear was somewhat proved true once I was able to taste this beer. There was a flow of hops all of the way across the tongue. The yeast that was in the beer mixed well on the front, though. The biscuit taste that provides that characteristic bitterness we look for in pilsners was present on the finish. So, that was definitely a plus. This beer still tastes very crisp.

Overall Rating: 

If you're one of those that enjoy more hops present in beer then you will probably enjoy this one more than I did. For me, a great pilsner is all about that biscuit taste on the finish. I feel that hops should only be a compliment and not a focus. That's just my opinion. Whether you like this beer depends on your ability to tangle with its bite because it definitely has some.

Monday Rant: Beer Trends

I think that even if you're a casual observer of news and happenings in the beer community you can still notice some of the fads and trends that come and go. There are quite a few that pop up now and then as well as those that seem to stick around for a good portion of time.

We had that STUPID shaker pint debate that lasted a mere two weeks. Excitement for national beer day Untappd badges appeared to be a something popular that lasted for about six months. The last two years, it kind of felt like brews aged in whiskey barrels seemed to be one of those things that people also flocked to. Sometimes it just seems as if some of us just get bored with what's "in" and consistently want to move to something else. Does beer lower the attention spans of some people?

It's getting to that time of the beer calendar in which some of the popular barrel-aged beers will start to appear in our local bars (if they're lucky enough to come across one of them). It might be just me, but since we began our trek through 2013 it seems as if there's been plenty of excitement in the department of beer and wine hybrids. A perfect example of this is an article on Victory Brewing's website pertaining to a new version of Golden Monkey called White Monkey.

Dogfish Head came out with the Noble Rot beer/wine hybrid not too long ago, but as far as I can recollect that brew wasn't aged in wine barrels like this Victory concoction will be.

One can only hope that this can be one of those things both craft beer and wine aficionados can share some ground on. That's if this does indeed end up being the next big trend in craft beer. There's quite a good chance that it might.