This past weekend, I was able to make a trip down to the Foodery on 2nd and Poplar in Philadelphia. While perusing the selection in the various fridges, Victory's Wild Devil caught my eye. Hop Devil was one of the beers that really opened my eyes to craft brewed beers, so I figured I'd give this one a try:Look: Pours a cloudy amber with about a thumb of off-white head. The color was reminiscent of Hop Devil, but a bit lighter.
Smell: The aroma was very light and had more Belgian spices than hops. This came as a surprise as the description on the bottle had Hop Devil in the first sentence. There was certainly a citrus and hops aroma, but very very subtle.
Taste: Crisp, light, and refreshing, which definitely played off of the smell. I was hoping for a nice juxtaposition of Belgian Spice and fruitiness to a strong hoppiness, but it just wasn't there. The Belgian tendencies of Wild Devil were definitely at the forefront, and greatly outweighed the hops.
Mouthfeel: It starts off tingly and crisp, and ends extremely smooth.
Drinkability: It is a very refreshing (summer-type) hybrid. It has a pleasant taste, and is definitely a nice brew. But again, when reading Devil in the name and having Hop Devil in the description, I expected so much more hops in the flavor. 6.7% makes it very drinkable for a nice session. 7/10 B
Label: 3.5/5 German flag colors in the background is a nice touch, but it seems more of a rehash of the old Hop Devil labels.
2 comments:
So I guess this is an IPA gone Belgian? I just bought 2 six packs of Hop Devil the past month and have liked it alot for its drinkability. I got the same initial reaction you did when you saw Hop Devil in the name that, "damn this beer is gonna be sick!" I am not a big fan of belgians but I will give this a try sometime as I like Victory
crisp, hopppy dry hopped, tiny bubbles. I am just not a big fan of belgiums. I am strongly biased and skewed towards the hop monsters
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