Tuesday, July 06, 2010

(Hot) Summer Love in Philly courtesy of Victory Brewing

This here will coincide nicely with the second batch release today of Victory's Summer Love Ale. The Greater Philadelphia Tourism Group refers to it as its "With Love, Philadelphia XOXO Brew". It's another piece of the regional marketing group's new initiative called "With Love, Philadelphia XOXO®" When word got out that I missed this beer during Philly Beer Week '10 (yeah, I know, it reportedly showed up on the taps of nearly 30 establishments...and at the Victory mothership, as well...don't ask, I missed it all around), the good marketing folks were quick to make sure that I had a bottle to sample. And, now, the second batch is ready to hit the market. So your next question will be: "What does it taste like?"--right? The beer was such a success that many of the kegs were dry before the end of PBW and they were already working on scheduling batch #2 to get them through the rest of the summer. And a decent summer beer it is. (Here's a link to some of the background of this beer, in Victory's words.) After a 100-degree day here outside Philly, I cracked open this beer to see just how refreshing of a summer beer it would be. It measured up pretty well. While it's tasty and refreshing, at an advertised "over 5.5% ABV" it's just on the outer boundaries of what some might consider a summer session beer....that is, one that can be drank one on top of another for a prolonged period of time without severe ill-effects. But, it certainly wouldn't stop me from having two or three. The beer starts off with a light fruit aroma from the 'massively popular' Citra hops. The beer is very clear and just a nick above straw-colored. The body of the beer is appropriately lighter than a typical pale ale, but yet not quite as light on the palate as I might have expected. Then, there's a bit, well actually just a bit more than a bit, of an enjoyable lingering bitterness in the finish. So, yes, for the most part, this beer screams summer. Citrusy, kind of but not too light, and hoppy. In a few sips, it reminds me of a cross between Victory's Prima Pils (the crisp, hoppy bite) and HopDevil (for the malt and also some of the hop punch). Drink a few and you might indeed find that "Philly is More Fun When You Sleep Over!" (another Philly tourism slogan)

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