Victory Brewing Company
(short notes)
Downingtown, Pennsylvania
All beers reviewed have been sampled at least once at the brewery in Downingtown, Pennsylvania on August 10, 1996. Additional tastings have taken place at home from bottles shipped to me by Jim Busch and others, plus a trip to Baltimore in September 1997.What Anderson Valley is to West Coast Ale, Victory is to East Coast Lager. Victory is one of my five favorite breweries, and I've not had a beer of theirs that I would not take to a desert isle with me.
Hop Devil IPA * * * * 1/2
An incredible beer, and a unique interpretation of the American IPA style. Be sure to read my Full Review of Victory Hop Devil to get a more comprehensive review.
Festbier Marzen/Oktoberfest * * * * 1/2
Nice deep garnet color, with a big, deep malty aroma. Earlier samplings of the Festbier featured a buttery aroma that Jim Busch indicated came from the Vienna malts used; I've not encountered this in recent tastings. The maltiness is deep, nuanced, but not sticky -- this beer clearly has been decocted. The maltiness is balanced by an appropriate bittering charge. Festbier is perhaps the most accurate interpretation of Oktoberfest in the States.
Sunrise Weissbier Bavarian Weizen * * * * *
See the Full Review of the Sunrise Weissbier. The Weissbier features a chunky maltiness from decoction and requisite phenolic notes to make this one of the best, if not the best, interpretation of Bavarian Weizen currently brewed in the United States.
Brandeywine Valley Lager Export * * * *
This beer features a nice depth of maltiness in the aroma, combined with a nuanced hoppiness. A deep, chunky maltiness is balanced by an adequate balancing from hop additions. This beer is exceptionally flavorful, very nice, crisp, and, of course, clean. An excellent dortmunder, and an absolutely fine session beer. I'd love to have an endless supply of this beer in my fridge (or on tap!).
Prima Pils German Pils * * * * 1/2
I had the good fortune to sample this beer in one of its earliest renditions, and unfiltered at the brewpub to boot, in the presence of brewer Ron and Jim Busch. A moderate hoppiness dominates the nose, which gets stronger as the beer warms a bit. The flavor is sophisticated. A complex maltiness opens, followed by a light flavoring hop. The maltiness continues on unabated, until it is put down by a crisp and pronounced noble hop bitterness. The entire flavor experience exists on a background of sulphury notes, the same sort of sulphury ntoes one finds in a fresh Pilsner Urquell.
Like most of Victory's beers, perhaps the best example brewed in the U.S. My only critique of the sample I tasted that night in August 1996 is that I would have liked a more assertive hop aroma. Aside from that minor quibble, an excellent Pilsner bordering on perfection.
St. Boisterous Heller Bock * * * *
This beer was a sample out of a conditioning tank, and if I recall correctly, this was perhaps the first run of this beer. I detected no aroma, but that was a fault of the glass shape and not the beer. The flavor has a big clean maltiness, with a slight sulphury note in the background. Like all Victory lagers, the maltiness is chunky and obviously decocted.