Brewery: Victory Brewing Company
ABV: 8.5%
Serving method: 12-oz draft in a mug
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown
This marks the first Pennsylvania beer, and possibly the first "double" IPA, which means you get a beer lesson! Aren't you excited?
Double IPAs, sometimes called imperial IPAs, are a randomly named set of beers that don't actually have a fixed criteria for being in the category. They were originally named imperial IPAs in the same vein as imperial stouts. However, this didn't make any sense because imperial stouts were actually brewed for the Russian imperial family and these IPAs weren't. The only thing "imperial" about them is that they were stronger than the standard IPAs. Well, sometimes. Some IPAs have a high enough ABV to fit into the "imperial/double" category, which just makes things confusing. And let's not even get into the Triple IPA grouping. Just go into it expecting things to get really hoppy. Hopefully you learned something here, specifically that the people who name beer styles have absolutely no plan ahead of time.
Victory's Hop Wallop is a clear golden-orange color. It poured with a thick (1") head that lasted for a little while and left a very light lacing on the glass. As I was expecting from the name, the beer has a crisp hop aroma. There is also a sweet smell.
This beer is pretty hoppy, but actually a little less hoppy than I was expecting. I am not sure if it was completely a hop wallop, but it was definitely a hearty hop smack. It also has a sweetness to the taste right in the middle. It's like hops in the beginning, sweetness briefly in the middle, and then a dry bitter hop finish. The beer leaves a bitter aftertaste, and it has a nice light carbonation.
Final thought - This beer was very good and is a nice start for PA here at Mmmm, beers! There was something in the taste that made me want to keep sipping it. This is an obvious choice for the hop-heads out there.
-Jon
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