Otter Creek Helsinki Gold

Formerly brewed at Otter Creek Brewing
Style: Traditional Ale
Middlebury, Vermont USA

Bottle, hum is this old, tastes awesome. Pours an amber body with a white head. Very spicy with hints of cinnamon, thyme, coco powder, chili pepper, tannic tea notes and a light woodiness. Wow just delicious. Hints of berry, jasmine, and rye. Very very nice!!

22oz bottle 11/26/08 (Witty’s Liquors-Rahway)-Pours a hazy golden with a small white covering for ahead. Aroma of hops, malt, rye, and juniper. Taste of the same with a bitterness on the back end. This medium bodied brew was not bad but not good and a bit different. Don’t think I like juniper.

Thin white head quickly disappears atop the opaque muddy pale orange hue. Rye grain feel rather dull, straight cerealic with no spicy depth and dominates the aroma. Feeling more spicy in mouth with the flowery (not perfumey) and peppery grainy notions of juniper, but also extremely husky in its strong graininess. Disturbingly husky, coating the mouth with a drying effect that is not astringency, just coating and lingering unpleasant after-texture. It had started out sweet indeed with that vanilla and cereals blast, bready and sourdough reminiscent, because there is an acidity trace in there, though it fits. Medium bodied, low carbonation. I guess it’s not at its freshest.

bomber poured a hazy amber in color with minimal head on the pour but nice clouds of foam pooling at the surface and slow moving carbination. aroma is sweet malt, spice, a sharpness that i believe comes from the juniper berries, and some green apple. nice looking brew in the glass. taste is medium full mouth feel, hits with a ginger like sharpness, well balanced malt, spice, and some underlying fruit notes. very complex malts in here that are very complementary and the snap that comes from the juniper adds real interest. not the average beer and that is why i like it so much really has something interesting to it that makes me continue to find new flavors as it is sipped.

22oz. Bottle: Aroma of rye, malts, caramel, honey, biscuit, and some yeast. Poured amber/gold in color with a small, creamy, off-white head that lasted throughout. Good lacing. Hazy. Very sparkling. Flavor of rye, caramel, sourdough, and herbs. Light to medium body. Dryish texture. Lively carbonation. Dry rye finish. Juniper???

Bomber drunk some time in July ’07
As others have done here, I am not rating this to the Sahti style, as this shares few resemblances with that, but more a "Sahti-inspired" ale.
Strong white head tops a butter-colored, clear body, with plentiful bubbles rising. Retention and lacing are moderate to low.
Sweet, cookie dough-like malts are prominent in the nose, as is a fair dose of sweet cream and vanilla. You’d think it would come off too sweet, but there is some crackery, dry, bready malt notes that arrive late to somewhat balance things. Pleasant fruitiness helps build up complexity and distracts from the overeager malt sugars (peach, nectarine, apricot). Can’t say I find all that much juniper or rye, though the rye may account for some of the dryness. There is more of a light, white pepperiness than an actual, abundant juniper note. Aroma strength is medium, no flaws or alcohol noted.
Impressed to see that the flavor is quite flawless, with slightly less sweetness than the nose would suggest, though definitely still some notes of vanilla cake icing. Light spices (white pepper, and assumedly juniper) dot the finish, with a strong breadiness that helps balance the sweet malts. Carbonation is a bit insipid, but drinking the beer chilled proves beneficial, as it fends off some of the sweetness and keeps the carbonation in solution longer.
A solid, tastefully spiced golden ale, is all it really is, but it’s quite drinkable and full of substance (malt, mainly).

Bomber. Very different than other Sahtis I’ve had. Has a strong malt backbone, much like an amber, except obviously the "hopping" is more floral and berry like. It doesn’t say whether they put any hops in this, although I suspect there is still a small amount. Pours with a supple head, and has a full, complex aroma. Tons of different malt sugars in there. Body is really really soft and pleasant, and it is easy as sin to knock this one back. Very interesting, very enjoyable.

Clear amber in colour, very small white coloured head, no lacing. The aroma is quite sweet, some rye, juniper, peppery spice, slightly toasty. The flavour is moderately sweet, good amount of juniper berries, lots of caramel, a bit sticky. Sweet mouthfeel, medium/light body, mild carbonation. Finishes long, some sweetness, some spice. Good stuff, pretty close to the Sahti I had while in Finland. I’d like to try this one again.

650ml bottle obtained in a trade with <a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/ViewUser.asp?U target=blank>kkearn, thanks Keith.
Received on August 1, 2007 and opened on August 1, 2007.
No best before date.