Otter Creek Double Decker Olde English Holiday Ale

Brewed by Otter Creek Brewing
Style: English Strong Ale
Middlebury, Vermont USA

22 oz bottle at Bourbon (Wash., DC). Excellent English-style holiday ale, with a complex malty aroma and flavor and especially smooth palate. Very nicely balanced -- not overdone on the spice or sweetness. Rare, but I highly recommend it if you can get it.

(22 oz bottle: Obtained 05-Jan-06 in trade with hopscotch, thanks Eric!) Hot damn, I was definitely not expecting such a rich and flavorful beer! I mean, I like Otter Creek pretty well, but they’ve never wowed me until now. This is really delicious. Rich, sweet, and very caramely and chocolaty malts combine with dark fruits, lots of earthiness, and finally some butter and roast toward the finish. The nose is sweet and very fruity -- much more fruity than the flavor -- but earthy, caramely and spiced in the winter seasonal tradition. This is a full-bodied beer for sure, but it isn’t heavy or cloying. Carbonation is mild. Dark ruddy amber body shows a bit of haze, but I can still see through the beer okay. The beige head only pours to under a half inch, but shows decent retention, holding a thin but complete layer for much of the session. If this is any indication of what is to come, I look forward to future beers in the World Tour series. Totally enjoyable.

Very good, if you like an exceptionally smooth taste; yet, all the flavor is there, not lacking; not overly spiced, like some "holiday" beers; Hard to discern the 7.5 alcohol as stated on the 22oz bottle. Very different offering from this brewery-will look for more...

Thanks to Volgon for sharing! Dark brown color with some roasty aroma. Chocolate malty roasty yum yum taste.

dark red color, spicy and malty smell and taste. easy drinking, a little spicy, but still pretty good. an unusual taste to the typical english strong ale, but good none the less. worth trying, espcailly for its lower price tag.

Poured into a La Fin Du Monde glass from a 22oz bomber. Poured dark brown, translucent but cannot see through the beer. Very strong smell of pines, I like it. Medium body. Taste is herby, piney, I like it. Goes down easy leaves that forest feeling on the palate.

Pours a deep, amber tinged, almost opaque reddish brown color that shows a brilliantly clear ruby color when held up to the light. The aroma is a light ambe colored frothy cream color. The aroma is sweet and malty, with toffee and caramel being quite apparent as well as notes of toasted malt and biscuits in the background. There is a light fruitiness here reminiscent of raisins plus a hint of cherries and some berry notes. Actually there is a note of chocolate here as well, which really pairs well with the other notes. The aroma is just a concentrated malt experience; it is not overwhelming, or cloying, but quite well balanced in its expressive maltiness.

The taste is quite sweet up front, but not cloyingly so, in fact it is quite rich and malty. Lots of notes of toffee, caramel and a bit of nutty toasted malt in the finish that evokes thoughts of a lightly roasted coffee bean. There is a light hop bitterness in the finish, which compliments the touch of roasted bitterness. A dry, almost astringent note takes hold towards the end of this beer, which helps, along with the bitterness, to counter the up front malt sweetness, and make you want another sip of this beer. This is certainly a nice malty brew, it is perhaps missing a touch of malt complexity, but it really is quite good as is.

Pours a nice deep amber with a thin head. Aroma is sweet nutty, toasted malts, chocolate, caramel, molasses. Flavor is slightly fruity, plum and raisin, but also lots of deep thick sweet malts- dark crystal almost special B like. Smooth overall. Nice.