Headwaters Pale Ale
Victory Brewing Company - Downingtown

 

Very good easy drinking brew

355 ml bottle, Cardinal Pub & Bar, Stavanger. ABV is 5.1%. Clear golden colour, moderate to low white head. Sweetish aroma with hints of orange marmalade, notes of earthy hops and wood, even a hint of smoke. Fairly hoppy and peppery flavour, with a distinct bitterness in the aftertaste.

 

 

November 1st, 2015 - After rounds of excellent beers it is always nice to get back to some basic brews, and the Headwater Pale Ale is a nice entry back to the more terrestrial world of reliable and stolid beers. The scent is as generic as can be, with a nice ping of bitterness advertising its style, and absent any off-aromas. And the flavor is much the same. A mild hops up front, a long sweet aftertaste, and the impression that this is a solid beer for a local brewery. After discovering it is from Victory I am a little surprised since I find their beers to be on the stronger and bolder side, but it does explain why this Pale Ale is clean and free from anything untoward.

 

 

Really good pale ale. Well-balanced, fruity and bready at the same time without being overwhelming. A nice Victory alternative to HopDevil and HopWallop, which are outstanding, but sometimes more than you want for an ale drinking session.

Look: Clear, golden amber with a rapidly receding white head.
Smell: Sweet malt and piney, citrusy, earthy hop aroma.
Taste: Lemon citrus. Fruit and malt sweetness up front, blended with a great hop bitterness.
Feel: Medium-bodied and crisp, with effervescent carbonation.
Overall: Really nice, solid beer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Poured from a 12 OZ bottle into a pint glass. The appearance is a clear ruby color with a small white head. The aroma is mostly hops with a bit of lemon tossed in. Nice flavor.

355ml can.
L: Amber, hazy, thin head, lots of lacing.
S: Earthy, old grass, compost.
T: Stewed tea, woody, earthy, dank, zero lemon notes, mouth-puckering bitterness.
F: Light body, hint of carbonation, very dry.
O: Lots of tea-like earthiness...but not my cup of tea.

 

 

 

 

Depp amber colour. Nice fruity aroma, lemon, orange. Quite bitter, earthy, hoppy taste. Gentle finish.

Can poured into Spiegelau IPA glass.

A well made pale ale. Smells lovely and tastes.........like most other American pale ales. Very drinkable and perfectly pleasant but I’m unable to apply any superlatives to this one. Enjoyable but in no way memorable. Cheers!

 

 

 

 

Absolutely solid, crisp, refreshing, flavorful, delightful, just-right malt with hearty hop, go-to, keep-em-comin', staple brew. For bonus points, great policy giving back to help preserve and protect the watershed that provides the excellent water to make this brew.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Poured into an English pint glass, the appearance was a semi-clear golden amber color and leaves the same color body. A one centimeter white head forms and lasts for a half a minute. Some spider web lacing is left around the sides of the glass.
The smell has the hops up front, somewhat spicy yet earthy with some faint citrusy sweet to semi-bitter hop particles flowing into a quaint biscuit malt backbone.
The flavor brought a bit more bitterness from the hops to subtly play with the malts. Aftertaste had a decent blend of citrus bitterness and a firm malt level.
The mouthfeel was between light and medium bodied with a fair sessionability about it. Carbonation felt fine. ABV felt appropriate. Semi-dry sort of finish.
Overall, pretty nice APA all around and goes nicely with it's suggested food.

 

355ml Bottle from Asda, Glasgow (£1.82):
Disappointing stuff here from Victory, the beer opened well with nice tropical fruits & a lot of pine with some citrus in there as well but in both the nose & the taste these all passed quickly & left little more than a bland, basic beer that was more lager than pale ale. There was the odd touch of earthy bitterness, a faint hint of floral & some biscuit malts but none of these was overly pronounced & the beer just seemed boring & weak throughout; I'd expected much better.