Victory V-Twelve

There's a new line of small-batch craft brews from Victory Beers, one of my favorite East Coast breweries, (in large part due to their Prima Pils, America's best lager in my estimation), and the latest offering is the V-Twelve. The Twelve is a reference to the ABV, and the automotive reference is no mistake - this beer definitely revs high. They describe it as "immense" and that is not a misnomer, but it's not immense in the nose - the high alcohol does not overwhelm as some Belgian-style beers of even lower registers sometimes do. It's unmistakably winey but not to a fault, and as the Prima Pils does, finishes clean (though with a broader and fuller register) and without the sometimes-distracting fruitiness of some other contemporary North American Belgians. Bottle-conditioned and released in a 750 mL corked bottle, this is a beer that will keep for some time, and it might not be a bad idea to pick up a couple of bottles - at just $6.50 (at Weaver Street Market, anyways), this carries the full alcohol content and much more taste than comparably sized and priced bottles of wine.