Craft Beer Monday Review: Emmet's Victory Pale Ale

Having been to Emmet's a long time ago and not ever since, I think it would have been best for me to go try a flight there instead, but I just had to settle for this one in the Signature Room at the Top of the Cock, when I went there last Monday. Took a little while to review it, obviously.

We attempted to go to Emmet's a few years back in West Dundee on the way back from picking apples and we ran into the annual Dundeefest (or whatever it is called) and we skipped it. I haven't attempted the Palatine one, since Steve-o has mentioned how great Durty Nellie's is, especially with their beer list, so even then we might not try it.

Oh well, after trying this Pale Ale, which really didn't thrill me too much, I am in no hurry, really. Maybe on tap or with some fresh stuff it might be a different story, but in the bottle, it could use a little work. What does that mean?

I guess I mean it wasn't because of the hops, even though they were a little weak, I guess. Really the problem with me is for a little funny flavor mixed in the beer, not like a sour taste but something even more different. I guess I really can't explain it exactly. Except it was kind of sharp and unusual, one that made the beer not so fun to drink as it should.

They describe it as:

Victory Pale Ale is all about the hops. It is full of big hop flavor, aroma and bitterness, which are all supported by substantial malt character. The Victory finishes with a fresh-picked hop character on the palate that will leave your mouth watering.


As far as something different to get at the Signature Room, they had a couple Goose Islands and amazingly, a Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald Porter, which itself is quite good, as far as porters are concerned, but, as you know, I am kind of off those beers for now.

CBC Rating: 3. Drank half in a regular old bar glass, the other half straight out of the bottle. Tried this previously at Steve-o's house in a tasting we had done among a few others that night.

ABV: 5.6%.