Victory Rebranding - "Revel in the Taste of Victory"

Also a huge fan of Victory. Was glad to see Hop Wallop return, although I prefer the old, happy go lucky looking miner over the new "mascot". Most of their brews are solid and the new labels are refreshing and will like make consumers give their line-up another try. We consumers are suckers for a new look. They have an amazing, deep portfolio of beers if you look through their offerings.
Definitely looking forward to the Twisted Monkey.

 

As long as Prima continues on, I'm a happy camper!

But the branding looks good to me overall. No issue with it.

 

Quite childish looking cans.

As a long long Victory fan boy, I had a keg of Hop devil at my wedding 3 months after the brewery opened. I have had many good beers from Victory but not recently. Price wise I don’t see them competing. I do like prima and vital and will grab a case when it’s on a pallet clearance at my beer guy. The new beers come and go fast and are much too money fir what they are. I had a cloudy Ipa from Victory on tap in December. It was nothing to write home about for all four of us.

Hop devil tastes too sweet to me now, almost sugar water sweet and that stinks as it was such an earthy spicy hoppy beer when I first had it.

I wish Victory all the luck but this new package is horrible.

Maybe try to produce a great core line up that is under $30 a case and be king of the locals. As far as six pack prices, $12 plus even for core is crazy.

Enjoy

 

Their branding has always been much better than their aesthetics, and I...kinda hate these. They feel cutesy and cartoonish in a way that doesn't speak to me.

I mean, I don't think there's a style that will stop me from buying Prima but it doesn't encourage me to try any of their other stuff, and I'd certainly never toss them a dime on merch.

I suspect I'm just not their target demo, but egads.

 

Even if they branded with Goatse, I'd still buy Prima. I'm not that fond of the new packaging, nor am I a fan of another hazy IPA from a company that really doesn't need one (I'd rather see cans of Braumeister Pils and other lagers), but I'll keep drinking Prima and the occasional Dirtwolf.

 

I am always game for a <6% belgian ale

 

I really like the new labels and how they give the whole lineup a coherent look.

As far as the “late to the hazy IPA game”, I think it’s time that we all just accept that basically every brewery is going to do (at least) one.

 

I don't particularly like the new can designs but I'd buy the heck out of Prima, HopDevil, Helles and Home Grown ---- IF I could find them (and, of course, they were fresh) in NJ. In most of the state, Victory is distributed by AB houses and they've pretty much given up on the brand from what I've seen in central Jersey (primarily in the Ritchie & Page and High Grade territories) Obviously that could be because they no longer sell but given AB's numerous "captured craft" brands...

 

This is my thoughts too. I've always been a huge fan of Victory, and I used to get them for $9 ($10 for imperials) a 6 pack just over the border in Vermont as well before their distribution went to shit so between that and making some exceptional beers, you'd always find some Victory in my fridge. I hope the new packaging means improved distribution. Dirt Wolf, Hop Devil, Storm King Stout, Sour Monkey, Golden Monkey and Headwaters Pale ale have all been longstanding favorites of mine.

 

Also I should add that the local store owners always tell me Victory sells right off the shelf, they just can't get it.

 

Not the situation here. I just don't see a lot of the "classic" Victory brands (been years since I saw Helles, and no Prima Pils for quite a while) and those "older brands" that I do see are mostly bottled and often old.

I see some out of code variety packs of cans. I did recently see the new Hop Wallop in bottles and some "Juicy" named can, but couldn't figure out what exactly it was (I don't buy flavored beers) and passed when I read "Contains Lactose".

 

I hope this rebranding means we might see cans or bottles of Braumeister Pils someday. Or Zeltbier; that would be cool, too.

 

I don't go out of my way to buy Victory beers to begin with since I think their beer is mediocre. I understand the rebranding that certain breweries are doing, but I think it ruins some of the nostalgia.

 

Whatever keeps them alive and kicking is fine by me. We're starting to see some formerly major players having financial issues. If this keeps them in the black (and continuing to be able to make Prima and the like), then I'm all for it. Hopefully they aren't too late to "hop" on those bandwagons, though.

 

I agree that the cans now do have a coherent look. But to me it just makes it look more "corporate". The old labels had more individual personality (or at least the real old ones - Storm King had already gotten lame with the Angry Birds looking re-design).

 

I have mixed feelings on the new art but figured a rebrand was coming soon. I love Victory and hope that they succeed for many years to come. I would like to see more widely available Lagers vs more IPAs from them, though.

Juice Boost, a dry hopped Sour. I love sours but didn't care for it and one can was enough...I knew someone would make a hoppy Sour eventually and just as I suspected it is not my thing at all.

No Brainer and Vital are pretty different once I looked at the specs and looks like both will be sold for now but I imagine Vital will be going away sooner than later.

 

Good point...where the heck is Home Grown?? I haven’t seen it around here in over a year.

 

I haven’t seen Home Grown either outside of the mix 15 pack. It’s a great beer and a real summer go to for me. Hope it survives.

 

I love Prima and Hop Devil. They’re botb outstanding, and I wish I could find them fresh near me more often.

It concerns me to see the big national players having financial problems, as another poster said. Here in West Central Illinois, all of the local breweries don't hold a candle to Stone, SN, Founders, Victory, etc, and even Half Acre's and Revolution's beers are hard to find outside of their flagships.

 

Victory has always struggled with their graphics, despite some gems (most of which are long gone).

I do not like these that much. These days I really only purchase Prima from them, and I know the beer will be the same, but I really really found the Prima cans enticing.

 

with mango? English, German and Belgian styles are sacred in my book. They cannot be desecrated with tropical fruit!

 

It's still around. I see it in NY from time to time

 

In NY Victory distribution seems poor as well.

 

Well we are doing it, and so are they. We have proven as a beer culture that anything can be desecrated with fruit. Not that they are all successful

 

Maybe the new look includes a packaged on date in addition to the enjoy by date?

 

Yep, as long as your updating the can art which wasn’t needed, clearly dating the product is important. Maybe we don’t make a big enough stink on this topic, to the point the industry cannot ignore it.

 

It's everywhere here in both cans and bottles and seems to sell well, I see it being picked up by someone often.

As opposed to any style being desecrated with hops? I am a fan of fruited beer so I say bring it on, when done right the fruit plays very well with the other flavors.

 

Interesting. It was distributed here when it dropped and shortly thereafter. Nothing since. I thought it would be a great go-to. Sam ‘76 is similar, but not as good IMHO.

 

Sounds great to me. I like the new artwork and I'm looking forward to trying the new beers. Also, having Prima Pils in cans for the six packs instead of bottles is nice!

 

I’m game for some Twisted Monkey so long as they have fixed their bottle dating issue. I haven’t bought any Victory products since they last rebranded, cheapened Dirt Wolf, and started using drink by dating instead of bottled on dating.

The fact that they tried to hide when their products were packaged didn’t inspire any consumer confidence in the brand for me. If you can’t be bothered to include such a small and relevant piece of information about your product to the consumer then I can’t be bothered to give your product consideration for purchase. Drink by dates don’t cut it.

 

In Charlotte, Victory has made a small resurgence with a large beer garden in conjunction with Southern Tier. Admittedly a younger meds/womens place, there is lots of beer for sale in a little shop on site (reasonably fresh). It has introduced/reintroduced a good number of folks to two large regional/ "super regional" brands--curious if Sixpoint will be joining the party?

This strategy seems to working based on its success. Any others here have insight if it is succeeding in other areas.

Another thumbs up for Prima Pils in cans.

 

Not sure exactly when Victory started using the "Enjoy By" dating method but it's at least 12 years old, based on a email exchange I had with them:

I don't find the simply math of subtracting 5 months to figure the packaging date (well, I go the other way and make sure the beer has at least 2 months to go before hitting Victory's date). I've been more frustrated at their sometimes illegible dates, but that's why beer comes in sixpacks - it give you 5 more chances at a readable date.

 

What's interesting is that with Golden Monkey and some of their other beers it's bottled on date so making the adjustment should not be a huge undertaking. Also, ST and Sixpoint have the bottled/canned on date so a change would put them in line with them.

 

Not a big Victory fan, but their Prima pils is delicious-

 

There’s not much Victory here anymore, some Prima, some Golden Monkey. I don’t buy because I have difficulty with finding canning dates. I opt for Little Yellow Pils or Hopgarten from Red Oak, the Red Oak is always super fresh too. There’s so much local on the shelves it’s pushing out the Cali beers and it looks like Victory takes bit of a hit as well. I’m seeing some empty shelf space as well, they used to be filled. But I’m guessing getting stuck with Alpine and Knee Deep, Hop Devil , beers that don’t sell is a huge problem and a cash flow killer. Hence the empty shelves in spots, low inventory on pallets taking up floor space. Buriel is killing it here, many styles, great beers , they’re super fresh, they’re a sure winner in this strange market of plenty.

 

That is an interesting way to describe today's craft beer scene.

Cheers!

 

The rebranding isn't terrible, but I don't think it's great either. If you're going to do all of this, at least improve upon the old looks.

As for the beer, I've had Cloud Walker on tap. That was a month or two ago. I really enjoyed it. I'll most likely get some bottles/cans depending on the price point.

Twisted Monkey sounds interesting. I'll definitely try it when I get a chance. I like Golden Monkey and Sour Monkey.

 

Rebranding is fine. The bigger problem is Twisted Monkey. Undrinkable. I took a few sips and tossed it. Unfortunately, I bought a six, since I've always been a big fan of Golden Monkey and liked White Monkey (although rarely buy it because of the cost).