Friends, Captain Beer loves hops. Let’s make that clear right off the bat, m’kay? But if a brewery could have gone too far with it, then Victory’s ale aptly titled Hop Wallop, aptly featuring an old Gabby Hayes/Santa type on the bottle would have been that case of “too farness.” But it’s not. Quite. Just make sure you don’t have more than one or two Hop Wallops in a sitting, or you will taste bitter hops while brushing your teeth that night, drinking orange juice in the morning and even into your noontime mug of gin (we all know, by the way, so you can lose the whole mug act if you want).

Victory’s Hop Wallop Ale is powerfully bitter and its namesake is about all you can taste. So it loses some points on complexity–if there is any depth to the brew, it is horse-whipped down into the dust, groveling and weeping, by the hops. But if the beer is cold, and you are very thirsty, then you just may like one. I should mention the potent 8.5% alcohol this baby packs, too. Again, this hearty booze content is almost hidden by The Wallop, but you can still tell it’s there. The beer is almost more of a pleasurable experience than a pleasurable beer. But hey, try one and you just may say “I still can’t believe that moron gave me a parking ticket! I was there for MAYBE 2 minutes!” Or something more beerful.

PS – Indeed, that is the Captain’s flagship faintly pictured to the right of Mr. Wallop. It sails the seas and is totally badassed. I drink beer on deck and make the men sing in rounds.