Thursday, August 21, 2014

Victory Brewing Company's Summer Ale


Dust of your 45's and load the stereo with this jam and let the horny details fly!

What the heck do you mean we haven't review Victory yet?

This all started with Ron and Bill (two total dudes) experimented with a brew kit in 1985 after, no doubt, watching Thundercats. This passion led them to abandon the crappy world we know as "work life" and pursue their dreams of beer making; bastards. Ron did a stint at Baltimore Brewing Company (BBC) and after a year studied a broad (or two) in Germany. Bill covered him at BBC. Ron came back to work for Old Dominion. After some time they opened Victory in 1996. They now crank out over 100,000 barrels annually and kick ass on a regular basis. Quick math, that's a barrel for each square foot of their facility.

The have 12 regular brews and another dozen seasonals they push out in Downington, Pennsylvania. Also, interesting fact: Victory is one of the only breweries that uses whole flower hops and if I know our audience like I think I do; zero people care.

This is Victory's Summer Love. Is got a mild, citrus scent. It compliments the taste which is a light, refreshing flavor. It has strong citrus hints with a slight wheat undertone. Almost like if a pilsner humped and IPA and got a little fresh with a lager while a pale ale watched quietly from the closet and was like "Oh yeah, I like this" but ended leaving the party alone and the next day everyone was like "What was with pale ale last night?" and was thus labelled a creep for the rest of high school.

They use German 2-Row malts and three different hops; Tettnang, Simoe and Citra. All yields a very clean drink.

Highly carbonated and a clear, golden color. Medium, crystal white head. By looks alone even you girlfriend could polish off a six pack of these and flip the bird to a cop and run to safety. She'd be pretty wasted unless her college nickname was "Betty the Deuce" cuz these have an ABV of 5.2%. Not too strong but I am pretty sure that men have 2 pints more blood in their bodies than women which is a leading reason babes get way drunker than dudes. Men probably also retain more water unless you count the fluids in my ex-girlfriend's cankles.

Overall this is a fine purveyance. It won't keep you too warm tailgating but a fun crushable in the hot summer nights. I recommend crushing like 10 before necking with your ladyfriend under the boardwalk. These sons-of-bitches run about $11 for a sixer and your local party store. Do yourself a flavor favor and pick up some before the summer's over.

The label isn't anything to brag about but it got babes, hot dogs, ice cream, fish, tents...I mean these are a few of my favorite things. There's nothing not to like about this beer and I'd totally get it again.

Drinkability: 8/10
Taste: 8/10
Value: 6/10
Curb Appeal: 7/10

Overall: 7.25/10