Otter Creek Middleberry Ale

Brewed by Otter Creek Brewing
Style: Fruit Beer
Middlebury, Vermont USA

The berry aroma is apparent upon popping the top. Pours a thin looking straw like yellow color, with absolutely no head. Nose is perfumy sweetness with a combination of jam like aromas - blueberries, blackberries, even strawberry. Thin, weak, overly carbonated, and harsh earthy hop flavors that combine with nasty blueberry flavoring. A drain pour.

Aroma-like opening a bottle of blueberry pancakes. Clear gold color with a thin white head which quickly fades away. Nice lively carbonation. Sweet, malty flavor, a watery fizz on the tounge.

(12 oz bottle: Chevy Chase Liquors in Washington, DC) The aroma of blueberry is apparent right out of the gate, and upon closer inspection, a "pale lager" graininess and modest breadiness intrude to drag the nose down a bit. Pretty much a ditto mark for the flavor. While the blueberry flavor is prevalent, the cheap lager flavor is equally noticeable, and the slight breadiness comes out in the finish. The blueberry flavor is only mildly perfumy and artificial tasting, and is less "fake" tasting than some other (and worse) fruit beers. Bitterness is mild, but combined with the blueberry and slight bready flavors in the finish, the aftertaste is less than desirable. Sweetness is mild overall, but this beer shows no tartness, which would go a long way toward bringing this beer up to respectability. Body is predictably light, but carbonation is good. Dark straw color and very clear appearance allow the steady streams of carbonation to be readily visible. Unfortunately, the tiny, fizzy off-white head fully dissipates within a few minutes, leaving no lacing on the glass. Not a horrible blueberry beer, but definitely not something I’d buy again.

Bottle - bottled on 04/14/05 - Batch #1705. Pale gold with a small white head. Aroma of berries hits me while pouring. Up close, the aroma dulls the berry down a bit and becomes a more muddled fruitiness. Also some grains and light maltiness blended in as well. Taste is not that good. Bitter berry and fruit notes, an odd grainy note, stale malts and faint hops. It has an unpleasant bitterness throughout and a light astringency. Lingering sour fruit bitterness. Finishes with lots of berry notes and some sweet malts. Redeems itself just a tad. Typically even bad beers can be paired with some food and made "useful". Not sure I could ever make this one "useful".

Draft - Whoa! Not what I expected. Poured a pale yellow with a thin white head. Aroma was of bluberries for sure, though not real strong. Flavor was... yuck!... not very good. The mix of hop bitterness and the blubery was not done well at all compared to other bluberry ales I’ve tasted. Distinctly "chemical" and nasty. I will *not* be drinking this one again...

12 oz. bottle courtesy of Lou18. a very pale, see-thru yellow with a quickly fading head. wonderful aroma of blueberriesupon the pour. fruit flavor is so mild, this reminds me more of a pilsner rather than a fruit beer. somewhat overcarbonated for my taste. so-so

As soon as I opened the bottle, the berry aroma blasted out. But then my wife thought it smelled like Gummy bears. It’s like yellow with nothing but a thin film. The flavor isn’t quite as sweet as you’d expect, but rather kinda earthy, as if all they used were the skins of the berries, along with a musty wheatiness. Eh ...

On tap at the Flying Saucer in Charlotte. As soon as this came to the table the first thing my friend and I said was "blueberry muffin." We could both smell it before the barmaid put it down. Now don’t get me wrong, I love blueberry muffins. And I am a fan of many fruit beers. This just wasn’t one of them. A rare miss by Otter Creek.