"Far better it is to dare mighty things. to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered with failure, than to take rank with those poor souls that neither enloy much nor suffer much because they live in the grey twilight that knows not VlCTORY nor defeat"

These words of Teddy Roosevelt's are emblazoned over the long, wooden bar of Victory Brewing Company, as testimony to the drive and ambition that boyhood friends Bill Covaleski and Ron Barchet have poured into their brewery/restaurant venture.

Victory Brewing Company, is a concept that had been actively fermenting in the minds of Bill and Ron for 10 years before the doors swung open in February 1996. The odyssey that has landed Barchet and Covaleski in the brewing industry traces back to the start of their friendship in 1973 in Montgomery County, PA. Their paths diverged briefly during their college years. In 1981, academic pursuits took Barchet to the University of Southern California, Los Angeles for a Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science and Economics while Covaleski obtained his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Temple University. After college, the two quickly became disillusioned by their chosen trades of advertising and financial analysis and sought solace in the alchemy of home-brewing. The competitive nature of their efforts spurred them both on to become accomplished home-brewers. Ron was first to make the professional leap, announcing that he planned to study brewing in Germany and securing an apprenticeship at the Baltimore Brewing Company to fulfill his curriculum pre-requisites in 1989. After nearly a year spent working with Dutch-born Brewing Engineer Theo De Groen at Baltimore, Ron left for Germany and Bill jumped into his still-soggy boots.

Under Theo, Covaleski went on to expand the line of DeGroen's Beers to include the German specialties Ma rzen, Weizen, Alt, Maibock, Doppelbock and Weizenbock. With the latter two brews he garnered two Silver medals at the Great American Beer Festival in 1994 for the Baltimore Brewing Company. Silver eventually turned to Gold for the B.B.C. as the final Doppelbock that Covaleski brewed there copped top spot in the Bock Beer Category back in October of 1995.

Meanwhile, Barchet had filled his mind with all Germany had to offer while passing a year of rigorous studies at the Technical University of Munich at Weihenstephan. He brought all of this knowledge to Old Dominion Brewing Company in Northern Virginia and enjoyed the results as production soared from 1,500 annual barrels to nearly 15,000 in four years time!

During those years, both had lectured at the Smithsonian Institute on their area of expertise, Continental lager beers and wheat beers. Their extensive experience in lager beer brewing is matched with an equally strong passion for ales in the British, Belgian and American traditions. As students of beer geography, Covaleski and Barchet have put Victory on the map by reviving beer styles from around the world. Covaleski explains their mindset thus, "Selection is the fuel behind the growth of microbrews. My favorite beer varies with the season, and I'm not unique in this. Customers want their tastebuds excited now."

At this point, the brewery offers a flagship range of four products, a quenching, golden lager in the Export style named Victory Lager, a sly and seductive Belgian-styled tripel named Golden Monkey, the 'menacingly delicious' HopDevil India Pale Ale (Malt Advocate Magazine's choice as 'Domestic Beer of the Year" Jan. 1, 1999), and the classy quencher, Prima Pils. Specialty beers have included to date, St. Victorious Doppelbock, Victory Festbier, Sunrise Weissbier, Storm King Imperial Stout, Moonglow Weizenbock, Dark Lager, Black Forest Pils, Rhinelander Pils and Old Horizontal Barleywine, among others. The future is wide open for experimentation as these Brewmasters see it, "Suffice to say, we'll want to make the most use of the 10 taps we have at our pub," offers Barchet.

Careful consideration by the Brewmasters went into the outfitting of their bottling plant and a new, German manufactured bottling line was commissioned. Capable of 85 bottles per minute, this 5411 Technik unit features long tube filling for gentle product fill with extremely low air capture. All of this translates to better bottled beer, without pasteurization. Cases of Victory Beer have been available on the market since June 1996 to the delight of many beer lovers. An expanding distribution network now includes points north to New York state, south to southern Virginia and west to California.

Striking out on their own, Barchet and Covaleski feel at home back in Pennsylvania. The abandoned Pepperidge facility and its Downingtown neighbors has much to do with this. "It's a monster in a good way" says Barchet of the rectangular, stone structure. "The beauty is that we can grow into it over the next five, ten years... We'll just roll in new tanks as we expand." "This building strikes at the heart of what we're about," adds Covaleski, "we're here to revive forgotten beer styles, and this is the perfect place to bring new life"

With beer, kegs and ample distribution, these two enterprising Brewmasters are re-establishing another tradition, that of the local brewery. With a whole lot of freshness, a little humor and a solid background in brewing, Victory Brewing Company is out to score a 'Victory For Your Taste '

Victory truly tasted triumph when on Jan.14, 2002 it was announced that Malt Advocate Magazine, a prestigious national publication, selected Victory as their Brewery Of The Year for the year 2001. This merit-based honor decided by the editors of Malt Advocate considered all breweries around the world in their quest for the best. Bill and Ron feel truly honored to be regarded so highly within their industry and amongst their peers.

With a plant expansion currently underway to create a new state-of-the-art packaging area (running June 2002) that doubles the size of Victory's plant, the future looks bright to bring 'the thrill of Victory' to many more thirsty beer lovers.