Victory Oak Horizontal
Old Horizontal aged for 3 months in bourbon barrels
3.9
170 reviews
Downingtown, United States
Community reviews
A gift and shared from a neighbor, this beer is a powerhouse. Appearance is deep amber, mahogony, burnt red and no head. Aroma is sweet bourbon notes with tasty fruits. Taste is similar but with maple and booze. Palate is sticky but slick. Overall a very satisfying beer.
C&C bottle. Thanks to budznsudz I think. Aroma is super oaky, lots of woody aroma. Not much booze character. Light vanilla. Taste is much the same, mostly dominated by a tannin like wood without much booze/spirit. Medium, slightly chewy mouthfeel. No significant alcohol. Light carbonation doesn’t help this beer much. Light alcohol warming in the ears after a few sips. Just ok.
Sampled while visiting IL in June, 2014. 750mL bottle brought by me, I believe. Amber pour with a small khaki head, mild lacing. Disappointing aroma, not much barrel, just a wisp of vanilla and oak, otherwise lots of sweetness, caramel, fruity. Sweet flavor, too much again, not enough barrel, dark fruits, brown sugar, syrupy. Disappointed.
Pours a deep red brown with a wispy white head. Big Woody, vanilla aroma. Taste has woody, cherry, general whisky and vanilla notes. Mouthfeel is pretty sticky. Finish is sweet and boozy. Excellent.
Bottle. Pours reddish brown with a thin off-white head. Aroma of caramel, vanilla and bourbon. Flavor was sweet with caramel, bourbon, oak, vanilla, toffee and some brown sugar. Syrup texture, medium-plus body, soft carbonation.
750ml bottle - 2013 vintage - pours a deep rusty orange with off white head . Herbal oaky aroma . Lots of barrel flavors ... Strong woody oak , vanilla .... Faint bourbon sweetness with a strong hop presence .
A well-balanced and nuanced take on their Old Horizontal, mixing subtle notes with Victory's tendency to amply hop. Lay this one back for a year and see what happens.
2012 bomber - interesting. Maple brown sudsy pour with thin white head that lingers. Nose of malt, light vanilla, and toffee. Taste follows the nose. Barrel notes are very subdued from the small amount of aging. Almost like a BABW light but with enough heft in the base beer you are not left wanting more. Good stuff.
Rating number 5000!! Sampled from a 750 ml corked brown bottle this beer poured a red-brown color with a large creamy orange-tan head that lingered forever and left decent lacing. The aroma was sweet pineapple upsidedown cake, bouron, oak, sugar, toffee and dark fruit. The flavor was sweet toasted coconut, vanilla, oak, pineapple upsidedown cake, toffee, dark fruits and a boozy presence that pervaded. Very long finish with lingering pineapple, toffee and booze. Full bodied, almost syrupy. Outstanding.
Poured from 2013 bottle picked up just tonight, kids get candy I get this, seems fair. Pours a clear dark reddish brown with an off white head, aroma has quite a bit of bourbon and vanilla with quite a bit of malt and sweetness as well, the flavor has a really sweet front end but it’s offset from the bourbon in the finish, seems like it’s faded a bit, abv is well hidden, pretty malty over all, kind of wish this was a fresh bottle and not a year old.
Bottle. Creamy eggshell head, slightly hazy deep cooper brown. Lacquer hops, vanilla, oak, slight bourbon and raisin malt sweetness in the aroma. Actually big hops on this, lacquer, toffee, bourbon, and very warming. Medium to thicker body with solid carbonation.
THOUGHTS: Cheap cork almost broke in half. Little pieces of cork wound up in the beer. Otherwise it was nice and interesting. Just like the other two Victory barrel-aged beers, the original barrel contents seemed to dominate, not compliment, the beer flavors. It didn’t hide the ABV at all. A little harsh still. It could probably use some more aging. The alcohol just continued to get stronger as it warmed.
TECHNICAL: Drank 3/31/2013. Bottle. Poured a clear, very dark, reddish amber with a small, off-white head that mostly diminished. The aroma had heavy molasses and caramel; moderate pine hops; wood; vanilla; bourbon and that barley wine smell. The initial flavor was heavily sweet and lightly bitter; while the finish was heavily sweet and bitter with a long duration. There was caramel, molasses, pine hops, lighter citrus hops, vanilla, wood bourbon, mostly bourbon, that barely wine flavor and alcohol. The medium to full body was oily with fizzy carbonation and a moderate to heavily alcoholic finish.
Bottle: Reddish gold with an aroma that boasts of bourbon and sweet alcohol. Smooth flavor of hops and bourbon. So, easy to drink and so well done. Thanks Victory for being my friend,
750ml corked bottle from Savor Growl ($13.99). Amber brown pour with white-ish head. Aroma of caramel, little oak, citrus, herbal. Tastes are dark fruit, light bourbon, fudge, caramel, oak, grass, vanilla. Big boozy good sipper.
"Can’t say this is straight up better than the base beer (it’ll get the same score) but I’d pony up and get it half the time if I could. Thanks to ggrumet for the trade. Kinda like BA Bigfoot...this is exactly what you expect. All the flavors of the original beer are still present, but there’s the additional aroma and flavor of vanilla, oak, and booze. Still dangerously smooth, and a great prototype for what a BA barleywine should be."
downing this bad 750 by my self. boy, I need some broccoli or something. pours light tan, translucent, frothy off white head that is sizable but dissipates over time. toffee, toast, wet oak, light bourbon, vanilla. slight booze burn mid sip. finish is full and syrup like. moderate burn and caramel linger on the finish. pretty dang exciting right. http://i.imgur.com/CuPkzjq.jpg
Poured from a 2014 bomber into a snifter brown amber with minimal head.
Aroma is brown sugared bourbon.
Flavor is bourbon upfront with vanilla then burnt caramel and a sweet hoppy finish. Definitely an American Barelywine here.
Overall top notch. Looking forward to laying down the other one purchased to see how it matures.
Poured into a snifter from a fresh 2014 bottle. Aroma is vanilla bourbon and caramel. Appearance is a clear medium reddish amber. Taste is brown sugar, vanilla, bourbon, and hops holding true to American Barley Wines with a slight bitter hoppy finish. Palate is nice and smooth with good carbonation. Overall an excellent American BW. Cheers!
750 ml. bottle. Thanks Mike! Pours a cloudy reddish brown with a small beige head. Aroma of malt, bourbon, and caramel. Taste is sweet malt, bourbon, caramel, vanilla, and oak. Very nice to sip on.
Cloudy copper amber pour with a thin ring of off white head and no lacing ... aroma of buttery and nice strong caramel malts, bourbon barrel, oak, vanilla and a nice boozy abv to it .. taste is super smooth and of buttery caramel malts, vanilla, bourbon, has some boozy warmness to it .... finishes dry malty and smooth ..... could drink this all day long
Bottle: pour is deep mahogany with a modest, fine bubbled khaki head into this glass. It retains on the average/ below average side of things, with light spotting presence. The nose is nutty, toffee, caramel notes, moving to sharp barrel presence and booze. Bittering hops initial, moving to earthen oak, light vanilla presence, with strong barley wine notes , but frankly it’s over the top. But then, so is the base beer. Just not a fan
750ml bottle in a tulip. Pours deep amber/brown with a lacy, off-white head. Aroma of oak and vanilla, a lot of caramel and toffee from the malts, light grains and nuttiness, some bourbon and notes of ethanol, and some bitterness. Flavor a great blend. Smooth texture. A solid barley wine.
Good but a little boozy. It had a strong bourbon aroma with sweet malts. Hazy copper color that was more orange-brown and a thin white head. Smooth and heavy palate with appropriate carbonation. Strong bourbon flavor up front that might mellow with age. Burnt sugar flavor with a tinge of hoppiness to even it out. Solid but a little one-sided.
Bomber at GGW. Garnet with a light, beige head. Smells and tastes like a pineapple lifesaver. Good but really sweet.
Bomber thanks to Chris. Garnet with a light, beige head. Smells and tStes like a pina colada dum dum. Really good.
Danish tasting session
Hazy dark amber color with small head. The aroma is nice, it combines malt, caramel, maybe toffee, and a hint of oak, vanilla, light alcohol. Full bodied, rich malt flavor, some vanilla oak, strong bitterness, pungent hop resins, and strong warming alcohol.
Very good.
750 mL bottle. Pours a clear orange amber with an off-white head. Sweet but somewhat muted oaky bourbon aroma, bready caramel. Flavor is a good mix of oak, bourbon, and bready toastiness. A very nice pairing of beer and barrel treatment.
750 ml bottle. Thick, hazy amber pour with a small head that fades to a thin ring leaving minor lacing. Awesome aroma that’s dominated by delicious vanilla and toasted oak. Other aromas are butterscotch, coconut, brandy, and figs. Taste has a light syrupy sweetness up front with vanilla, figs, butterscotch and caramel. Finishes with strong oak, coconut, and booze. Medium to thick body. Syrupy and chewy. This has intense barrel flavors but it doesn’t overwell with booziness. Really good barley wine.
I think this is 2013 edition...
Pours a murky dark caramel with a sheet of toasted cream foam. Smells of vanilla, oak, english yeast, a little dough and nougat in the back. Flavor is booze, oak, sweet malts, caramel, nougat, some doughnut. Medium bodied with limited carb anda dry finish. Good beer, better than I thought.
750 mL bottle from Beer Run. Pours a slightly hazy amber color with a thin white head. Fair head retention. Aroma of citrus hops, toffee, mild bourbon and toasted wood. The taste is toffee, wood, citrus, candied citrus, dark fruits, mild bourbon. Medium bodied, low carbonation, hot.