Victory HopDevil Ale

In celebration of my inaugural blog, I decided to go out an try a new beer.

For those of you who are interested in sampling a different beer, but are hesitant to invest in a whole six pack, World Market has an excellent selection of “buy by the bottle” beers.

After scanning through the various rows, my eyes stopped on Victory’s “HopDevil Ale.”

The description on the bottle reads: “The mythical HopDevil resides in the lore of farmers. Our HopDevil is the real deal. Bold, spicy and menacingly delicious. He’s the product of distinctive American hops and meticulous craftsmanship. Arising from the heady wilds of our Hopback and gently tamed with time, this Devil makes a great companion.”

The six pack ran for $8.99 and the bottle by itself was just under two dollars.

I prefer to drink the more hop heavy beers and IPAs at just below room temperature. As with wine, coldness kills the flavor. Since I bought the beer off a shelf and not out of a cooler, it was ready to drink when I got home.

Everyone has their own preference on drinking styles. If I’m drinking beer from a bottle, I prefer to pour it into a glass. Since I do not have any specialty beer glasses, I tend to pour the more aromatic beers into my larger wine glasses. Don’t laugh. It really does make a difference.

Upon pouring the HopDevil Ale into my giant wine glass (and I do mean giant), a pleasantly familiar aroma of hops invaded my nose.

As you can see in the picture I’ve posted, the color is a beautifully rich amber with a nice soft caramel foam.

The flavor of the beer held up to its promise. The bitterness of the hops, although very present, was not too overwhelming, allowing the richness of the German malts to really come through. The beer was excellent to sip on, and made a great pairing with some roasted and lightly salted almonds. Really hit the spot after a long day at work.

Victory’s HopDevil COMPOSITION
Malts: Imported, German 2 row
Hops: American whole flowers
Alcohol by volume: 6.7%

After checking out Victory’s website, it is apparent that I must try their seasonal beer entitled “Hop Wallop”. The problem will be finding it. I will keep you posted on my search.

Victory’s Hop Wallop

ABOUT
We celebrate the pioneering spirit of old Horace ‘Hop’ Wallop and those who dare mighty adventurous things in this vivid, robust ale. As our annual homage to the hop harvest, expect loads of aromatic splendor and bitter beauty.

COMPOSITION
Malts: Imported German malts
Hops: American whole flowers
Alcohol by volume: 8.5%

AVAILABILITY
Limited bottles and draft -beginning November 1, for a limited time

About Victory Brewing Company
“Having trained in Germany, we appreciate the artistic freedom we have here in the US. Here creativity is embraced by a fervent core of consumers and we are happy to serve that audience with our experience in traditional methods, selection of choice, often imported ingredients, and the best processing that technology can offer us. We relish the opportunity to please both ourselves and our audience with our flavorful creations. We’ve invested more than our lives in this. Take a look.”

Bill Covaleski
Brewmaster & President