One Of Craft Beer’s Greatest Stories – Victory Brewing
When you taste Victory, you’re enjoying the finest, natural ingredients & the marriage of time-honored brewing techniques with innovative, flavor affirming technology. Check out one of craft beer’s greatest origination stories.
You’ll find Victory Brewing Company at our upcoming MGK Locals Only Beer Festival on April 21 at Independence Seaport Museum. Tickets are on sale now and selling fast.
We’ll be highlighting each brewery participating in our event on wmgk.com with our Locals Only Spotlight feature. You’ll get a feel for what drives them to make delicious craft beer and most importantly what tasty offerings they’ll be serving up on April 21.
What They’re Serving
Each brewer will serve up a Flagship beer (a beer they’re well known for) & a Specialty/reserve beer. Attendees will get to vote for their favorite beer in each category.
Flagship Category – Homegrown Lager
Specialty Category – DTown IPA #4
One Of Craft Beer’s Greatest Origination Stories
The story of Victory Brewing Company starts on a school bus in 1973 when fifth-graders Ron Barchet and Bill Covaleski stepped aboard, on their way to a new school. The two became fast friends and remained so, even as they grew up and went to college on opposite coasts.
It wasn’t until 1985 when Bill gave Ron a home brewing kit that their love of craft beer began to develop and they brewed their first home brew – a hoppy pale ale. Shortly thereafter, Ron left his job as a financial analyst and started an apprenticeship at Baltimore Brewing Company (BBC), working under a Dutch-born and German-trained brewer named Theo DeGroen. After working there for nearly a year, Ron had the necessary prerequisites to move on to study at the Technical University of Munich at Weihenstephan.
Immediately upon Ron’s departure, Bill took over his emptied role in Baltimore expanding the line of beers produced at the BBC to include several German specialty beers, many of which went on to win multiple awards at the Great American Beer Festival. Bill then went on to complete his brewing studies in Munich, Germany at Doemens Institute.
With knowledge, experience and a love of quality beer in place, Bill and Ron decided they were ready to open their own brewery.
Victory Brewing Company opened its doors to the public on Feb. 15, 1996. In its first year, Victory brewed 1,725 barrels of beer. Since then, Victory has continued to expand and grow. In 2009 the brewery expanded its fermentation, clarification and kegging capabilities, increasing its total capacity to 100,000 barrels. Seeing a need for further expansion, in 2013 Victory opened a brand new state-of-the-art brewery in Parkesburg, PA, boasting a capacity of 200,000 barrels. Today, Victory operates three brewpubs; the original Downingtown site, Victory at Magnolia in Kennett Square, and Parkesburg which features self-guided brewery tours. In February 2016, Victory announced an alliance with Southern Tier Brewing Company under the parent company of Artisanal Brewing Ventures. Victory products are distributed to nine countries, 35 states across the US, plus Washington, DC and Puerto Rico.
Victory Through Integrity & Taste
Victory Brewing Company’s mission is to achieve Victory through integrity and taste. This is done through the company’s four core values: excellence, innovation, community and stewardship. Victory’s values are a large part of the daily operations of the company and a way of life for our employees; they define the culture of Victory Brewing Company. This culture and these values prove that above all, Victory is enduring.