Upon entering the building, first thing we saw was the massive 300-seat restaurant with a 60-foot-long bar. What was especially fantastic was how the tops of German brew kettles were used as decorations.
To start off our exclusive tour, our guide bought us a round of beers to sample: the Whirlwind Witbier (a light Belgian beer that was irrelevant to my taste buds), Scarlet Fire Rauchbier (a smoked beer that smelled like a bacon campfire), Yakima Glory (a dark IPA in which ensued a battle between American hops and dark roasted malts), Storm King Stout (a dense and full beer with dark chocolate flavor), Hersbrucker Pils (a delicious German Pils with a lot of earthly aromas), and, my personal favorite of theirs, the Hop Wallop, which I took a full glass of with me for the rest of the tour.
Beer (★★★★) - The two German-taught owners do a good job of mixing German tradition with American craft experimentation. What Victory beer is especially noted for is their prominent use of hops. They use whole flower hops for their beer, which they think imparts better flavor and aroma -- and I think I agree.
Tour (★★★★★) - As we were taken through the massive brewery, my eyes glazed over. Everything was so expansive, yet so clean and so very welcoming. It was my first time ever entering into a hop room; the fact that I got to rub my hands in whole flower hops and dip my nose into that mouth-watering smell blew my mind. I felt like there was nothing off-grounds. I was impressed by how okay it was that we were wandering through the brewery with beers in hand, including our guide. Overall, it was an absolutely amazing experience.
Beer (★★★★) - The two German-taught owners do a good job of mixing German tradition with American craft experimentation. What Victory beer is especially noted for is their prominent use of hops. They use whole flower hops for their beer, which they think imparts better flavor and aroma -- and I think I agree.
Tour (★★★★★) - As we were taken through the massive brewery, my eyes glazed over. Everything was so expansive, yet so clean and so very welcoming. It was my first time ever entering into a hop room; the fact that I got to rub my hands in whole flower hops and dip my nose into that mouth-watering smell blew my mind. I felt like there was nothing off-grounds. I was impressed by how okay it was that we were wandering through the brewery with beers in hand, including our guide. Overall, it was an absolutely amazing experience.
Brewery (★★★★★) - The place opened in 1996, when Bill and Ron took over the previous Pepperidge Farm building and turned it into a brewery and restaurant. Back then, they produced 2.5K bbls; in 2010 they produced 62K bbls, and by the end of 2011 they will put out 100K bbls to 30 states. They use American and German hops, German malts, and 40+ yeasts to brew up their beer. And it seems like they take great care to make sure their employees and customers are happy. According to our tour guide, the name of the brewery originated with the owners saying, "It'll be a victory if we ever get this off the ground." Well, if you ask me, I think you Bill and Ron are vic-vic-victorious!
Just because I can't stop ranting about how much I enjoyed Victory Brewing Company, here are some additional pictures with captions:
This was the latest addition to the brewery -- a tank so big, they had to lay it sideways.
Drinking so much delicious beer made us hungry. We ordered sweet potato fries, which were divinely delicious. Why is it that breweries always have the best food?
This was most certainly one of the coolest things about Victory -- they had an automatic growler filler! What a brilliant idea! I want one...
We had to give the automatic growler filling machine a test run. My friend and I each bought ourselves a growler of the Hop Wallop. The tight seal kept our beer fresh and carbonated for the rest of our trip.
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