Wednesday, November 14, 2007

INTO THE BOWELS OF HADES WITH VICTORY BREWING’S HOP DEVIL

My only other experience with the products of VICTORY BREWING was not a pleasant one; I tried the STORM KING STOUT after hearing many raves about it, I was confronted with an oily, high-octane extreme beer that was notable mostly for how difficult it was to drink (and enjoy). Subsequently I’ve heard some big-ups for their PRIMA PILS and the HOP DEVIL IPA, so I pulled the trigger on the latter and ordered it up from Liquid Solutions.

Believe the hype, brothers and sisters! This is a fabulous beer. Emanating from Downingtown, Pennsylvania, HOP DEVIL is an amber/orange pour, with a medium foamy head. It has some of the most delicious hops you’re ever going to encounter. After minutes, mild hop bitterness from a single gulp was still lingering on the sides of my tongue, and I used that as an occasion to drink it as slowly as possible (we can’t get VICTORY products in Northern California unless we have ‘em shipped here). It wasn’t really a “hop monster” per se, but that certainly was the most defining characteristic. I can imagine that finding a balance this even is a total art form, and I salute the brewers of VICTORY for their fine work with HOP DEVIL. Grab a bottle of this where you can. 8.5/10.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hop Devil is my go to beer. I always have a six or so kicking around the fridge.

Anonymous said...

Great beer, for sure. Sorry I never sent you one before, like I had intended, but I'm glad you got to try it. Did you order a hop wallop? I didn't care for that one as much, but I've only had one.

Anonymous said...

I liked the Hop Wallop, but it is not an everyday sippin' beer, like Hop Devil.

Dale Merrill said...

Hop Devil is an awesome beer. Quite an interesting take on the form if ya ask me. Hop Wallop is a bit too much for regular drinking but does the trick from time to time.