12 oz bottle- ~$16, 4-pack
- Purchased at Chattanooga Wine & Spirits
Background
It’s no secret that I really enjoy Ballast Point’s Victory at Sea, a Porter with Coffee and Vanilla flavors. Maybe not quite so much as the sister-beer, Calm Before the Storm, but Victory is a seriously good beer that pair well with many Maduros. Naturally, when I heard that they were producing some barrel-aged, I had to procure some. The one I was able to get at this time was the “High West Barrel Aged Ballast Point Victory at Sea.” From the company’s website:
We partnered with our friends at High West® Distillery to create a barrel-aged version of Ballast Point Victory at Sea, our award-winning Imperial Porter with cold-steeped coffee and vanilla. From a blend of Ballast Point Victory at Sea aged in High West’s own bourbon & rye whiskey oak casks, new layers of complexity emerge with notes of soft caramel and smoky oak over a dark chocolate and roasted almond body. High West crafts delicious and distinctive whiskeys to honor the American West, making it the perfect pairing with our signature San Diego-born porter.
While the regular expression of Victory weighs in at 10% ABV, High West Victory sports an impressive 12% ABV, along with 35 IBUs.
As a side note, I also got to try two additional more-or-less “regular” limited-editions of Victory recently: Coconut Victory at Sea (which was great) and Peanut Butter Victory at Sea (which was good, but not something I’d do again). They have also made a bunch of other variations including Maple Syrup, Chocolate Strawberry, Rum & Rye Barrel Aged, Devils Share, Hammerhead, Thai Iced Coffee, Black Currant & Raspberry, Rum Soaked Oak Spiral and Sumatra Coffee, Raspberries & Strawberries, Dane Coffee Roasters, Final Blend, Woodford Reserve Whiskey Barrels, and Chocolate, Coconut, Rum-Soaked Oak Chips…I have a lot of work to do if I want to try them all.
Notes
High West Victory at Sea looks pretty much like regular Victory…or any other Porter or Stout…it’s almost black. There was a stronger than normal vanilla aroma from the beer with just a touch of coffee and a slight oakiness.
Up front, the flavor is very familiar with lots of coffee and vanilla. The coffee fades quickly, replaced by caramel sweetness, then oak notes and a boozy bourbon finish.
I’ve paired a lot of dark beers lately with Maduro Tatuajes, so I wanted to break that trend. This time, I lit up a Caldwell/Booth/AJ Fernandez The T to go with High West Victory at Sea.
The T’s earthier flavor was an interesting counterpoint to the beer’s fairly intense sweetness. The one thing I’ve disliked a bit about this beer in previous bottles is that it is a little too sweet. This pairing toned that down a little bit and made it more palatable.
I’ll be publishing my own full review of The T in a couple weeks. Make sure to check out Keith’s review in the meantime.
