Beer Review: Victory Dirt Wolf

Victory Brewing Company is one of my favorite breweries and is, in my opinion, underrated and underhyped. Golden Monkey, Storm King, Prima Pils, they’re all amazing beers that you should seek out if you haven’t had them yet. Victory is replacing their Imperial IPA Hop Wallop – which is a very accurate name for it – with a nuclear bomb of new flavorful hops and calling it DirtWolf. Here’s their PR blurb:

Darkly heroic, Humulus Lupulus (hops) have empowered brews with bite and character since the 11th century.  DirtWolf is a tribute to these untamed vines which rise from the earth with the voracity of a “wolf among sheep.” Hops have made an assertive comeback in American craft brewing.  Revel in the best U.S. varieties of hops, in their natural, whole flower form, as they bring a vital, pungent reality to the soul of a wild element in our dangerously satisfying DirtWolf Double IPA.

ABV: 8.7%
Calories: 261
Malt: Imported two-row malts
Hops: Whole flower Citra, Chinook, Simcoe and Mosaic hops

Strong dank hop aroma rolling along with citrus, pine, grapefruit, and earth… a seriously wide array of great hop sensations.

Beautifully white head built of thousands of teeny tiny bubbles leaving a delicate lace to the glass. Hazed and clouded golden-yellow/orange liquid. This is a really delicious looking, to me, beer that I can’t wait to start drinking.

Woof, amazingly pungent hop flavor but minimal bitterness. Don’t get me wrong there is some but if you don’t like IPAs due to bitterness then try this one. This is a Double IPA but the awesome hop flavor is doubled, not the bitterness. The malt character is present but comes out as a low and subtle background note of bread without much more going on there. The malt balances the bitterness of the hops but none of the flavor, which is fine my be.

Like most IPAs this has a medium-light body with moderate carbonation and the slightest hint of alcohol warmth.

Wow, I wish more IPAs were like this. I’ve never been a big bitterness guy so this plays right into my palate. This flavor profile of IPAs seems to be an emerging trend in craft beer and I hope this wave keeps going, rising higher, and spreading farther. DirtWolf is a bit on the pricey side, I think it’s around $11 or $12 for a 4-pack but I also think it’s worth every penny of that and you should try it as soon as you can!