Summer Love

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: Summer Love

• Brewery: Victory Brewing Company (Pennsylvania)

• Style: American Blonde Ale

• ABV: 5.2%

• IBU:

• Pour Color: A nice golden yellow color easily seen through.

      The pour made me curl just a little bit extra. A perfect, nearly clear golden color, with a nice head. The head was about two fingers high, this one would sit at the top of the glass for awhile. The scent off the top was a piney grassy scent with a malty hint. Slightly higher carbonation then most beers. This one has a thicker body then you would expect by color. The hops really come through in a verity of tones on the taste. Pine grassy tastes are there but you also get a nice citrus that compliments a lemon tone. You also have a nice biscuity taste to the malts that just give the hops a nice back ground. This is a great beer for summer.
      Being a hop head, this is the beer I love this summer. It just seems to have that perfect balance of hops and malts this season to make a blonde ale something interesting. With most seasonal I'm happy to see a rotation. Something new or different just as the seasons change. This one I'm going to miss. Luckily you got Hop Devil and Hop Wallop to get you though!

Rating: *****

Saison Du Buff

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: Saison Du Buff

• Brewery: Victory Brewing Company

• Style: Saison

• ABV: 6.8%

• IBU:?

• Pour Color: A slightly off colored gold slighly hazy.

      This was an interesting pour to a beer. Not quite a golden color and just a light haze to the beer. Still it was almost see through. The head was there for a few seconds. Quite a spicey scent off this one. Parsley is the main smell off the top of the glass with a slight citrus tone. That citrus tone comes through so much more in the taste. The spicey taste continue too. The yeast comes through very strong on taste also. This is an extremely unique saison, a style of beer I usually don't like. This one is delicious though.
      A great range of flavor and a delicious taste. However, this one I couldn't see myself drinking everyday. Cooking with it though could go on for months. The flavors of this one are so far ranging and could make a lot of dishes taste great. Chicken soaked in this, and a few extra spices over night, would be great on the grill.  

Rating:****

Headwaters Pale Ale

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: Headwaters Pale Ale

• Brewery: Victory Brewing Company (Vermont)

• Style: Pale Ale

• ABV: 5.1%

• IBU:?

• Pour Color: A hazzy golden color that light passes through.

      On pour, you could see a head coming up that was fluffy and would be drenching me sip after sip. A nice hoppy scent of grapefruit and grassyness coming off the glass. It sat golden and looked tauntingly delicious to this mustache. The taste of this one is more hop then malt, as you would expect from a pale ale. The citrus grassy taste comes through quickly and is a nice mix of hops. The malt is a nice mellow background flavor. Not really a sweet flavor like some pales like to go with. Overall a really good pale ale that I would make the face buy again.
      First question I ask when tasting a pale. Is this like dales? I say no on this one. That isn't a real problem though, as this one is still great. The hops to make it a pale are all there and as I said this one isn't a sweet malt. That just allows you to take all that hop goodness in. That crisp taste of hops makes this a great beer for a warm summer day. I really really liked this beer each and every time it got stuck in the follicles. 

Rating:****1/2

Saint Boisterous

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: Saint Boisterous

• Brewery: Victory Brewing (Pennsylvania)
  

• Style: MaiBock

• ABV: 7.4%

• IBU:

• Pour Color: Golden color with a slight haze.

      The head on this one started quick and fluffy. A good competitor out the gate. The scents off this one were spicy and malty at the same time. You can tell from the scent the yeast is gonna have some nice flavor. Unfortunately the head was gone after the sniff. On first splash you get a nice malt explosion on the follicles. Spicy and just slightly sweet the malts and yeast head line this show. The hops come through nice and full giving it a earthy taste. The swallow leaves you with a nice crisp malty flavor that lasts a good while on the pallet. 
      Here's a early spring seasonal that really impressed me. I bought it about a month back with a best by date of march 11th. Drank it that night. A really full flavored beer even past the best by date. May have even been better had the Face bought it a few weeks before. I recommend, next Saint Patrick season, you find this one and give it a try. 

Rating: ****

Yakima Glory Ale

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: Yakima Glory Ale

• Brewery: Victory brewing (Pennsylvania)

• Style: Dark IPA

• ABV: 8.7%

• IBU:?

• Pour Color: Pours a very dark red.

      This one poured a dark colored red that let through little light. The head was big and fluffy but disappeared quickly. The scent of this one is earthy. You get a slightly fruity scent off it too. Those scents also have a slight sweet smell of malts to it. On taste you get hit with tons of flavors. Sweet roasted flavored malts are there in that dark color. The hops though are spicy and grassy. There's a flowery hint to this one too. Wow the range and flavor of this one is great and not scene often!
      Not quite as hoppy as a IPA usually is but nothing to complain about. This beer has a nice scent and a nice taste. The malts are strong as the hops and this leads to a nice balance. The crisp flavors are met by roasted dark malts and neither are left to go it alone. This one makes me glad the face is going to a victory take over in his home city!

Rating: ****1/2

Hop Devil

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: Hop Devil
  

• Brewery: Victory Brewery (Pennsylvania)

• Style:IPA

• ABV:6.7.%

• IBU: 50

• Pour Color: Nice golden color on the pour not very murky.

      The scent comes out the bottle. A nice full range of hop scent. Pine and citrus tones are easy to catch before the foam goes down in the glass. The head didn't stick around to long. The taste is a nice earthy deep hop flavor. It mixes well with the malts that only gives a slight sweet flavor. It must be the whole hops that they use that reminds me of a Torpedo. Not quite as bitter but a really great IPA. One of the best I have reviewed and a constant favorite of me and the Faces. 
      Another Victory brew and another one in the W column. This one doesn't kick your butt like a  Hop Wallop but is much easier drinking. Like I said this one is the old standby when it comes to my favorite beers. Hop heavy and drinkable for most occasions, the Hop Devil is always a good choice. 

  

Rating: *****

Hop Wallop

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: Hop Wallop

• Brewery: Victory Brewerys (Pennsylvania)

• Style: Imperial IPA

• ABV:8.5%

• IBU:

• Pour Color: A nice goldern slightly cloudy color

      Hop Wallop.... Wow..... The pour was that golden color you expect from a lager or a pilsner. The scent though is not that of a lager. I got a heavy scent of hops, off the glass, as the Face lifted it. Then came the splash of hop flavor. Citrus tones and floral tones take over this beer quick and echo long. This one tastes like the hops forever after. As a hop lovin mustache this was paradise really. 
      This is one of my new favorites. The hop combination, with just a slight malt flavor, really works. This one is much easier to drink then the Hop Stoopid or the DogFish 120, but, still has the character of an Imperial IPA. With Prima Pills and Hop Devil also made by victory expect the Face and I to drink and review more Victory!  

  

Rating: ****1/2