extreme beers

[mountain beer]

WOW----

I just got back from the Victory Brewing Company--www.victorybeer.com

I tried 3 good beers

Golden Monkey--9.5%--Tripel--went down almost too easy.
storm king stout--9.1%--sweet and fruity
old horizontal--barley wine--11% it was a good dessert beer.

I think i just found a favorite brewery.

Thank god my wife drove home.

[bierman2000]

It's too bad that you are not close to Victory. I don't where you live but it is the Nirvana of the East, of course living only 30 minutes away and working for them at many beer festivals has been a true blessing.

[tavernjef]

Bierman 2000 you lucky Hop Devil. Lucky indeed, getting to work a fest with Victory must have been a joy. I got to work a Sam Adams fest about 9 years ago that I'll never forget. I got drunk with Mayor of St. Paul now Senator Norm Coleman. He's originally from Boston so he happened to swing a deal to have them here in St. Paul for a fest to open a park in town.
Back to Victory, which I just love the names they give their beers.
That Golden Monkey triple sounds awesome, will that be available in a sixer or the big 750 ml bottles like the V-ten?
I've had the Storm King Stout which is really the only one from Victory I have not really liked all that much. But I love the V-ten and the Hop Devil, super yum!

[Boto]

I've had some of their beers. They are superb. The other guys in that area that are even better is Dogfish Head down in Del. Try their Raison d'Etre for something beyond good. I haven't had their 18% stout yet, but am looking forward to it!

[tavernjef]

Yep, I've had many of the Dogfish brews with the exception of some of the seasonal and specialty brews that are hard to get.
Most of the usual stuff, Shelter Ale and the sort, are good, but nothing like some of the big beers, Immort is awesome, also recently tried some of the "Midas Touch", boy what a strange
concoction that is, it reminded of a mead style wine then a beer.
But, boy is it good.
Looking forward to some 90 minute as well, its been a while since
I had it. But I was bummed it beat out Bell's Two Hearted Ale in the tourny. Oh, well.
Cheers:)

[beerinator]

Victory and Dogfish Head are two of my favorites... Simply because neither seem afraid to take a few chances.

The guys down at Dogfish Head must be some of the coolest bravest brewers around. I've tried most of their beers(that are available in bottles) and haven't tasted one that didn't push the boundaries somewhere. Their World Wide Stout is to die for. I could barely believe it was almost 20% abv(I think the version I tasted was one or two years ago, when I think it was even higher than 18%).

I wish more brewers would try to brew beers like Dogfish Head and Victory!

[kpo]

My local pub, Rich O's (see my signtaure for the URL) is having a high-gravity beer fest right now that you all would enjoy -

Just in the last two nights I have sampled (on *draft*):

AMERICAN BREWS:
Bell's Expedition Stout
Bell's Consecrator Doppelbock
Bluegrass Brewing Company Bearded Pat's Barley wine
Browning's Doppelbock
New Albany Brewing Company Solidarity (Baltic-style Porter)
Rogue Old Crustacean Barley wine (vintage 1996)
Rogue Oregon Brewers Festival 2002 ("Charlie") IPA
Rogue Russian Imperial Stout
Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barley Wine (vintage 2002)
Stone: Old Guardian Barley Wine
Three Floyds Behemoth Barley Wine (vintage 2001)
Three Floyds Dreadnaught IPA
Upland: Winter Warmer Barley Wine

UK BREWS:
Burton Bridge Thomas Sykes Old Ale (cask conditioned)

I wish they had some Dogfishhead brews - the 90 Minute IPA is one of my all-time favorite beers....

[guzzler67]

good news if you like dogfish head beers, kpo; they sell their 60min IPA in 6 packs now. it may not be the 90min, but it's a great alternative.

[tavernjef]

Just last week I stumbled upon finding some Victory Old Horizontal Barleywine style ale. I've heard alot about it and was surprised to find it here in MN. Victory doesn't move alot here so I don't see much of it but the usual brews, hopdevil, Whirlwind, etc. So I saw the Old horizontal and gasped. I grabbed it and dreamed of tasting it as I drove home with it next to me in the passenger seat.
Later that night, my dream become reality as I poured this beautiful deep amber brown brew into my glass. Super nice foamy head, creamy color and ohhh the aroma of caramel and roasty malt barley, was so very nice. Great smooth taste with lots of caramel tone with a nice balance of hop and toasty barley, yum! The finish is nice and smooth kinda chewy with a great hop balance that wasn't strong like most barleywines I've had.
I have a new barleywine favorite. Sorry Bigfoot, your big step is no longer heard on my craggy mountain top. I dream of a buttery moon filled with Old Horizontal and a land filled with beautiful big breasted women who brew it for me.;)