March 26, 2001 -- For the third year, I find myself in Philadelphia for The Book and the Cook, the best little food festival that nobody knows about. (Which is not entirely true, but I have found the B&C to be unjustifiably little-known outside of Philly and New York City.) And since this trip always gives me a chance to connect with people I haven't seen for too long, I also found myself spending Friday night in the company of Lew Bryson (author of "Pennsylvania Breweries") and his lovely wife Cathy, Jim Anderson (www.BeerPhiladelphia.com) and Don Russell (Joe Sixpack from the Philadelphia Daily News).

This small but growing brewery from Downington, PA, continues to amaze me. I started with their Prima Pils, a wonderfully crisp and fabulously structured pilsner that combines a subtle, hop-balancing maltiness with a tremendously flavourful but not biting bitterness. If Victory made only this and one or two other decent bottom-fermented brews, they would be very worthy of mention.

But lagers are just the start of Victory. I then moved on to their HopDevil Ale on the hand-pump and enjoyed a moderately fruity, well-hopped pale ale that didn't leave me feeling as if the skin had been peeled from my tongue. This, I could have quite easily kept drinking, but there was more to come.

Like the Sunrise Weiss, a slightly cloying but nicely citrusy German-style wheat with character enough to make its presence felt even after the HopDevil. Perhaps not as remarkable as its ale and lager kin, but certainly a tasty, notable brew.

And I haven't even mentioned the other styles Victory manages so well, like their tasty Golden Monkey strong Belgian-style golden ale, or the wonderfully rounded and complex Old Horizontal, a barley wine broadly in the English style. For those of you keeping track, that makes the brewing traditions of five countries (Czech Republic, US, Germany, Britain and Belgium), all well-represented and well-executed at a single brewery.

Victory, indeed.

Find out more about Victory at www.victorybeer.com, and check out the Standard Tap at www.standardtap.com.

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