Otter Creek Sea Otter

Brewed by Otter Creek Brewing
Style: Baltic Porter
Middlebury, Vermont USA

Date: 05/03/2008
Mode: Bottle
Source: Tasting, Cellar Party

Appearance: dark brown, fine dirty white head, bits of drippy lace,
Aroma: dry chocolate aroma with just a hint of dark caramel sweetness,
Body: creamy body,
Flavor: rich chocolate flavor, nice caramel sweetness brings out the chocolate, hint of tartness, light bitterness,

Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 8/10; Palate: 8/10; Overall: 16/20
Rating: 3.9/5.0
Drinkability: 8/10
Score: **4

Dark golden-brown. Big aromatic chocolate malt with vague nuttiness. Fairly light body, only a little bit of brown sugar chewiness and light nuttiness. Finishes a little thin with some light stickiness. I like sea otters and I like baltic porter but this doesn’t do it for me.

Pours a transparent dark mahogany with a thin, wispy-lacing light tan head. Aroma of lightly sweet milk chocolate and caramel with a touch of licorice. Starts with decent fullness and some sweet dark caramel malts before a drier, slightly roasted dark chocolate finish. A pretty good strong porter.

Pours brown with a light brown head. Smells of pepper, roasted malt. Tastes peppery with some roasted malt and chocolate hints. Decent but not true to style.

22 oz bomber. Dark brown, slightly translucent. Lightly salty coffeeish aroma. A bit of soft milk chocolate as well. Light lagerish cleanness. Milk chocolate, light cocoa. Very balanced with the nutty nose of a regular porter with a clean lagerish malt character. Nice balance but lacks the intensity of an authentic Baltic porter. It is still a pleasant enough brew though. Very light for the style.

22 oz bottle. Pours black with 1-finger khaki head. Nose is dark malt, coffee, dark chocolate, hops. Tastes dark malty, with chocoff, licorice, and assertive hops. The palate is a bit weak in mass, but the balance is good. I enjoyed this one, and I’d say this is Otter Creek’s best offering yet.

On tap at American Flatbread, Burlington, August 3 2009. A 2007 edition. A clear dark brown porter with a thim moka head, very still. In aroma, nutty and milky chocolate, with a bit of boiled veggies. In mouth, a rather light chocolate porter with a bit of molasse, rather thin bodied. Aging this one may not be the best.....

22 ounce bottle from City Market in Burlington VT (January 2008), served at cellar temperature from a Maudite glass. Dark, translucent purplish-black pour, with a two-finger medium-tan bubbly head that dissipates quickly leaving scant lacing....nicely balanced roasty dark chocolaty -- grapy aroma, both darkly vinous and brightly grape-skinned, a nice roasted graininess and hints of espresso, somewhat light in character but still enticing....flavor profile starts out promisingly, again mostly chocolaty, plenty of roastiness, only lightly sweet and fruity, but the body unfortunately is a bit too attenuated, dry and somewhat cardboardy at the finish, and the lack of sweetness makes the drynesss seems almost chalky....a promising effort in some ways, but just doesn’t quite carry through.