Browse Tag

otter creek

Raspberry beret

[label]Otter Creek Raspberry Brown Winter Ale (Vermont) – I tend to prefer beer with fruit involved in its conception to beer in which fruit is more of a conceptual additive, but this is kinda nice, and the reasons are twofold: first, the brown ale is quite good, and second, the raspberry is nicely restrained. It’s a counterpoint…not a raspberry-flavored beverage on an absent foundation of allegedly brown ale, but a brown ale to which is added a suggestion of raspberry. I wouldn’t want to drink it all night, but it’s nice. (1/10)

High thanks

Wolaver’s “Alta Gracia” Coffee Porter (Vermont) – Yep, that’s porter. And yep, that’s coffee. Morning and evening, in one drink. “Good” is kinda beside the point…one either embraces the concept or doesn’t. (1/10)

Beer czar

Otter Creek “Imperial Series” Russian Imperial Stout (Vermont) – Sweet and sticky. Burnt sugar, espresso bean oils, molasses, thick malt, etc. (4/09)

Jackie

Wolaver’s “Ben Gleason’s” White Ale (Vermont) – Bitter for no beneficial reason, more like an orange rind beer than a true white ale. The texture’s right, but the flavors are all wrong. Wolaver’s is usually a very solid label (more solid than the owner Otter Creek), so this result is a little surprising. (4/09)

The San always shines on TV

Otter Creek “World Tour” Japanese-style “Otter San” (Vermont) – Brewed with sake yeast. This is vile. It may be authentically something or other, but it tastes of all the worst qualities of cheap sake and homebrew wheat, combined in one sickly package. Ugh. (4/09)

Here’s mud in your eye

[label]Otter Creek “World Tour” Mud Bock (Vermont) – Billed as a seasonal ale, which is wise, because this is incredibly heavy, overwhelmingly spicy, and tastes of grade C syrup boiled down to a balsamic concentrate. Mud, indeed. (3/09)

Otter Creek “World Tour” Otter’s Dubbel (Vermont) – While I wouldn’t exactly call this beer “lively,” there’s a certain verve to it, despite the weighty baked apple and stickiness inherent in the style. Or maybe it’s just overly light. I do like it for a while, but each glass after the first is progressively less interesting, and that’s never a good sign. (3/09)

Wolaver & play dead

[label]Wolaver’s (Otter Creek) “Will Stevens’” Pumpkin Ale (Vermont) – One of the better pumpkin ales I’ve had in many a year, because while it tastes very clearly of pumpkin, it neither lets its spice run rampant nor forgets that it is still supposed to taste like an ale; too many beers in this category taste like mulled pumpkin mead. Not for the purist, perhaps, but a great deal of seasonal fun. (10/08)

At sunset

Otter Creek “White Sail” (Vermont) – It attempts to be a Belgian-style white, but never gets there; the spice elements aren’t intense enough, and the underlying beer isn’t…well, it isn’t much. This is usually a very solid brewer, so it’s disappointing to see them continue to fail with this bottling. (10/08)

Yes, I sea the otter

[label]Otter Creek “Sea Otter” Baltic Porter (Vermont) – I’m not quite sure what’s “Baltic” about this, but as a Porter it’s a good one, if salty (maybe that’s it), with a range of browns and a certain malted crispness. (6/08)