Victory Swing Session Saison - Downingtown, PA

[PappyVanWise]

Time for another beer, also it is the first request from the community.

Victory brewing began in 1996 and has locations around Pennsylvania and New Jersey.  The Prima Pils and Golden Monkey might be their best known brews, but this swing session saison is a newcomer to their lineup.  Here's a PR blurb stolen from Beer Pulse which was quoting Beer Advocate, which I think makes this post and the original 2nd cousins once removed.

"I'm thrilled to announce that March 1st will mark the launch of our brand new spring seasonal, Victory Swing Session Saison. Swing represents a blend of American and European brewing traditions, made with both whole flower US-grown and German noble hops, and an heirloom Belgian farmhouse yeast strain. Swing is brewed with wheat, rye, oat and barley malt, as well as peppercorns and lemon zest, to evoke an herbaceous, bright, citric and robust yet eminently refreshing character at 4.5% ABV."

I was able to find it at Arrowine for $10/6, and Total Wine McLean is showing it's in stock as well.  According to SeekaBrew.com Victory has distribution in DC and MD, so hopefully everyone will be able to find it.

Beer Advocate is lukewarm.

Happy Drinking,

Eric

[jrichstar]

At first blush, this is a pretty average saison: has the funk, the lemon, the dry finish. Maybe a bit less funk and a bit thinner body than average but still quite good overall. What is remarkable is the beer achieves the status of a nice saison with a 4.5% ABV. Really makes the whole package better when taking this into consideration. I know the big trend lately is great taste with less alcohol and Swing Session is a great example of things to come.

[JPW]

A decent beer, but I found it to be somewhat unbalanced. For me the malt overwhelmed the other flavors. I'd gladly take a higher ABV in place of the sweetness. If I'm drinking saison this summer, I think that I'll stick with the peppercorn saison that Three Stars is brewing.

[DrXmus]

I still haven't tried it, but this beer is in "finals" for the WaPo's BeerMadness competition. Interesting how two session beers made it to the finals for a change.

[ad.mich]

Knocked back a few of these over the weekend.  It's a perfectly fine saison that gets a bump for being sessionable - like from a B to a B+.  

[jparrott]

This beer is yet another example of what Victory does so well--take an orthodox style of beer (sessionable or not), and make it more precisely, and less sweet, than everyone else. It's why Victory is my favorite American brewer.