I first had Victory’s Summer Love Ale during our brief, smoking hot pub crawl through Center City during Philly Beer Week 2011. Since I had this beer after a Dogfish Head 75 Minute IPA at Fergie’s Pub and a Victory Headwaters Pale Ale at The Oyster House, I can’t say that I remember much from the first go around, so when I saw it on the shelf at Wine Works in Marlton, NJ, I decided to pick up a bottle in order to analyze it more closely.
Here is what Victory Brewing Company has to say about this beer:
With the sublime, earthy familiarity of noble, American and German hops backed up by fresh and clean German malts, Summer Love Ale® ends with a surprising burst of lemony refreshment from fistfuls of American whole flower hops. Love Summer, now.
And here is what their employees have to say about this beer:
Now that we have all of that out of the way, let’s get on with the review…
- Appearance: Clear, golden yellow color. Very little foam and lacing.
- Aroma: Bright, citrus hop aroma, i.e. pink grapefruit. A bit of honey sweetness.
- Taste: Lightly carbonated. Smooth and creamy mouthfeel. A hint of fizzy bubbles tickle your tongue. Citrus and honey sweetness at the onset. Moderate hop bitterness starts to build at mid palate. Crisp, clean, and slightly bitter finish.
- ABV: 5.2%
I am happy to report that the Victory Summer Love Ale is quite delicious. The hops and malts play very nicely together resulting in a very well balanced and easy drinking beer. Victory’s Summer Love Ale is crisp, clean, refreshing, and highly session worthy. They need to start canning this one!
Only one question remains…
How does the Summer Love Ale compare to the Victory Prima Pils or even their Headwaters Pale Ale, their other highly refreshing, session worthy beers which I enjoy immensely? Perhaps a side by side by side comparison is in order.
Categories: Brew Review, Victory
AMKrouse
The Alemonger
G-LO
limpd
The Wookie
The ROK
Sarah -BeautifulTangibleThings
The Astounding Prism
It's just the booze dancing... 
Superman glass aside, nice review. And, watching Ron Barchet pull a glass right out of the tank makes me realize I have chosen the wrong line of work.
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You’re just jealous that your lads didn’t get you any fun glassware for Father’s Day last year. Which is surprising given your affinity for collecting things and your love of Marvel/DC Comics.
Agreed on our career choices. What the hell were we thinking??? If you look at the craft beer and craft distilling timeline, we could have gotten in on the ground floor back when we started our nonsense jobs, i.e. the early 90s. Then again, if I had any money in the early 90s or at least had the smarts to borrow some money and buy up property in South Philly, I would be a very wealthy man right now. Such is life I suppose. Guess we’ll just have to settle for the drinking part. Not a bad consolation prize.
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That’s right, instead of doing all the hard work brewing the beer, we do the easy work reviewing the beer. I guess it is a fair trade-off.
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I would say so! And speaking of easy work…
Thirsty Thursday? Frothy Friday? Sudsy Saturday or Sunday? Again, just sayin…
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No, yes, yes and maybe yes.
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Direct and to the point. Well done!
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Haven’t tried that one. I usually don’t like summer beers, but I can’t figure out why. I can appreciate a good pils, lager, kolsch, and what have ya, so I guess I just haven’t found one I like yet.
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I can understand that. Most of them are quite weak and watery. Thankfully, this one is not. I really enjoyed it. Well worth trying.
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I just had this for the first time and was surprised how much I liked it. I liked Headwaters better, but still think Summer Love is a darn good beer.
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I know what you mean. I wasn’t expecting much either, but was thoroughly impressed. Just a really nice, easy drinking beer. Makes you wonder how anyone could drink Bud/Miller/Coors when stuff like this is available. Marginally more expensive. Infinitely more delicious!
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Can’t go wrong with Victory. Had one of these for the first time the other night. Great summer beer!
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Thanks for the comment Paula! Good to know that I wasn’t the only one that enjoyed this beer.
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