Victory Beer Blog

Life in a growing American brewery

Have you tasted the zeal of craft beer? Introducing Yakima Glory

Tuesday, October 26, 2010 at 2:03pm

At the risk of sounding like a motivational speaker or a guidance counselor, I want to take this opportunity to remind everyone that it always pays to challenge yourself. Today’s illustration of this being Yakima Glory.

Let me state, for the record, that Yakima Twilight, as the Glory was named last year when it was released, has been our most popular seasonal release to date in that it sold twice the volume we expected in its inaugural season. That is rewarding to all of us at Victory. But most rewarding has been the journey and accomplishment of the underlying challenge behind this delicious, dark ale.

We jumped into the uber-hoppy ale waters with the release of Hop Wallop in 2003; Ron and I were thrilled with the ale as a vivid expression of fresh, whole flower, American-grown hops. It was exactly as we wanted it to be, floral, assertive and refreshingly lean in its malt profile. Content with Hop Wallop, we looked forward to each winter and the release of this celebration of Mother Nature’s bounty of hops.

But dark thoughts began to stir in our minds, or more accurately, thoughts of dark malts. Since the development we have also had some tantalizing success with hoppy beers where the hops have had to share the limelight with dark malts. Brews like our Ten Year Alt and one-off Schwarz Pils (soon to come ’round again…) intrigued us to venture into a deep but bright land where dense, dark malt flavors and brassy-bright hops might harmonize. With effort indeed, we found such a place in Yakima Glory.

With my case of Yakima Glory substantially lighter than when it was opened last Thursday night, I am here to tell you that this is also a rewarding beer for the drinker of it. Floral hops battle mightily with the roasted malts for initial attention and the two tussle right down the gullet, only to be resolved in blissful harmony when your senses clear. It is deceptively dry in its impression, goading you in to maybe a bit more volume than you normally might indulge in such a strong ale.

So reward yourself with some tasty Yakima Glory even if your search for this fast-selling brew is challenging.

Cheers,

Bill

Note: Yakima Glory is available in for wide release in all 30 states that carry Victory beer. The option to offer Yakima Glory, or any Victory brand, is up to the individual retailer (bar, grocery store, bottle shop, liquor store, etc.) If you’d like to insure that Yakima Glory makes it to your area call your local retailer and wholesaler (click here to find the wholesaler in your state).

It’s Curtains for Yakima Twilight already?

Wednesday, February 3, 2010 at 9:29pm

Well, folks, we have reached the twilight hour of our beloved Yakima Twilight for the season and we want to take this moment to thank you for making this brand our most successful seasonal launch to date.

Your thirst caused us to DOUBLE our initial production expectations for Yakima Twilight. We are so pleased that you hung in there for this wild ride of deep, dark roasted malts and bright and brassy hops. We thought that we challenging you with big flavor and you turned tables on us by demanding more than we expected. We make a great team, huh?

Heck, consumer votes even brought Yakima Twilight perilously close to winning the honor of ‘Best Craft Beer of 2009’ at TheFullPint.com, though our second place finish makes us very proud and encouraged to bring more and more unique beers. With the last 30 cases shipped to our wholesaler in Maryland on Monday, what’s left for the season is out there in retail now so don’t delay if you have not scored your Yakima Twilight for this winter. A little groundhog here in PA tells us that it’s not over for winter, yet.

Cheers,

Bill & Ron

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.

Yakima Twilight from those who know it best.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009 at 2:10pm

Developing and launching a new beer takes months and months of trial and production, and during that time the Brewer’s of Victory spend many an intimate moment with the emerging product; tasting it over and over and over again (rough job but someone has to do it). So we thought we would sit them all down and tell you what they love about Yakima Twilight in their own words. It’s not something they get to do very often, but hopefully, that will change :-)  

Introducing the all new Yakima Twilight

Monday, October 19, 2009 at 4:23pm

Featuring four hops from America’s heartland of hop-growing, the Yakima Valley of Washington State, our new Yakima Twilight serves as a celebration of American hops. “I thought of hop farmers as I formulated this beer. I wanted to create a malty platform to showcase the intense flavors and aromas that these dedicated hop-farmers have developed in their wonderful hops.” stated Ron Barchet, CEO and co-brewmaster of Victory.

Dark malts are also featured in Yakima Twilight making for a challenging beer to brew as achieving balance between the strong flavors of fresh, whole flower hops and deeply roasted malts is no easy feat. The brewmasters and brewers are confident that they have struck that balance in this unique, strong ale that weighs in at 8.7% a.b.v.

“We strive to keep an exciting array of beers in development for our audience to eventually enjoy. To some extent, our restaurant serves as a great focus group, allowing our customers to tell us which newly developed beers that they really enjoy. It makes obvious sense to us to take their suggestions and continue producing beers that they find appealing.” said Bill Covaleski, president and co-brewmaster of Victory Brewing Company.

Look for Yakima Twilight in 12 oz. bottles and on draft in most territories served by Victory from November 1 through January 2010. And, if you are in the Philadelphia region, you’ll not want to miss the culinary premiere of Yakima Twilight as The Next Iron Chef competitor, Chef Jose Garces, has paired dishes to Victory beers, including Yakima Twilight, for an exciting event at his Chifa restaurant located at 707 Chestnut Street in Philadelphia, on November 5, 2009.