Legal Beer

Victory Brewing out of Downingtown, PA make a myriad of delicious brews and have apparently created a number of “Vintage-dated” brews over the years that have been released to limited markets. Today I have the opportunity to sample their V-Twelve a Belgian Style Ale which I found at The Four Firkins last month. With a 12% ABV this is sure to be a serious beer, let’s see how it goes. As soon as I popped this 750ml open deliciously sweet fruity aromas came to me. Pouring straight down the glass yielded a modest two fingers of loose off white head that faded with in two minutes or less leaving some small bubbles around the surface of the beer. Color is an attractive cherry red that is relatively opaque, only becoming somewhat translucent when brought to direct light. Aroma contains a good deal of dark pitted fruit, plum and cherry strike me most. In addition to a bit of carbonation, malty sweetness and some alcohol though less than I expected with its ABV. Flavor is quite interesting pitted fruit notes particularly date, plum and cherry come across first and are accompanied by a nice level of malty sweetness followed by an almost smokey characteristic all of which cover the alcohol content marvelously. Body is medium or more but the clean mouthfeel makes this brew feel quite light. As this brew warms the fruit notes become ever more and more dominate and sweet emphasizing the cherry flavors with a gentle alcoholic note in the end that further enunciates the soft bitter notes creating an enjoyable finish. They suggest consuming this beer at around 45 degrees Ferinheight, of course in the proper open tulip like glass. I traditionally consume most of my beer around this temperature, leaving a bottle out for 20-30 minutes before consuming it but with the temperature as warm as it is in yes, Minnesota this time of year I have been much more lenient as of late simply because of how quickly the brew tends to warm up in my glass. With that said I would highly suggest consuming this beer at its proper temperature as the flavors become so much more clean and noticeable, though of course that includes the alcohol notes. Unquestionably a solid Belgian influenced amber brew that will be enjoyed by anyone who doesn’t oppose sweet malty pitted fruit notes and a good does of alcohol. If you can still find it, give it a shot and ride your bike.

Decided the desk needed a long over due cleaning

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 14th, 2009 at 5:49 pm and is filed under Beer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.