Villainous Vic
Odd13 Brewing

 

CAN: 12 fl oz pull-tab. Canned 01/10/20.

8% ABV. "Double India Pale Ale loaded with Citra lupulin powder, Vic's Secret Pellets, and Azacca Pellets. Two varieties of oats contribute to a silky mouthfeel."

Served cold into a Sam Adams Perfect Pint glass.

APPEARANCE: Looks more like a turbid so-called New England style IPA than it does a classic filtered IPA. Has a fluffy off-white creamy head and a turbid/hazy yellowish body. Not the clean clear copper body you'd expect in a typical imperial IPA. No yeast/lees are visible within. Translucent yet nontransparent.

Body could be more vibrant. The head could be fuller and livelier, but it's already long-lasting given the high ABV (head retention is ~8 minutes) and the beer overall is quite enticing in appearance.

AROMA: Clean bright citrus - orange and mango are present, but most of the citrus here is passionfruit (owed I suppose to the Vic's Secret this beer is clearly trying to showcase - though I don't pick up on pine, and I only find pineapple when I know to look for it). Pulpy citrus juice is prominent but this seems to lack concomitant sharp acidity.

Neutral 2-row/pale malt sweetness blends with wheat and oats to take any hop bitterness out of the equation.

TASTE & TEXTURE: Very juicy, which really works for it given its emphasis on citrusy pulp, passionfruit, orange, and mango. Boy the passionfruit hits hard in this one, recruiting the best Azacca and Vic Secret have to offer and really milking the best out of those hop varietals. The tropical vibe you might suspect Vic Secret would impart given its tendency to manifest as a pineapple fruit flavour isn't present here since the citrus largely suppresses the pineapple flavour, all to the beer's benefit (I hate warm pineapple notes in beer).

Smooth, wet, refreshing, silky and coating, soft, approachable. Not too oily or boozy. Not harsh, astringent, rough, scratchy, or overcarbonated.

The juiciness of the mouthfeel accentuates the juicy fruity flavours of the hops to terrific effect.

Incredibly well balanced with a dangerously disguised ABV. This is one hell of an imperial IPA that showcases its hop varietals incredibly well.

OVERALL: Odd 13 succeeds again with this tremendous stab at an imperial IPA, showcasing Vic's Secret hop varietals better than probably any beer I've had to date and marrying them in near perfect harmony with the synergistic likes of Azacca and Citra. A juicy citrusy pulpy brew with no trace of its high alcohol content is the result, and it's deliciously soft to boot.

I'd worried the can's slight age would be an issue (I received this via delivery while in COVID-19 quarantine and wasn't in a position to check the date codes prior to purchasing) - and maybe it is - but this remains a top tier imperial IPA three months after canning. So much the better; now I have an excuse to buy it again.

Probably Odd13's best beer.

A- (4.08) / EXCELLENT

 

 

 

 

 

love the name, love the focus on the vic secret hops, such a cool varietal, but i wish the beer was a little more delicate and well refined. its cloudy to the point of being thick, and its heavy to drink, both a little sweet and a little boozy, so while its a fine showcase of the hop, its not a pint i can repeat a whole lot. i love this hop though, savory and herbal and interesting, lemon curd, green tea, floral honey, fruity sativa, its great, and the wheaty fuller grain base is just fine for it, but it should be drier and somewhat lighter. even though the carbonation is in point, the beer is filling, especially with food of any kind. this is sort of a continuation of good ideas and not quite perfect execution from these guys, a beer thats kind of a learning experience and very tasty, but not quite dialed enough to call me back as much as it should. if you are still curious about vic secret hops though, this is a great place to figure it out. such a unique hop, and a nice showcase of it. overall in need of some fine tuning, but i cant complain...

Been loving everything I've gotten from these guys, so I decided to try one of the more pricey sixers. Canned exactly 30 days ago, this is super fresh, and it looks like it's brand new.

L: Sick super-villain-themed can art as I'd expect from Odd 13. I got a huge frothy head from just a gentle pour. Body is an obnoxiously hazy pinkish yellow, like peach juice. Head dissipates extremely slowly, leaving thick chunks of off-white foam on the glass a quarter inch thick.

S: It's a tropical fruit party. Pineapple, passion, papaya, tangerine, mango, and yellow peach are all prominent, accentuated by an herbal hoppy note of thyme and supported by a mellow oatmeal undertone. Booze is present enough to sting the nose a little.

T: The juicy tropical fruit blend is first on the palate as well, principally featuring the pineapple, papaya, and peach. A slight bitterness like dark chocolate comes in with it, but mellows into a sweeter caramel note very quickly. Creamy mellow oatmeal is much more noticeable on the tongue. That thyme holds the sweet and fruity finish together.

F: Very nice texture for a NE IPA: thick and creamy. Could use a little tartness for that bite, I think. Ridiculously easy drinking for 8%.

O: I only wish all of Odd 13's DIPAs weren't so expensive. I'd rather pick up Quadruped, considering the 40% lower price.

12 oz. Can
Canned On: 12/31/18

Poured into a Trillium glass a pretty nice cloudy pale yellow color, pretty nice carbonation, with a pretty nice thick/creamy one-finger white head, which leaves some nice sticky lacing behind. The nose is hoppy, malty, with a pretty nice citrus complex (orange, tangerine, papaya, mango, apricot), nice little diesel like. The taste is pretty nice, hoppy, malty, with a pretty nice citrus complex (orange, tangerine, papaya, mango, apricot), nice little sweetness, nice little diesel like. Medium body, ABV hidden pretty nicely, with a nice dry/bitter finish. Overall, a pretty tasty brew. Orange Julius! Addictive! MilkShake! Nice to see this one, and something new from Odd13 around here.

1-25-19