Well, I'm not liking many Belgians anymore, and I fairly despise Victory, but I had a chance to make a mixed sixer that included this and figuring this would be the least money I ever had to spend to try what is sure to be a craptastic beer, I bought one.
Pours fine. Tripel is fairly to do in appearance, and this one pours a cloudy slightly orange color with a very white, if thin, head. Has aan odd neon glow to it.
Slight citrus twang sneaks through the odd burned chemical smell. It's also on type, even though I don't like it. I'm wondering why this isn't perceptively over-hopped yet, as Victory seems to think every style should be.
I have to hand it to them. Although I don't like this beer, it's within the type and I guess they must still be suffering a hop shortage in Pennsylvania because they managed not to foul it up by not over-hopping it.
Still don't like Belgians.
10/18/2010 UPDATE:
Begrudgingly, I liked this one today.
Showing posts with label Victory Brewing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Victory Brewing. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Victory Brewing's Storm King Stout
In an effort to wash the taste of Prima Pils out of my mouth, which you'd think would be easier after having poured half of that abomination down the drain, I moved on to Victory's Storm King Stout.
As with all Victory beers, I know this one's going to be hoppier than others of the same type. Too hoppy? I'm hoping so, that way it'll scrub the Prima taste off of my tongue.
Pours an opaque black with a huge dark tan head that slowly fades. Reddish highlights around the outsides, if the light is able to get through it just a bit.
Huge roasted grainy smell like a substantial stout should have. It's also backed up by a very floral, very grassy hops. Straightforward and simple, this is going to be a roasted hop bomb.
Sure enough, a strong roasted and molasses flavor hits you right up front and then quickly gives way to the grassy hops that grab the back of your tongue. Slightly sweet, but only in the last of the aftertaste. Very good stout, and my only criticism would be that it's too hoppy. It doesn't throw the beer out of the style, however, which is good. Another example of not doing something just because you can, but with this brewery I give more leeway as long as there's some semblance of the style left.
As with all Victory beers, I know this one's going to be hoppier than others of the same type. Too hoppy? I'm hoping so, that way it'll scrub the Prima taste off of my tongue.
Pours an opaque black with a huge dark tan head that slowly fades. Reddish highlights around the outsides, if the light is able to get through it just a bit.
Huge roasted grainy smell like a substantial stout should have. It's also backed up by a very floral, very grassy hops. Straightforward and simple, this is going to be a roasted hop bomb.
Sure enough, a strong roasted and molasses flavor hits you right up front and then quickly gives way to the grassy hops that grab the back of your tongue. Slightly sweet, but only in the last of the aftertaste. Very good stout, and my only criticism would be that it's too hoppy. It doesn't throw the beer out of the style, however, which is good. Another example of not doing something just because you can, but with this brewery I give more leeway as long as there's some semblance of the style left.
Victory Brewing's Prima Pils
One of my favorite commenters on my favorite beer website recently said "Think, American Brewers, think! Just because you CAN, doesn't mean you SHOULD."
Now, I have no idea what beer he was talking about, if he was talking about any particular beer at all. More than likely the snooty Brit was bemoaning the state of American brewing generally. But if he was going to be talking about a certain beer, I can only imagine it would be Prima Pils.
Now, pilsner is one of my favorite beer styles, period. I love the crisp, clean, and slightly sharp taste of a Czech pilsner like Budvar, Rebel, or Urquell. I also enjoy the slightly more malty German pilsners like Warsteiner Premium Verum, or the American Scrimshaw Pilsner by North Coast Brewery. But even more I love that funky taste that all pilsners should have, the funk that smells and tastes like a skunk's ass. It's not skunky in the usual sense of the word, it just is what it is, and the type requires it.
But Prima Pils has got to be the worst pilsner I have ever had. True to Victory's style it's overly hopped, a cardinal sin for a pils if you ask me. Again, just because you can doesn't mean you should. The other Victory offerings are good. They're hoppy and bitter, with a heavier body than most beers in the types they offer. But hoppy isn't right for every beer, and it's a tragedy for this one. I know lots of hop heads who can't stop raving about it, but I'm convinced now more than ever that their taste buds are either screwed or they think there's only one style of beer, that its main characteristic is hops, and that as long as there's at least twice as much in it than there should be, it's perfect for whatever style it claims to be. Even when it's not.
It is a decidedly sophomoric way to brew and taste beer. And it is simply wrong.
This one pours more of an orangeish yellow than any pils I've seen. Looks like it'll be fuller bodied than others, with a white head that thins to a collar quickly with moderate carbonation.
Smells like a pils on the sweet side--fairly malty, which is appropriate for a German pils, and more floral, which is not. Smell is lighter than I expected from the way it looks. No bitterness. No real crispness to it, like I want in a pils. Not the usual pils funk that it should have either, just that light bready malty sweetness. The absence of the funk makes this beer a loser before I even taste it. A pils should also have a fizzy head that throws off that pilsner smell, and although this is a heavier German pils, it still doesn't come close to having the right look or smell.
Ugh. Odd. Barely has the taste that a pils should have. Too hoppy for a pils. Medicinal band aid taste that you'd expect in a Belgian, but it's way out of place here. I thought it smelled more like a pale than a pils, except that it didn't have any bitterness. Well, the taste is much more like a pale because the bitterness is too strong. As it warms it gains a slight bit of pilsner taste, but it's still too bitter, and a pils is better cold.
Terrible pils, way off type. Might have been a halfway decent pale. Might. What an awful beer.
Now, I have no idea what beer he was talking about, if he was talking about any particular beer at all. More than likely the snooty Brit was bemoaning the state of American brewing generally. But if he was going to be talking about a certain beer, I can only imagine it would be Prima Pils.
Now, pilsner is one of my favorite beer styles, period. I love the crisp, clean, and slightly sharp taste of a Czech pilsner like Budvar, Rebel, or Urquell. I also enjoy the slightly more malty German pilsners like Warsteiner Premium Verum, or the American Scrimshaw Pilsner by North Coast Brewery. But even more I love that funky taste that all pilsners should have, the funk that smells and tastes like a skunk's ass. It's not skunky in the usual sense of the word, it just is what it is, and the type requires it.
But Prima Pils has got to be the worst pilsner I have ever had. True to Victory's style it's overly hopped, a cardinal sin for a pils if you ask me. Again, just because you can doesn't mean you should. The other Victory offerings are good. They're hoppy and bitter, with a heavier body than most beers in the types they offer. But hoppy isn't right for every beer, and it's a tragedy for this one. I know lots of hop heads who can't stop raving about it, but I'm convinced now more than ever that their taste buds are either screwed or they think there's only one style of beer, that its main characteristic is hops, and that as long as there's at least twice as much in it than there should be, it's perfect for whatever style it claims to be. Even when it's not.
It is a decidedly sophomoric way to brew and taste beer. And it is simply wrong.
This one pours more of an orangeish yellow than any pils I've seen. Looks like it'll be fuller bodied than others, with a white head that thins to a collar quickly with moderate carbonation.
Smells like a pils on the sweet side--fairly malty, which is appropriate for a German pils, and more floral, which is not. Smell is lighter than I expected from the way it looks. No bitterness. No real crispness to it, like I want in a pils. Not the usual pils funk that it should have either, just that light bready malty sweetness. The absence of the funk makes this beer a loser before I even taste it. A pils should also have a fizzy head that throws off that pilsner smell, and although this is a heavier German pils, it still doesn't come close to having the right look or smell.
Ugh. Odd. Barely has the taste that a pils should have. Too hoppy for a pils. Medicinal band aid taste that you'd expect in a Belgian, but it's way out of place here. I thought it smelled more like a pale than a pils, except that it didn't have any bitterness. Well, the taste is much more like a pale because the bitterness is too strong. As it warms it gains a slight bit of pilsner taste, but it's still too bitter, and a pils is better cold.
Terrible pils, way off type. Might have been a halfway decent pale. Might. What an awful beer.
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