Cherry Blossom IPA
Victory Brewing Company - Downingtown

 

Poured from a can into a pint glass
Appearance – The beer pours a clear golden amber color with a touch of red and a puffy head of off-white foam. The head has a decent level of retention, fading slowly over time and leaving a large amount of foamy lace on the sides of the glass.
Smell – The aroma is strong of a cherry and quite bready aroma mixed with notes of honey and caramel. Along with these smells comes a grainy and straw aroma mixed with notes of floral hop and some herbal and grapefruit aromas.
Taste – The taste starts with a somewhat malty and bready base with a bit of tart cherry and some lighter notes of wood. At the same time there is a moderate showing of a grapefruit hop as well as notes of a herbal and floral taste. As the taste advances the cherry gets slightly sweeter in nature, being joined by a bit of orange and some light apricot. Toward the later portions of the taste transition more of the herbal hop joins onto the scene, all while a touch of grape skin tannin and some light hay join in, and leave one with a modernly hopped and overall drier, slightly tart cherry taste to linger on the tongue.
Mouthfeel – The body of the brew is somewhat thick and chewy with a carbonation level that is on the moderate side. Pretty decent for the mix of tart/sweet cherry, malt, and hop, keeping it easy enough to drink all while supporting the flavors well.
Overall – An alright IPA overall. I would not go out of my way to get it, but certainly fun to try.

Victory Brewing Co. "Cherry Blossom IPA"
16 fl. oz. can coded "BEST BY JUN 11 24" and sampled on APR 01 24.
$

Notes via stream of consciousness: Wow, this one's got fingerprint-through-the glass clarity in its deep golden/amber colored body. The head is a thumb's width of white foam that features both tiny and larger bubbles. This has added cherry juice and you can smell it in the aroma; it's mild but there is some cherry to its fruitiness. I get fruity and floral notes over a mild, grainy and bready malt. It's clean and fresh and welcoming. On to the taste then, there's a little bit of tartness to it, more cherry, some orange and red berry, more flowers, Fruity Pebbles breakfast cereal, and more grainy and bready malt. It's not that bitter, less than 40 IBUs, yet it's really well balanced with the sweetish malt that's found upfront being cut through by the light acidity and then ending up dry and somewhat bitter in the finish. My only question is why does it have to be 7% ABV? I'm guessing that's to support the IPA moniker as right now almost anything labeled as an IPA will sell. I could certainly see this as a really nice spring or summer beer at 5%. In the mouth it's medium bodied and gently crisp but with a slight extra bite from acidity. The head retention was good, and I think the lacing's probably even better ~ it's a good looking glass of beer! I have to give it points for uniqueness, and it is really well put together and brewed but I'm not sure how I'd personally feel about keeping this on hand. It appears to be a seasonal, or at least a "small batch" beer, so I might pick up another one or two in the coming year but it wouldn't go into my stockpile.
Review #8,938

Pours a light copper color with almost two full fingers of head. The nose has notes of tart cherries. The flavor is fruit forward, but the notes are more pithy than cherry-like. The finish is quite dry.

 

Cracking open a pint can, there's no blast of cherry to smell. It doesn't arrive when the contents of the can are emptied into a clear glass liter mug. It has a vague fruitiness, but it's not definitely cherry. The are other notes, such as some sort of starch and surprisingly, some resinous hopping. The liquid is a pretty golden-amber, slightly hazy, yet bright. Almost no head was produced, perhaps because this one is well chilled. To taste, the tartness is nicely there, but only a little more of the cherry. Also contending for notice from the taste buds are the hops. They're much cleaner than resinous and don't turn this too bitter, just tastier. The body seems to have sufficient barley, as it's supple, provides some backing sweetness and a modest extra taste layer. This is a very enjoyable brew. But it falls a little short from its promised delivery. It's, at best, mildly cherry. The good news is that it also fails bring a fruity hop floral to the taste. All the taste inclusions here are on the subtle side and in good balance. The glass lacing is spotty, but for what the body carries, all's well here.