Victory St. Boisterous

Why I tried this: It was Victory brewery night, so of course I had to have a Victory beer. I had recently had their Whirlwind Witbier as well as a few others, so the St. Boisterous was just a natural progression to the night. It was described to me as a bock style beer, and at 7.4% alcohol. Right on.

Smell: Has a scent of bready yeast and malts. There was a slight sweetness to the smell, as all good bocks should have. Didn't smell the alcohol at all.

Taste: Not too much different than the taste. You have your bready yeast type flavor plus some sweet, earthy malts. It all finishes with a crisp and slightly bitter hop, which was unexpected but not unwelcome at all. Pretty smooth and good flavor through and through.

Overall, I'd give Victory's St. Boisterous bock a quarter full glass. It was a pretty solid effort for a bock, but ultimately it falls short by not doing enough. Its medium body flavor is solid, but not outstanding. The smell pretty much mimics the taste and leaves little up to the imagination. I'm not typically a bock person, so I probably wouldn't get this beer again, but it was definitely a decent beer. I think bock fans out there would definitely be happy adding this beer to their weekly repertoire.

--Jeff

Victory Whirlwind Witbier

Why I tried this: A few days prior I had received a text message from WOB UCF that they were going to have a brewery night with Victory brewery on Tuesday night. Brewery nights are exciting because you get to try beers that you may otherwise never see in your region, so of course I had to go. I was hanging out near the bar talking to Bobby a bit about football (soccer), and ordered the first Victory beer listed on tap, the Whirlwind Witbier.

Smell: Pretty typical for a wheat beer. This being a white wheat, it was a bit lighter, but still had your familiar wheats and oats scent, plus a little lingering spice.

Taste: I got a lot of very clean wheats, coupled with a bit of citrus. Not too sweet, just right. The nice thing about it was that although it seemed simple, the flavors all blended very well and were of extremely high quality. The cleanness of the beer made it very drinkable, and not in a watery adjunct kind of way. Awesome.

Overall, I'd have to give the Victory Whirlwind Witbier a quarter empty glass. This was probably one of the better white wheats I've had, which is pretty high praise coming from me, as I love any and all wheat beers. It's not a strong beer by any means, but it's quality and is simply a pleasure to drink. I'd definitely recommend this beer if you like a good hefeweizen, or especially white wheats. Wouldn't mind getting it again now and then.

--Jeff

Victory Donnybrook Stout

Why I tried this: What's this?!?! A new stout on tap that I haven't had yet?! This is fantastic. In this long journey to champion 500 beers, sometimes it's hard when your options are dwindling for a favorite beer type. Stouts are one of my favorite types and it's been hard lately for me to find one I haven't had yet. Whenever a new stout goes on tap at World of Beer UCF, it's pretty much an early Christmas present, or in this case early easter egg I guess.

Smell: Roasted malt/coffee flavor. Not very strong. There was another scent there too that would probably be best described as the smell when it's about to rain.

Taste: This beer was probably one of the oddest tasting stouts I have ever had. When you take your sip the first flavor you get is pretty watery. The water flavor isn't soft or bad, it's crisp like a good bottle of water. The difference in the water flavor is like the difference you would notice drinking Fiji water over bottled drinking water at the grocery store. It's a bit more crisp and refreshing. If you don't agree with me nobody cares what you think, you're wrong. Anyway, the beer flavor is odd because the best way to describe it is a watered down stout, that sounds a lot worse then it tastes in this beer's case. The crisp watered down flavor is pretty refreshing but all of the malty flavors and roast flavors you would expect take the back seat, a far back away seat, like in the back of a limo.

Im giving this beer a ranking of a half full beer glass. While this beer's watery flavor made it fairly refreshing and crisp, thats not what I want when I order a stout. I would possibly get this beer again but only in very specific circumstances. It has a pretty good flavor, it's not a beer that I had to force down or anything, in fact the watery flavor made it a quick easy drink. I would probably only suggest this beer to someone that told me they would like to drink a stout but the roasted malt flavors are too strong for them.


--Jon

Victory Storm King Imperial Stout

Why I tried this: I was at World of Beer UCF and felt like I needed a stout. Kyle recommended this to me, and although I have so far been wary of Victory, I trusted him. This could be a dangerous game to play...

Smell: Roasted malts and coffee. Lots of it. Just barely below the threshold I'd consider overpowering. I was fairly impressed.

Taste: Just as it smelled, strong roasted malts and coffee tones came through sip by sip. The beer was strong at 9%, but not strong enough that you could taste the alcohol. It was enough to let the strong flavors come through. Really good.

It looks like listening to Kyle paid off yet again. This was the first good beer I've had from Victory...lol. It was a fairly strong imperial stout at 9% alcohol, but it hid the alcohol well, and had a wonderful mixture of strong roasted malt and coffee flavors. The smell was nice and as a stout should be. The pour was thick and practically black, leaving a nice light brown head. Overall, I'd definitely get this one again.

--Jeff

Victory Hopdevil

Why I tried this: I wanted to get an IPA under my belt, and it was on the draft menu for the week. Why not? It had a catchy name.

Smell: The beer is described as brewed with American hops and German malts. However, I couldn't smell the malts at all. Instead, my nose was overpowered by the smell of hops. It was rather unpleasant, so I didn't pry further.

Taste: Unfortunately, it tasted exactly as it smelled. My taste buds were completely overpowered by hops. I honestly felt like I was drinking grass soup. There were no other notable flavors to speak of. Very unpleasant, unless you're a masochist.

On a scale of 1 to 10 I would give this beer a 3. About the only thing I can say of the beer is that it seemed to be brewed of quality standards. The smell, the flavor, and the overall experience with the beer was just very one dimensional, too strong, and simply poor. There's really not much else to say here. I do not recommend this beer, unless you are the biggest IPA fan in the world.

--Jeff