Wisdom's Hour
Victory Brewing Company - Downingtown

Reasonably priced 750 ml corked bottle was sitting on a shelf in northern Maryland. I didn't bother to look for a date, but seeing how it's retired I took a gander and this here is from 2017.

The pour is a bit limp but that's perfectly understandable consider its age. It's an inviting shade of purplish brown, like an old ale or a belgian dark.

Aroma is nicely fruit-forward, a combination of wild ale yeast and aged malt. This is rounded out very well by mild oak complexities that lend a hint of vanilla without straying into overwhelming booziness.

Flavor is the same as the aroma: well-rounded, and wearing its age excellently. Medium sour brett up front, moving into very ripe dark fruits, ending with nodes of cherry and cinnamon and a more traditional belgian yeastiness.

Well worth picking up if you stumble across a bottle... especially if it's still priced at 2017 levels.

750 ml bottle, bottled on 10 Nov 2017. Pours dark red brown without any head. Aroma: oak, tart, stone fruit. Taste: oak, cherry, chocolate, Brett. Finish is red wine. The aftertaste is like port wine. Excellent. I bought two bottles, the other will be kept for a while.

Poured from a cork'n'cage bomber into a Dogfish Head tulip. 2017 bottling.

L: Cloudy dark burgundy pour with 2 fingers of foamy white head. Leaves a great ring of lacing.

S: Funk, dark fruit, and barrel. Tart and vinegary.

T.F: An interesting sweet/tart. Not sour... but definitely funky. Apple cider vinegar, baked raisins, funk, and old oak. Baking cherry, leather, and some red wine character. Well carbonated... sticky on the tongue. Medium bodied with a tart/fruity finish.

O: This one aged really well... easy drinking with great flavor. A very enjoyable brew from Victory.

Victory Brewing Co. "Wisdom's Hour"
750 ml brown glass bottle, corked & caged, "BOTTLED ON 10 NOV 2017 04:46 P"
$17.99 @ Total Wine & More, Cherry Hill, NJ

Look: Cloudy, very dark mahogany brown body. Short head of off-white.
Smell: Dark raisins, oak, Belgian yeast (clove, plastic), cherries, plum, other stone fruit, cinnamon, earth.
Taste: Earthy, woody, fruity, oaky, vinous, caramelish, leathery, sweetly grainy, and balanced by a stiff bitterness.
Feel: Medium-light in body and crisp with a very fine-bubbled effervescent carbonation.
Overall: Charming and not too tart with a healthy dose of balanced malt, bitterness, oakiness, and yeasty character.

 

750 ml poured into a teku

A- A deep ruby red with a two finger off white head

S- Sour, dark fruits, red wine, leather, oak

T- Sour, leather, some funk, red wine, some dark stone fruits, oak. Really missing balance.

M- Smooth, medium body

O- Not a bad sour, but is too leathery and missing balance.

 

 

Decent head production, especially for a BA sour. Dark brown body, reddish-purple on the pour, but settling into an opaque, thick looking brew in the glass. Retention is quite good.

Nose is thin and light, but speaks strongly of mildly sweet - and quite rustic - Brett, vinegar, tannins, and red wine. Malt profile is expressed with brown sugar, dates, raisins, cherries, raspberries, and plums. Not unlike a (non-BA) Flanders red on the nose, albeit with Brett.

Flavor does not disappoint! This is lightly sour - especially for an American Wild Ale - but it's sharp, tannic, rustic, and mildly funky. Dust, must, oak, vanilla, raisins, dates, grapes, red wine, brown sugar: this is a complex and thoroughly enjoyable profile.

Silky and smooth on the palate, you'd never entertain this thing even approaches the 9.5% ABV! In a blind test, I don't think most people would be able to tell this apart from a Rodenbach offering.

Of course, there's the rub: folks looking for more barrel in a barrel aged beer may be disappointed, as it melds with the overall profile. People looking for something sharply and aggressively sour will be similarly disappointed.

Instead, it's smooth, deep, and very rewarding. With Brett, it's sure to develop over time, as well, so this one is probably worth picking up a couple of bottles: one for fresh consumption, and one for the 2-4 year window.

Appearance: Pours cola colored with a two finger ecru head; good retention and some spotty lacing

Smell: Plum and chocolate enveloped in the red wine barrel; hint of cigar

Taste: The cigar flavor is much more prominent on the taste buds and pairs, at first, with the plum; the red wine barrel is also pronounced but the chocolate is much more subtle and barely pokes through; leathery Brett, in the middle, with a moderately sour, oaky finish

Mouthfeel: Medium to full body with moderate carbonation; somewhat puckery

Overall: An interesting panoply of flavor but the end result is lacking

Quite a dark and hazy color from this brew with a small offwhite head from tap. Maybe some chocolate and vinegar. Sweet and yet sour with a wine component. Lively finish with good carbonation. Pretty good beer I’d say. Would revisit.

 

 

 

L: Poured from a bottle to a snifter glass. Had a dark, mahogany brown color and a thick consistency. There was an inch of foamy, off white, fairly long-lasting head. Pretty good lacing.

S: A decent, if pungent, aroma of funk, a vinegary quality, spices, and dark fruit.

T: Tasted of a small amount of light, citrus fruit (orange), lots of the vinegary quality, some dark fruit (plums, figs, in particular), lots of yeasty funk, and mild spices (pepper). A fascinating flavor that's very close to that of a Flanders red ale. It's quite sour, but enjoyable. Gets better as you go along.

F; A well-carbonated beer with a lively finish. Medium-bodied.

O: A solidly made beer all around. If you want a different take on sours, try this one.