Quick Overview

After winning a game of Yahtzee with three yahtzees in a row (and I kid you not), I am feeling pretty victorious, so I figure it’s time for an appropriate review. Batemans’ Victory Ale is actually bottled by Marstons, a little confusing, perhaps this arrangement is a victory in itself, as the beer seemed to fall short of first place. That being said, the pour was a treat. It’s a vegan beer brewed by Batemans. A pale copper ale at 6%.

Is the war won?

The head was magnificent, and I mean magnificent – light in weight, full of air and just off white in colour. And when it reduces it bubbles like a witch’s cauldron. The body colour is a glorious shiny copper brown. It smells a little like pepper and blue cheese with faint hints of spirit. I can’t work out if this pint will make me victorious or whether the victory lies in finishing the pint – a little like gambling with Yahtzee (or more appropriately playing the drinking version).

It has that murky wine flavour with rounded hints of fruit. There it ends with a sharp spirit-tang at the back of your mouth. And suddenly breathing through my nose I get an aftersmell (if you can call it that) of liquor. I didn’t notice any after taste through the entire pint and the more it is drunk the blander it seems to become. Although I wouldn’t turn one of these down if it were offered, I wouldn’t go as far as to say drinking one fills me with the sense of victory Christopher Columbus did when he discovered America (that is, after he realised it wasn’t India).

It more deserves one of those new-fangled condescending trophies for participation than a spot on the highest podium. But like your mother says, it’s not the winning – it’s the taking part.