Recently, I made the bold decision to completely uproot my life and embark on an entirely new adventure.

I quit my job without the prospect of another one.

I forfeited my lease with my old landlord (which unfortunately cost me a PRETTY penny).

I gave away everything I owned that would not fit into my super small Dodge Neon.

And then I whole “life” packed into my ity bity little car and moved from Columbus, OH to Orlando, FL.

Instead of just driving straight down, though, I decided to turn my road trip into a mini beer adventure. Along the way I stopped at and toured 2 of my favorite breweries as well as took a side trip to a microbrewery brewpub. All of my little detours were well worth it and I look forward to blogging about them all.

I left Columbus mid-morning Monday, September 15th. My first stop was right outside of Philadelphia in a town called Downingtown.

For those of you who are not quite aware, I am addicted to the social network slash microblogging tool known as TWITTER. I am going to refrain from talking about Twitter at this time since it would completely take over this blog.

Thanks to Twitter, I have met some really amazing and impressively intelligent people across the world. Many of the people I follow and interact with on Twitter also happen to be huge food & beverage geeks and aficionados as well. I have spent hours on Twitter with other foodies, winos & hopheads – discussing and posting pics of food & booze.

One of my buds from Twitter -the brilliant brains behind 1WineDude blog- invited me to come stay with him and his wife in Downington, PA. They are good friends with the event coordinator at Victory Brewing Co. and were able to set me up with a private tour. This was not an offer The Beer Wench could refuse.

And of course, I accepted @1WineDude‘s invitation and went on a special VIP tour of Victory Brewing Company – followed by a delicious dinner with some delicious Victory beers in the Victory brewpub!

And without further ado, here is my tour (via photos)!

VICTORY MALT MILL. The object of milling is to split the husk, preferably lengthwise, in order to expose the starchy endosperm for milling and allow for efficient extraction and subsequent filtration of the wort. Malt milling is usually done by either dry or wet milling. In a wet milling operation, the whole uncrushed malt is presteeped in hot water to the point where the husks reach a water content of approximately 20% and the endosperm remains nearly dry, which results in a semi-plastic, almost pasty consistency. Source: The Brewer’s Handbook.

Victory is the ONLY craft brewery that wet mills.

BARLEY

CONTROL PANEL. WARNING – DO NOT LET BEER WENCH TOUCH, EVER!

DRIED WHOLE LEAF HOPS

FERMENTATION TANKS

YEAST FILTRATION MACHINE THINGY

Mmmm HOPDEVIL KEG!

KEGGING LINE

BOTTLING LINE

PACKAGING AND SHIPPING AREA

JACKPOT!

HALF OF THE BAR

132 CENTS IPA ON CASK!

GOLD RUSH ALE & CREOLE SHRIMP AND SPANISH RICE SPECIAL ENTREE

HOPDEVIL IPA ON CASK

After finishing all the great food and beer, our lovely and very knowledgable tour guide gave us a few bottles of Victory Baltic Thunder as a parting gift. Then we all trucked back to my friend’s place where we sipped on some Victory 10 Years Alt Altbier while looking at some amazing photos in scrap books that his wife put together! Perfect ending to a perfect evening!

SPECIAL THANKS TO Wine Dude, Mrs. Dudette and Baby Dudette. You dudes are the cat’s meow!

For those of you who are unaware, The Beer Wench is currently in transition – moving from Columbus, OH to Orlando, FL. At this moment, I am sitting in a hotel room in Florence, SC.

The first two days of my travels were extremely exciting! I went on a VIP tour of Victory Brewing Company on Monday night – which was followed by dinner and beer drinking in the Victory Brewpub!

Tuesday afternoon, I visited the Dogfish Head Brewery where I received a tour of the brewery as well as on site tasting. Afterwards, I went over to the Dogfish Head Brewpub for some dinner and more spirits.

I will blog about both of the tours in the near future. For now, though, I only have the time and energy for a Dogfish Head Theobroma update!

Unfortunately, I was just a few days too early to taste Dogfish Head’s Theobroma. They had only JUST bottled and kegged Theobroma the DAY BEFORE I arrived for a tour. According to the staff, Theobroma would not be available for purchase until its first tapping (something about not being able to sell a beer if it was no available for tasting).

Needless to say, The Wench was epically disappointed. HOWEVER, I was informed that it would be on store shelves within a week or two. HOPEFULLY, I will be able to find it in Florida. Otherwise, drastic measures will be required!

What is Theobroma? You can read my blog about it HERE.

Here is Dogfish Head’s description of Theobroma from its website:

Theobroma

Availability: Limited Release – 750ml bottles

Release Date: September 2008

This beer is based on chemical analysis of pottery fragments found in Honduras which revealed the earliest known alcoholic chocolate drink used by early civilizations to toast special occasions. The discovery of this beverage pushed back the earliest use of cocoa for human consumption more than 500 years to 1200 BC. As per the analysis, Dogfish Head’s Theobroma (translated into ‘food of the gods’) is brewed with Aztec cocoa powder and cocoa nibs (from our friends at Askinosie Chocolate), honey, chilies, and annatto (fragrant tree seeds).

Theobroma is 10% abv and will be available in Champagne bottles for a September 2008 release.

Special kegs from our test batches may be available earlier in the year at Dogfish events around the country… keep yer eyes peeled!

Label art for Theobroma was designed by our friend Marq Spusta.

Source: Dogfish Head Brewery

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