victory brewing company celebrates 15 years, releases new beer

Last week, Tuesday, February 15, marked the official release of Victory Brewing Company’s anniversary beer, the Headwaters Pale Ale.

Victory Brewery, co-founded by Bill Covaleski and Ron Barchet 15 years ago on this specific day, decided that if they were to offer a beer to commemorate their years in the making, it would be one that could be shared by many and did not follow “big beer” suit seen in many anniversary releases. (And, in recent trends of barrel-aging and upper-end ABV releases, it’s refreshing to have a full-flavored, yet simple session beer on the market.)

Headwaters, at a slim 5.1%, pays homage to one of the Downingtown-based brewery’s major assets, the pure water they receive from the East Branch of the Brandywine Creek. Concocted all-natural, with malted barley and Citra and Centennial hops, the solid pale ale packs an aromatic nose and never lacks in flavor, sip after sip. 

While I could continue gabbing about this above-par year-rounder, I'm tossing over the reviewing to where this writeup initially appeared, on Downingtown Dish, where I detailed what my beer-writing comrades, who attended a tasting preview of Headwaters with me last Sunday, February 13. For the full report, click here.

Above photos included Ryan Hudak of In Search of Beer, Mary Bigham of The Town Dish, Lew Bryson of Seen Through a Glass and Jack Curtin of Liquid Diet.

And, you can't have just beer for brunch (which I would be OK with). Follow the jump to take a peek at what we had for breakfast at Victory's brewpub.

it's amazing bread, he said.

We fell in love over bread.

The loaf—larger than my the width and height of my petite head, and baked in a building without electronic—was pumped with whole grains and coated with a powdery, delicate firm crust. Delicious and organic, the bread had travelled over five hours to get me to, and I gushed over every last bite.

Complications do come into this relationship's making, yet with such a profound love for things in a similar fashion, those things can eventually be forgotten, and last month, one year of our courting had been marked.

Before this, I had never met another who shared my (secret) love for wonderfully-made carbohydrates, and better yet, appreciated the artisan craft of breadmaking in such an intense nature as I did myself.

It comes back to that special, environmentally-friendly bakery that first sparked our interests to one another. The old-world, loaf-crafters of Hungry Ghost Bread of Northampton, Massachusetts (which I previously blogged about here) daily produces small doses of their inventory, in an amazing wood-burning brick oven.

Redefining ancient bread traditions into modernized masterpieces, the crew at HGB sculpt a multitude of flavors from simple French, potato, rye and local wheat, to thyme fougasse, semolina fennel, 8-grain pumped with chocolate (as seen above, that i'm chomping) and locavore flat breads made with local wheat, beets and squash.

As a special threat for my birthday this year, we traveled to New England together, to experience the bread jointly for the first time, rather than the various other times, we were enjoyed the loaves together, but just through words.

While, at some times, it seems far, far fetched, but our goal is to someday own a place like Hungry Ghost, taking what we love from their place and transforming them into something of our own.