Victory - Otto Ale

My wife received this bottle as a holiday gift at work so we popped it open over dinner the other night.  I have never tried any craft beers from Victory Brewing Co. , though I have heard good things about this Pennsylvania brewer.  The bottle doesn't even indicate what style of beer this is. So I'm going into this review with no knowledge of this beer except that it has one of the coolest labels I've seen.   

My wife prepares a meal of chicken marsala and I remove the cork from the 750 ml bottle.  It pours a reddish brown with a nice two fingers of foam.  The smell is of yeast like fresh bread.  First sip:  Smoky malt taste like a porter or brown ale.  After visiting Victory's web site, I find out that this is actually a Belgian style smoked malt, double ale.  It’s the maltiness that lingers at the back of my mouth and makes me want to follow it up with another sip. Now I detect a nice little bitter bite.  The 8.1% ABV is not over the top; it's more the smokiness than the alcohol I come away with.

This complex, smoky-bitter flavor is achieved by the use of smoked, Munich and Belgian malt, German hops and Trappist yeast.  This beer gets its European flavor from its ingredients and from co-owners Ron Barchet and Bill Covaleski who both apprenticed under German brewers.  Ron even studied at the Technical University of Munich at Weihenstephan.  The partners decided to start brewing in 1996 in Downingtown , PA just a short distance from where the two first met in elementary school.

The Otto Ale complements our dinner well and I am sad when all that's left is the foam laced up the side of the glass.  I feel like I've just finished a substantial  well-crafted, European beer.  It's nice to know that traditional, quality craft brewing is not only done across the Atlantic.  It can be found right across the state boarder in good old PA. 

Williamsport Breweries - Part 2

by Brian

Not to be deterred after visiting my first brewery, I stopped into The Bullfrog Brewery while in Williamsport, PA.  I checked their website first this time so I would not be surprised by what I found.  Their site gave a glowing account of fine food and gold medals. They weren’t lying.

I tried the Stark Weiss (A German Style Wheat Beer), and the Mud Puppy (A Brown Ale). They were both first rate and I picked up a growler of the Mud Puppy for consumption during Thanksgiving dinner.  The guy behind the counter recommended I try the coffee stout.  I love stouts but I'm not a lover of coffee anything. He then went into great detail about how they use Sumatran coffee beans and Belgian yeast to brew their stout.  So I decided to give it a try.  Wow, what flavor!  Now I'm a Bullfrog Brewery Coffee Stout lover!   

The employees were very knowledgeable and helpful: a huge improvement from my experience at the brewery across town.  The restaurant (Jeremiah's) and the Brew Pub were equally packed with regulars enjoying the food and beer.

I plan to make this a regular stop when I’m back in Williamsport on business.

Abbey Wright Brewing Co. - Williamsport PA

Brian, our “man in the field”, travelled to PA to sample some of their microbrews and fill some growlers for friends and family back home.  Here is his report:

Housed inside THE VALLEY INN in Williamsport, PA is the ABBEY WRIGHT BREWING COMPANY.  They offer 10 different Craft Beers.  I tried the Vanilla Stout and the Brown Ale.  Both had an unappealing bite to them.  The Vanilla Stout was missing that smoky flavor that is typical of stouts and I couldn't taste the Vanilla at all.  The Brown Ale could best be described as WATERY.

The Abbey Wright Brewing Company was established in 2006 but forgot to get that key figure in any great brew pub: a Brew Master.  The employees were very nice but spent most of their time running around refilling $1.50 domestic drafts for chain smokers sitting at the bar.  They had no knowledge of the Craft Beer they were serving.

I planned to bring home a growler of the Brown Ale, but as the bartender began to fill my growler, the keg ran out and no one knew how to the tap the next keg. By that point I had developed a new plan : TO LEAVE.

Throughout my entire time there, I couldn't help thinking of the IN LIVING COLOR Comedy Show and the reoccurring skit MEN ON FILM.  When both characters didn't like a particular movie they would look into the camera and proclaim, "HATED IT!"

 Good luck Abbey Wright Brewing Company, you're gonna need it.