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.

Devilish Delight in Time for Halloween

Friday, October 21, 2011 at 11:44am

It’s that ghoulish time of year when it becomes perfectly acceptable to stuff your face with candy, dress in crazy costumes and throw wicked parties. There’s no better way to celebrate Halloween than to sneak away to your own Frankensteinian laboratory and mix mysterious concoctions.

Our favorite monster mash? DarkDevil. It’s a 50-50 blend of HopDevil Ale and Storm King Stout.

Time to play mad scientist!

For more monster mutant mashups, check out our video from last year.

- K.N.

Jeopardy, Victory Style

Wednesday, October 12, 2011 at 11:04am

It has been really fun to gather all of the questions you submit each month, consider your requests and compose our answers. It’s like Jeopardy, Victory style. Of course, we don’t have to answer in the form of a question, so that’s a bonus. But we don’t win money in the end. And Alex Trebek is nowhere to be found. So maybe, this really isn’t anything like Jeopardy…

Please keep those questions coming! Send them to brewmaster@victorybeer.com and we will address them in an upcoming blog. If we missed your question this time around, feel free to submit it again. We will do our best to address every query.

Q: Are you ever going to bottle a porter? You’re my favorite brewery, but I can’t get my favorite kind of beer from you.
A: We’ve been bottling Baltic Thunder for several years now. It is a Baltic porter, using lager yeast and colder fermentation and aging. As far as English porter goes, maybe someday… You can use our beerfinder to located Baltic Thunder near you.

Q: I just read somewhere that Victory’s brewery is an old Tastykake factory. Is this true?
A: Nope, but you’re close. The brewery is an old Pepperidge Farm factory. You can get more of the back story here.

Q: Where can I find out what events Victory has coming up?
A: We do our best to participate in festivals, tastings and beer dinners around the country and would love to meet you at our events. To see if we’ve got something going on in your area, you can visit our events page and search by state.

Q: Will you donate beer to me?
A: Maybe. That all depends on who you are and why you are asking. We get dozens of donation requests each week and review each and every one of them personally. Unfortunately, we can’t say yes to everyone, but we try to make the biggest impact possible. In order to have your request reviewed, you must complete a community stewardship form and it must be submitted at least six weeks prior to your pick-up date.

Q: I appreciate the fact that y’all date your beers. But my question is how long from bottling is the ‘best by’ date? My question pertains to the hoppy beers like HopDevil and Hop Wallop, which really benefit from the freshness. Are we talking 3, 6, 9, or 12 months? A little reference as to the time frame that y’all think your beer should still be high quality would be very helpful in my decision making process as what beer to buy tonight. I hoist a HopDevil to my waiting lips (with a best by date of Dec 29 2011).
A: Thank you for the kind words about Victory beer. We are thrilled to hear that you take the time to inspect the date codes on our bottles! The dates you find on the bottles are stamped by the following specifications.

Hop Devil – 5 months
Prima Pils – 5 months
Victory Lager – 5 months
Hop Wallop – 1 year (this beer is bottle conditioned)
Headwaters Pale Ale – 5 months
Summer Love – 5 months
Golden Monkey – 3 years
Storm King – 5 years
Old Horizontal – 5 years

For example, your HopDevil stamped Dec. 29, 2011 was bottled on July 29, 2011.

Q: I filled my growler back on 9/1, still have not opened it. How long will it last?
A: A growler with the porcelain top lid and gasket should stay carbonated for at least 7 days. We’ve seen them last as long as 14 days, but haven’t gone longer than that (although we hear that they could technically store for a month). If your growler has a screw top, drink within 5-7 days maximum, as they are more prone to leaking through the threads.

Q: Have you ever considered an ESB or English Special Bitter? Whitbread was the best I’ve ever had, but all I drink now is Fullers. Both are delicious.
A: We usually brew a batch or two of our Victory ESB each year as a draft-only brand. It isn’t on a standardized repeating schedule, but typically we brew it in the fall or winter. As of right now, we don’t have an ESB on our schedule but it is possible we will brew one in February or March of 2012.

Q: Dark Lager is my favorite of your beers, with Headwaters a close second. When is it going to be available again? Any chance that it gets a bigger push anytime soon? Could it be as simple as a name change? Because it sure isn’t the fault of the flavor!
A: We love the Dark Lager as well and look forward to sipping the malty brew each year. As in the past years, Dark Lager will be available on draft in the winter. Right now, the craft beer world doesn’t demand malty beers the way it demands hops. Some day, when malt appreciation grows, we’ll consider giving Dark Lager a bigger push. At that time, we’ll give it a new Victory-like name and character.

Q: Are any of your beers Kosher?
A: Not yet. We have not yet gone through the steps to attain kosher certification.

Read This: We continue to receive many questions about our beer recipes. At Victory, we thoroughly believe that great beer is inspirational and classic beers inspired our own homebrews over 20 years ago. This said, we do believe that the creative scientific mind should remain free of tutorials (from us at least) to create the beer they envision. Clone books are great training and some authors have reverse engineered quite well, which we certainly applaud, but have decided to leave it in their inspired hands.

- K.N.

You Ask, We Answer

Tuesday, June 28, 2011 at 12:32pm

We get so much feedback and so many ideas by listening to our consumers and fans. You all make recommendations, provide constructive criticism and even give us some much-appreciated praise. In the interest of reciprocating, we plan to share our thought process with you.

Beginning with this post, we will compile and answer your questions about our brewery, beers, business decisions and more on a monthly basis. Send your burning questions to brewmaster@victorybeer.com and we will address them in an upcoming blog.

Without further ado, you asked and we answered…

Q: Where can I find your beers?

A: Please use our nifty Beerfinder page to search for our beers in your area. If you have any trouble locating us in your region, wholesaler information is also available on the web here.

Q: How many calories are in a 12 oz. bottle of HopDevil?

A: Some of our beers are more calorie-friendly than others. Here are the calorie counts per 12 ounces of our most popular brands:
Golden Monkey: 270 calories
Headwaters: 160 calories
HopDevil Ale: 215 calories
Prima Pils: 165 calories
Storm King Stout: 290 calories
Summer Love: 160 calories
Sunrise Weiss: 175 calories
Victory Lager: 145 calories

Q: Have you ever considered making a gluten-free beer?

A: We have yet to taste one we liked, but we have not given up on the idea. We are always searching for ways to create a gluten-free beer worthy of the Victory name.

Q: I have been a big fan of Victory almost since the day you began marketing your wonderful beers. I lived in Germany for four years, and I have a built-in preference for your brews. In particular, I adore the Saints (St. Victorious and St. Boisterous). In fact, the main purpose of sending this email is to plead for St. Boisterous to become a year-round offering. I must say I consider St. Boisterous to be the absolute best beer available in the USA! I would appreciate anything you could do to make this happen!
~ Dave

A: Thank you for praising the saints (couldn’t resist). Victory seasonals do sometimes make the leap to being a year-round product. In fact, Hop Wallop and Storm King Stout both started as fall seasonals. In both cases, we noticed that our wholesalers continued to order them even after the last batch had been brewed and sold. And in those cases, there is no reason not to have a strong hoppy beer year round. Unfortunately for our friendly bock lovers, the popularity of St. Boisterous has not warranted going year round. Also, because the beer style is a Maibock, the reference to May almost ensures it staying a spring seasonal.

Q: I’m a home brewer and smoked beer lover. I smoke my own malt. I’m very interested in smoking wheat malt. Can you share any advice, tips or recipes for a homebrewed smoked wheat beer?
~Adam

A: We actually do not smoke our own malt, so we cannot offer you much information regarding its crafting. We purchase our smoked malt from a maltster in Bamberg, Germany called Weyermann. They smoke the finished malt using beechwood.

Note: We receive many questions about our beer recipes. At Victory, we thoroughly believe that great beer is inspirational and classic beers inspired our own homebrews over 20 years ago. This said, we do believe that the creative scientific mind should remain free of tutorials (from us at least) to create the beer they envision. Clone books are great training and some authors have reverse engineered quite well, which we certainly applaud, but have decided to leave it in their inspired hands.

- K.N.

Let Your Freak Flags Fly

Friday, January 14, 2011 at 7:55pm

The restored 1996 HopDevil shirt returns Jan. 15 for a limited time.

This one’s for Jerry. And everyone like myself and Jerry who already has one of these shirts. But it was Jerry who first brought the idea up, so like our Jerk Grinder that he also loves so much, we must see this shirt live on.

My art files say that this design was created May 31, 1996, when HopDevil was an infant, pretty much unknown to the world. The fact that we could dress him up in purple, of all colors, splashed with neon green, magenta and black definitely states that this beer was something unique and special. So wonderful and special, that grown men were willing to part with our hard-earned money to walk around in a purple, magenta and neon green shirt bearing the visage of the ale we loved.

Then, years after the purchase and countless beer festivals and outdoor chores, we suffer the scorn of our wives who thought that such a faded, threadbare relic should have been in the trash long ago. No, we clung to our purple HopDevil shirt like the adult version of a baby blanket that somehow embodied our transition from partying, craft beer newbie to seasoned father dealing with teenagers in our households.

So here he is again, in all of his purple glory, to support his old and tired brother in the closet.

Gentlemen, let your freak flags fly!

This HopDevil throwback shirt is the second in our series of 15 Fashionable Finds in celebration of our 15th Anniversary. This and all anniversary shirts will be available for sale on the 15th of each month. You can buy in our retail store or from our online store. But hurry, because there are only a limited quantity available.



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?

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.