Victory V-10

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 9

Bottled Sept 2002....I will start by saying this did age well. A murky brown appearance with a moderate sized head. The aroma contained some citrus, caramel, brown sugar, and alcohol. The flavor is quite sour with some cherries, lemons, brown sugar, and alcohol. Nothing I could drink alot of but still a nice beer!

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 8

Bottled 7th November 2003, Sampled September 2004
As I pour this into my glass I get thick, jam-like aromatic notes of plums, fig and alcohol. The beer sits in my glass a reasonably clear pretty ruby-amber color. It is topped by a light brown head that is driven by an ample carbonation. The aroma is sweet and fruity with notes of cherries as well, there is a rich undercurrent of complex maltiness here as well. The malt notes have a toastiness and a rich caramel malt note to it that I associate with a Bock.

Interesting, the taste of this beer has a definite sourness to it up front, which, in combination with the fruitiness, again reminds me of cherries. I was not expecting something sour from Victory, and I wonder if it is here on purpose. Whatever the case, I like the tart contribution here, it has a rich tamarind character to it. The beer is quite dry, yet still remains fruity because of the sourness. With the rich malts used here this is quite reminiscent of a Flemish Sour ale, though it is a bit stronger than your typical one. The balance of this beer is dominated by the sourness, but the sourness is not over the top (say like a Lambic), it instead adds a richness and complexity to this beer that otherwise seems to be lacking. This beer, despite being all-malt and 10%, is quite light on the palate. The acid bacteria really helped to lighten this beer up, which I was expecting to be much heavier and richer. I am really not too sure why some American brewers are afraid to use some sugars or adjuncts to lighten up their stronger interpretations of Belgian ales, it is definitely the way to go and produces a much more drinkable beer.

To sum up, this beer is perhaps a bit one-dimensional in its sourness, but I do get notes of tamarind, sweet cherries, toasted malt, and a hint of grainy astringency in the finish. This beer is quite nice, it really reminds me of a Flemish Sour ale, even if this is a mistake on the part of the brewers.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 10 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 9

This review is from notes that I took a while back. Fruity aroma, pours w/ a big tan head w/ medium bubbles, nice & sweet on the palate w/ a clean finish. This is a great beer

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 10 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 9

Bottled 11/7/2003, new batch! Poured a dark crimson color with a very small quickly diminishing tan head. Rather weak aroma of fruits and spices, rather triplish. Very smooth taste of candy sugar, grape, some clove and maybe even alittle ginger. It finishes dry and slightly alcoholic. It really reminds me of a very dark triple for some reason... this is really good, but the cork took me near 10 minutes to get out!