Otter Creek 15th Anniversary IPA

Brewed by Otter Creek Brewing
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Middlebury, Vermont USA

From bottle. Brownish, copper colour with a thin white head. left a decent lace on the glass. Sweet aroma, fruity. Flavour was rather sweet with hops. Bitter finish.

22 oz bottle. Deep amber colour, lightly hazy with a thin white head. Aroma is fairly sweet and biscuity, a bit of rich caramelly crystal malt. A bit of orangey hops, some brown sugar and caramel. Flavour is quite malty. Sweet and earthy with a bit of marmalade character. Sort of a too sweet UK IPA. I suspect it was better when it was fresh.

amber color, small white foam, nose is floral citrus and pine, flavor is nice hops but a good malt backbone, has a surprisingly sweet finish. good balance, nice beer

22 oz bottle

Acquired in a recent trade with kmweaver, I decided to crack this open. I’ve seen Otter Creek products on the shelf before but never picked any up. After this I might put them on the radar. It isn’t a bad IPA though I can think of many I would chose first. On the other hand it isn’t a dismal failure either.

Aroma / Appearance - The cloudy copper hued body was mildly active and sheltered by a one finger head. It looked much like a typical IPA - no suprises here. The nose was cedar, vanilla ice cream with caramel syrup and peach schnapps. If I closed my eyes I might have been deceived into believing I was smelling Nutella smeared on a fresh slice of Wonderbread. Overall it’s not the worst IPA I have smelled.

Flavor / Palate - A creamy mouthfeel coats the corners of the mouth and tongue in birch chips and orange essence. In the backkground is that slightly charred taste from stale gingerbread cookies which have been overcooked. Over time the hops build to a nice crescendo before plateauing. The warm finish wraps up what is a solid and above average IPA.

Sampled 10-20-2007. Pours a very slightly fogged orange amber with a tan head. Nose is highly perfume like and mildly citric in tone. Flavor is extremely citrus like. Grapefruit really comes to mind here. Seems a bit too odd to really work. We are lacking some balance here. Seems almost acidic, which goes right along with that whole grapefruit thing. Feel has a good carbonation to it and the liquid is nice as well. Overall this one misses the mark. The flavor profile is too heavy with the abrasive citrus tones. Happy Anniversary Otter Creek! (but better luck with next year’s anniversary brew)

22oz as a Christmas gift - thanks, Ann and Mike! Pretty cool English style IPA. Nice amber color with decent depth and carbonation. There’s not much fruitiness here, but there’s a nice bready malting in the core with a long dry finish. Solid.

Bottle: Orangish caramel in color, quite hazy, large foamy white head, good retention, clingy lacing.   Soft malt nose, a little biscuit, some orange rind, but very little hops.   Semi-sweet, citrusy, make that a bit more than semi-sweet, assertive malts, with very little hop bite on the tongue.   For an IPA it is quite malty.   Reminds me of either a malted up Pale, or a slightly hoppy Amber.   Either way, its better than expected.   Fairly smooth, somewhat thick, with a good finish.   Pleasant to drink, even if not as hopped up as expected for an IPA.   If you like your IPAs mildly bitter, and on the malty side, this is it folks.   Thanks to Ron Werner for the bottle!

bomber poured an orange amber in color with a thin head of white foam and carbination on the minimal side. aroma of caramel malt, orange peel, sharp hops, and some candy sugar sweetness. the flavor is definitely heavy on the malts for an ipa. with a nice caramel smoothness, hops are sharp and citrus in character, has some flowery background, and finishes with some bitters and hops. not what i was expecting to be in here and heavy on the malt for my taste but a well rounded beer and for an otter creek and less than four bucks for the bomber does them justice.