Victory Beer Blog

Life in a growing American brewery

Trick Out Your Treats

Friday, October 28, 2011 at 3:18pm

When I was growing up we always had one neighbor who pulled a wagon with him as he took his children trick-or-treating. As a youngin’ I was too preoccupied with my quest for candy to pay much attention to what was he was lugging. I just assumed he might need to tote some candy when the haul got too heavy. Now, as an adult, I recognize his brilliance. The Radio Flyer was his very own Brew Pub on Wheels.

As the kids were amassing goodies, the adults were enjoying a few treats of their own. Genius!

Today I’m expanding on my old neighbor’s ingenuity by offering suggestions to turn your kids’ treats into adult indulgences. Trick out your treats with these beer pairing suggestions.

Festbier + Peanut Butter Cup

Back in 1990, the good folks at Hershey told us “there’s no wrong way to eat a Reese’s.” We agree with that sentiment entirely! Here’s our suggestion for one right way to eat one: pair it with Festbier. The malt used in our Festbier has a sweetness and roastiness that gives it a peanut character which pairs perfectly with the delectable treat from Reese’s.

Storm King Stout + Tootsie Roll

I remember scoffing at Tootsie Rolls on Halloween as a kid. The little midgees were weak in comparison to the coveted Reese’s mentioned above. But, in my adulthood, I’ve come to appreciate the goodness packed in that little wrapper. Pair the chocolatey taffy treat with a big beer like Storm King Stout and you’ve got a powerful pairing. Like our Russian Imperial Stout, Tootsie’s got a toasted edge to it. There’s more at play here than just sweetness. The burnt chocolatey undertones of the midgee paired with the roasted malt in our Storm King make for a dark and intriguing tempest of flavor.

HopDevil IPA + Candy Corn

Pairing the most widely available Halloween candy with our most popular beer makes perfect sense. Not only can you track down both of these goodies with ease, but the complementary flavors are a no-brainer. The caramel sweetness evident in both the sugary kernels and the devilish ale meld wonderfully when enjoyed together.

Golden Monkey + Almond Joy

Almond Joy’s got nuts, Monkey’s don’t because, sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don’t! Actually, this pairing has nothing to do with the almonds. It’s the coconut in the candy and the banana notes in the Golden Monkey that make this a joyful duo. Both boast tropical fruit flavors that work well together. (If you aren’t feeling nutty, Mounds is a simple substitute for this pairing suggestion.)

V-Twelve + Sweet Tarts

Pucker up for a brilliant combination of sweet and sour. The fruitiness and sweetness found in our V-Twelve balance perfectly with the aptly named candies.

With these suggestions in mind, I encourage you to load up your wagon, snag some of your kiddos’ candy and Taste Victory!

- K.N.

And the Victory goes to…

Wednesday, September 7, 2011 at 8:38am

The submissions for our first-ever Inspired by Victory contest made us laugh, cry (the good kind), scratch our heads and then applaud our awesome fans for their creativity.

The panel of judges convened last week for a viewing party and a vote. We did a bit of bantering, but ultimately the decision was unanimous.  And the winner is…

Choose Your Brew!

By incorporating four of our beer brands into one video, the Choose Your Brew crew immediately caught the attention of everyone on the judging panel. We loved the creative idea, the host’s ridiculous clip-on moustache and the somewhat inappropriate double entendres from Mr. Golden Monkey. But what really had us rolling was Mr. Prima Pils’ interesting German accent. It truly was inspired.

Honorable mention (and a bunch of Victory goodies) goes to:

  1. Victory in Space by Victory Dog for the overwhelming number of comments it inspired. We loved the music video concept and the great editing work.
  2. Victory on a Bad Day for making it a good day for us. We were certainly sucked in to the song and the dizzying effects.
  3. Victor Victorson for making Headwaters Pale Ale part of his fitness regime. Also, kudos for keeping in touch with grandma.

We ask all participants in the contest to please send an email to inspired@victorybeer.com with your name, your video name, mailing address and t-shirt size so that we can send you your winnings.

Thanks to the success of this contest we are thrilled to announce that we will be continuing the Inspired by Victory contest series. Check back in a week to see what our next challenge will be and what you could win by participating.

To watch all of the amazing submissions, visit our contest page.

Cooking with Beer this Thanksgiving? 4 Amazing Recipes

Friday, November 12, 2010 at 7:49pm

About this time last year we shared with everyone our picks for pairing Thanksgiving Dinner and Victory beer, but for 2010 we wanted to take it one step further. This year we asked our acclaimed Brewpub chefs to compile their secret recipes featuring Victory beer. As soon as we saw what they put together we knew that it would make this year’s Turkey Day one for the history books. We hope you experiment with these recipes (see below) and let us know what you think. Feel free to upload pictures and thoughts to our Facebook Wall, our Flickr Account, or hit us up on Twitter. Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Prima Poached Shrimp

5 lbs. 16/20 shrimp (shells on)
68oz Victory Prima Pils
2 white onions, chopped
3 lemons, quartered
10 whole peppercorns
1 bay leaf

Bring all ingredients except the shrimp to a boil. Once at a boil, add shrimp and poach at medium high heat for 6-7 minutes.

Serve hot or submerge in ice water to serve cold.

HopDevil Brussel Sprout Hash

1 lb brussel sprouts, trimmed
1 ½ cups sliced shallots
½ lb butter
1 tbsp minced garlic
12 oz. Victory HopDevil Ale
2 tbsp cider vinegar
4 tsp sugar

Melt butter in large sauté pan. Add garlic and shallots and sauté until translucent. Add the HopDevil Ale and reduce by half. Once reduced, add the cider vinegar, sugar and brussel sprouts. Continue to cook for 3-4 minutes until most of the beer is gone. Season with salt and pepper.

Pumpkin Apricot Cheesecake with Graham Cracker Crumb

2 ¼ lbs. cream cheese
¼ cup Victory Golden Monkey
¾ cup pumpkin puree
1 ½ cups sugar
¼ cup brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp clove, ground
¼ tsp nutmeg
3 eggs
2 egg yolks
1 cup dried apricot puree

Recipe for graham cracker crumb
¼ cup sugar
2 cups chopped pecans
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
4 oz. melted butter
Combine all ingredients. Press into cheesecake pan to form crust.


Combine all ingredients and mix thoroughly. Assemble recipe for Pumpkin Cheesecake Crumbs. Spread thin layer of pureed apricots on top on crumbs. Spread cream cheese filling evenly over apricot puree. (Tip before baking: tap pan on table surface to remove air bubbles). Bake in water bath at 350° for 20 minutes.

Rosemary and Sage Stuffing with Helios Ale

2 onions, diced
1 cup celery, diced
1 large focaccia, staled one day
8 sprigs rosemary, destemmed
¼ cup sage, chopped
3 eggs
½ cup scallion, sliced
Victory Helios Ale (or chicken stock) as needed
salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients except Helios. Use the Helios to moisten the stuffing. Put mixture into a greased baking pan or casserole dish and bake at 325° for about 30 minutes or until top is golden brown.

Monster Mutant Mashups?

Thursday, October 14, 2010 at 4:36pm

Victory RELUCTANTLY explores the art of mixing beers.

It’s October and that means two things. Phillies post season baseball and Halloween. While we celebrate the Phightins every day, we thought this year we would throw a little treat into our bag of tricks. It’s no secret that ever since Bill and Ron started producing beer there have been Mad Beer Scientists who mix them together to see what happens. Some German trained brewers may scream in horror at the mere idea of mashing together their pure-bred flavors, but we convinced Victory Brewmaster Bill Covaleski to try these mutant beers on camera for the first time and give his real opinion.

For those mad ‘mixologists’ at home, here is a quick guide to the Victory’s Monster Mashups:

  • Silver Back: 1/2 Golden Monkey and 1/2 Storm King Stout
  • DarkDevil: 1/2 HopDevil and 1/2 Storm King Stout
  • Monkey On The Moon: 1/2 Moonglow and 1/2 Golden Monkey
  • Don King: 1/2 Donnybrook Stout and 1/2 Storm King Stout
  • Mad Monkey: 1/2 Golden Monkey and 1/2 Mad King Weiss
  • Victory Half n’ Half: 1/2 Prima Pils and 1/2 HopDevil

Have you created your own Mutants with Victory beers? Are we missing any from this list?

Seriously . . . Respect The Monkey

Tuesday, September 21, 2010 at 8:23pm

Respect The Golden Monkey Beer

As Many of you know, in August we launched the ‘Seriously . . . Respect The Monkey’ story competition for fans of Golden Monkey. The idea was inspired by the countless Monday morning voice messages we’ve collected over the years here in the Victory offices from exuberant fans sharing their incredible stories of what happens when you spend a Friday, Saturday or Sunday night with our mystical anthropoid beer. With that kind of preparation you would think that when we opened up the competition for submissions we couldn’t be that surprised. Boy, were we wrong.

Check Out the ‘Respect The Monkey’ Submissions for Yourself

Entries ranged in style and substance from Hunter S. Thompson absurdity ( we’re looking at you Raymond ) and minimalistic literalism ( William Williams would be proud Tim) to the the just plain hilarious (see the winners below). When all the votes were tallied three stories separated themselves from the pack as especially ridiculous and fun.

In third place Joe explains why Golden Monkey is not your everyday beer pong beer. Check out his story, Monkey Pong.

Second place featured Andrew and his ‘inspired’ missive on the metaphysical tenants of drinking Golden Monkey. We especially liked his first theme, “Golden Monkey makes pants less comfortable”. Read Andrew’s great observations in Gone Dancing With The Monkey.

And first place, well, we’ll just let it Paul’s winning entry speak for itself:

Back in February 2006, three of my friends and I were heading out to Pittsburgh from Philly.  On the way to western PA, we stopped at the Victory Brewpub and picked up a couple of growlers of the Golden Monkey.  Once we settled in at the hotel, we realized that it was time to pop open the growlers and taste the sweet nectar within.  Two of my friends (a couple that had been dating for about a year) were relatively new to craft beers.  I warned them that this is NOT their routine light beer and that they must “RESPECT THE MONKEY”.  This warning was repeated a few times – “Hey, dude – remember – the Monkey demands respect”.  The very happy couple (even more so after a couple of pours of the Monkey) decided to turn in for the evening and disbanded the group with the remaining 1/2-empty growler in tow….  Fast forward nine months and a beautiful baby girl was born!!  As a gift to celebrate, I gave my good friend an infant size Golden Monkey Onesie and a 750-ml bottle of his arch-nemesis – the Golden Monkey!

Congrats to all our winners and and everyone who submitted their Golden Monkey adventures. Our lives are all a litte richer and happier becuase you shared. Feel free to send them anytime and we’ll be sure to share them with everyone. Oh . . . one last thing . . . Seriously, respect the monkey!

Beer isn’t just for your Cheerios anymore! Introducing Beer for Brunch.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010 at 1:45pm

Ahhhhh, beer and cheerios. A time honored tradition among scholastic co-eds. Don’t you just miss Sunday mornings in college? Yeah, neither do we . . .  but maybe it’s time to start asking ourselves if beer really does have a legitimate place at the traditionally unapproachable “A.M. table”, frat houses aside. Perhaps breakfast is a bridge too far, for now, but brunch is definitely ripe for craft brewers to step up and make their mark on the growing yet established dining trend in cities across the US. Make sense? We thought so too. We  only wish we were smart enough to see the opportunity first.

It took our vastly superior fans to help us realize that 1) the potential for beer during brunch and 2) a way for Victory to specifically address the market. Enter Tommy Up and PYT.

Our good friend Tommy Up down at PYT in Philly sells a lot of Golden Monkey at his young but influential bar. Tommy, an accomplished party promoter in Philly, is no stranger to innovation. He’s been pushing the envelope from the very day PYT opened it’s doors. Whether it’s embracing social media, installing unique decor (check out thse background images), rotating a constant stream of jaw dropping burger recipes (try the Buffalo Springfield Burger: Fresh ground Buffalo, Dill Havarti, Avocado, Pepper Aol) or introducing Philly to ‘Adult Milkshakes’ he’s always one step ahead of the masses. Knowing all this you would think that we would expect the unexpected from Tommy but when he showed us his new brunch special even we weren’t prepared.

Meet the Monkey Julius (see video above). It’s a Golden Monkey based libation custom made for warm summer brunches. 1 Part Orange Juice, 3 parts Golden Monkey and a splash of sparkly wine. Simple, refreshing and relatively cheap. Here’s where a beer based drink is genius for brunch: Restaurants and bars have to move product to make money but with the average Mimosa or Bloody Mary in Philly coming in at around $8 in this penny pinching economy the average customer can’t afford more than one (if that). Monkey Julius offers owners and managers an alcoholic brunch drink that’s as equally tasty and strong at a much better price point.

Special thanks to Tommy and all our friends at PYT for opening our eyes to the untapped market of brunch. It’s feedback and collaborations like this with our fans and family that keep us on the forefront of what’s possible. That being said, does anyone else have Victory mixed drink they’ve tried or created? Who knows, maybe someone in the Interwebs finally has the secret to introducing Victory to the breakfast table.

Respect The Monkey, Mr. Grinch

Friday, December 18, 2009 at 6:30am

Respect The Monkey, Mr. Grinch

Many of us realize that the Golden Monkey has been known to incite silliness. But nothing acts sillier than kids with Christmas approaching. So playing around with one of our more favorite Christmas toys at home, Mr. Grinch, I was inspired to engage his acting talents for a silly scene. My girls willingly filmed my goofy vision for you, adding their own emphasis at the end, which was not on my script but they nailed the idea. How proud that makes me!

As silly as this may be, the notion of ‘Respect The Monkey’ is a wise one.

Which leads me to an announcement. With respect for the life of strong ale in a bottle, we kept a number of cases of Golden Monkey bottled in June of 2002 around for analysis purposes. These were some of the first 750 ml bottles off of our ‘new’ bottling line at the time. Since they had been primed and dosed with yeast at bottling, a bottle fermentation was initiated at that point. We were anxious to assure that that ‘bottle conditioning’ would yield great results. It did in the short term, and the beer was happily enjoyed by us and our audience. But, a fair stash of cases were kept by us for over 7 years now and we’d draw bottles out every so often to see how the flavor was progressing. Having been kept refrigerated for the past 5 years, we feel that the flavor progression has reached a standstill now.

So, time to release the vintage Monkey!

Granny Golden Monkey Gone Wild!?

No, actually, it’s mellower than fresh Golden Monkey, with a very round character full of Golden Monkey vigor, but overall softer with a decidedly honeyed finish. What we have of this is now for sale, only at our retail shop here at Victory.

Why only here in Downingtown, you dear friends from further-flung places ask? Certainly, we are not trying to frustrate anyone, but the reality is that after this long at controlled temperatures, we are not willing to take the risk to roll this out into the brutal world of temperature abuse that can occur on trucks, in warehouses and in brightly-lit retailers. Besides, there really is too little stock to democratically divide over 30 states even if we were willing to take the risk.

So, if you are near to the brewery, come by and treat yourself to a bottle. It’s a available for only a 50% upcharge over our very reasonable standard price. Lots of extra energy cost and TLC in these bottles, you know.

If you are further removed from Downingtown, maybe it’s time you made a friend there who might score you a bottle and wrap it safely in that happenin’ new ‘Respect The Monkey” hoodies I so amply sport in the video.

Cheers and Respect,

Bill C.

Thanksgiving Victory

Thursday, November 19, 2009 at 3:35pm

Yesterday we tweeted (yes, it’s officially a verb) the question that’s on everyone’s mind the week before Thanksgiving, “What Victory Beers pair best with Thanksgiving?” You didn’t disappoint with your answers. Here are a couple of our favorites:

‘Storm King Stout is better with Pumpkin Pie than whipped cream!’ – TheWhiteLilKim

‘Variety pack. I give my family members a choice.’ – chriscavallucci

‘I’m bringing a case of Lager to my Thanksgiving feast, fingers crossed that everyone doesn’t drink beer & leaves it all to me!’ – Chroma914

‘Yakima Twilight. Does it go with much on the table? No. Does it matter? Not to me!’ – whatsbilldoing

While we would never contradict someone’s taste we’ve put together a short guide to what we’ve found works at our own Thanksgiving tables. Try bringing a couple new beers to Thanksgiving and make it an event to remember (and trust us, if you bring Golden Monkey it will be).

Golden Monkey: This is Victory’s turkey beer for sure. Turkey is relatively neutral in it’s character and Golden Monkey adds enough spice and sweetness to enhance the flavor but not enough to overwhelm the T-Bird.

Yakima Twilight: Think Candied Yams with carmelized Marshmellow topping. The sweetness of the yams are a beneficial opposition to the boldness and bitterness of Yakima.

Prima Pils: It’s an aperitif perfect for watching the football game with. Goes nicely with shrimp cocktail and the accompanying horseradish and tomato sauces.

HopDevil: HopDevil always pairs nicely with cheese. Consider a fresh Cheddar in your au gratin potatoes and you’ll have people talking. Sooo good.

Lager: If you’re going to have only one Victory Beer this Thanksgiving your best bet would be Victory Lager. It’s the jack of all trades that’s just flexible enough to go with everything, but not assertive enough to clash with anything.

Storm King: If brownies are on the dessert menu you would be doing a disservice to your guests by serving anything other than Storm King. It’s rich and sweet characters make it a natural partner for anything chocolate. The jury is still out on wether or not it works with pumpkin pie, but we’d love to hear what you think.