Southern Star Valkyrie DIPA

I bought a bottle of Valkyrie recently, and it wasn't infected. I don't like bitter pine IPAs, but this one was rather decent. Probably because I've been drinking citrus bomb IPAs for the past two months, so a change of pace was refreshing.

I was considering shipping a bottle out to a friend but decided not to due to the reports of bad bottles.

 

Nobody ever said it was infected...

 

I did this yesterday. Started with the Valkyrie, then Enjoy By, then Hop Delusion.

Enjoy By was my favorite but Hop Delusion was quite good too.

Valkyrie was just bad. Prob the worst IPA that I have had in a while

 

I like Valkyrie (fwiw, I've tried it both bottle and draft). Not as good as Pro-Am, but still very good, imo.

 

I did just have my bottle of Valkyrie... it was way off compared to when I had it on tap at Nobi... not good at all.

Hop Delusion from the bottle was close to tap.. and very, very good.

Not sure what happened with some of the Valkyrie for Southern Star. Hopefully they get it fixed next go round.

 

Happy to say I didn't have 2 pour mine. Was fine for me. Nothing to write home about but pour it out was not a thought as I drank it. Lucky me maybe. Would be interesting to be in the same place as one that would pour it to see what that is like for me.

 

Normally, especially in the olden days of the Texas craft beer scene, I think we would be happy with Valkyrie. However, it's just not what most were expecting taste wise after experiencing Pro-Am '12, and the price point for me does not warrant a return visit.

 

I too was left disappointed, the recipe seems to have been altered or maybe tweaked. Its not the earty pine bomb that I remember from 12', seems to be a bit maltier now? or not as pronounced.

It's missing that edgyness I loved in 12

 

I know I'm going to get crucified for saying this, but I think Valkyrie (both formats) > bottled Endeavour. I'd give a slight edge to draft Endeavour, however.

 

I never thought PA2012 was a pine bomb at all. It was all citrus bomb to me, which is why i loved it.

 

Tried this again and was almost as grossed out by it. Not as bad as Petrol's dirty lines but the beer itself was not good. Almost no hop aroma. All bitterness. Stale hops. SS has made a huge mistake not to dump this entire batch and try again.

 

Seems like there are 2 batches of this out there; one that is OK but not as good as Pro-Am 12 was and another that is, well, not OK.

Sadly, the bottle I had was in the latter group.

I really hope they recapture the mojo that was Pro-Am 12.

 

Yeah it looks like the bottle I bought turned out to be a lemon (I wish)...The hops never came

 

so much hyperbole in this thread.

 

that should be the name of this beer...

 

Southern Star taking Valkyrie critiques right now on Twitter. They're asking what's the difference between Pro Am 12 and V. Submit feedback to @SouthernStarBC

 

From their twitter: Let me also assure you that Valkyrie is the exact same recipe as Pro-AM 2012, although sometimes raw ingredients change from lot to lot.

Could it be our pallets are more tuned for better IPA's? I mean shoot, we've been getting so many better IPA's since Pro Am 12.

 

As canadianghetto said, the hops taste stale. I agree completely, was just bitter and sweet malt. It's just a beer that had qc issues it seems.

 

Yeah, stale hops taste for sure.

 

No.