Saphire Ale
Victory Brewing Company - Downingtown

 

What a treat to try this one. And it's really good - balanced strong, and unusual.

Pours a cloudy amber with a inch-thick dense head that falls quickly to relatively little lacing. The aroma is powerful - like a spicy apricot. The flavor is spicy, surprisingly sweet and fruity - again, a strong apricot character with a white pepper-like burn. There is an interesting hop bitterness on the finish, but subtle and not overwhelming. For a beer this powerful, there is surprisingly little alcohol bite. The mouthfeel is rich and chewy, with a sting of fine carbonation and a little alcohol finish.

The power of the beer hurts its overall drinkability and this is one of those cases where exquisite balance works against a beer - it would be easy to down one or two of these fairly quickly and find oneself in serious trouble. Treat this beer with respect lest you find yourself several sheets to the wind.

tasted on 5.10.08. this was my first visit back to Victory after their remodel. awesome place.

this CBC Sapphire was a commissioned beer (I think). so it was a once and done brew and I am glad I got a chance to have some.

great looking beer. good head but dissipated pretty quickly. minimal lacing. a nice golden orange color.

the smell was a bit dissapointing as there was almost no smell. my senses could have been off - but there wasn't much there.

the taste is amazing. it has a nice overall balance. not too strong or carbonated. a fantastic sweet malty taste. you can definitely get the impact of the spices. all of this translates to a great mouthfeel. flavor spreads nicely throughout the mouth. can definitely drink a bunch of these (which is why I bought a growler to take home with me).

this was a great brew. too bad they only did it once.

Poured a clear rich amber color with 1 finger of bubbly white head, good retention and fantastic lacing. Smells of a fruit basket, lots of flavors of grapes, lemon, apricot, sugared cherries, clove, bread, and alcohol warmth. Tastes of cherries, candied figs, and raisins followed by clove, mint, sweet bread, grapes, and honey, with an apricot, orange rind, and slight alcohol finish. Medium bodied with excellent effervescent carbonation, fruity with a good bread backbone and a tart and slightly alcoholic finish. Great flavors, dangerously easy to drink and a heavy hitter at 10%, luckily there is only one size available on this bad boy.

Served as a deep apricot colored beer with moderate off-white head.

Smell has a strong malt background, with lots of dark fruit and a touch of spice.

There is only one way to describe the taste of this beer, super smooth. There is lots of malt, lots of fruit, lots of spices, lots of taste and no alcohol.

Perfect taste retention, so strong that my next beer was difficult to taste for a while.

Way too weasy too drink. Truly a delight.

A: Golden orannge with a thin head that receeds to a nice rim atop the beer.

S: Tons of spice with coriander taking the lead, lots of citrus, bready yeast notes and bright distict earthy hops.

T: Bread, earthy and citus hoppy flavors, pepper and spices, with a bit of alcohol at the end.

M: Medium to full body with great carbination and a very dry, crisp finish.

D: This is a great easy drinker. Enough alcohol to keep you on pace to drink a few of these.