Otter Creek Sphinx

Brewed by Otter Creek Brewing
Style: Specialty Grain
Middlebury, Vermont USA

(22oz bottle) Small white head atop crystal clear apple juice body. Aroma is medium sweet, chamomile, some honey. Taste is medium sweet, chamomile, light bread. Light-medium body. Really remarkable how strong the chamomile is -- never had anything like it. Certainly enjoyable, but can’t say I love it.

I have spent 3 hours drinking this 22oz bottle using a small Hennessy snifter. it started out as a completely uninteresting brew, like a slightly fruity lager and I thought what is the point. I mean all these different grains and it just tastes like a regular barley brew. However, it did improve as it warmed up. Its still mainly white bread and crackers but the chamomile and honey do come out. There is a good amount of very plain tea at the end of the flavor. It slightly sweet and faint floral, as I said basically plain tea. Its easy drinking. But at the end I am still thinking to myself, all these different ingredients and it still tastes rather plain and boring. Despite trying to be something original, its actually a very plane beer. The color is a muted, slightly dark, golden.

22oz bottle served in a Duvel tulip. Hazy golden body with no head. Smells of vinegar and flowers. Taste is oddly sweet, some graininess, honey, and spices. Not really sure how else to describe it, it tastes like nothing I have ever had before. Finishes slightly sweet with a bit of alcohol warmth. Odd but interesting.

Sweet honey aroma with a light amount of spices. Hazy golden color with a small white head. Light malt beginning with a mild bitter spicy finish with lots of honey. Dark palate.

Bottle. Pours a golden orange body with 1/8" white head. Malty rye, oats. Honey and chamomile. Lightly soapy with hints of honey. Not crazy about this.

Pours a one finger white head that fades quickly, leaving no lace. Cloudy amber color. Good carbonation and medium bodied. Sweet floral nose. Flavor is lightly sweetened, herbal. Better as it warms. Otter Creek’s site calls this a golden but it really belongs in the Herbed/Spiced Beer category. $3.99 for a 22oz bottle from Manchester Wine and Liquors Manchester, CT.

22oz. Bottle: Strange aroma. Smells like the oil from the frier in a Chinese restaurant and/or seaweed salad with sesame dressing. Smells of sesame, grains, light astringent, spices, and chamomile. Poured golden/amber in color with a small, fizzy, off-white head that disappeared very quickly. Very hazy. Sparkling. Some small and large particles. Flavor is medium sweet. Tastes of malts, chocolate, chamomile, toasting, grains, oats, wheat, honey, and something sweet I cannot quite identify (kinda like Sprite). Medium body. Average, semi-dry texture. Average to lively carbonation. Dry, grainy, chamomile finish.

Bottle purchased from a pizzeria in West Philadelphia. I really only got it because I had been in Egypt a few months ago. Color is nothing special; weak head; aroma of something vaguely herb-y, which I guess must be the chamomille. Really nice balance - the hops and other flavors are very mild, not over powering. Finish makes me think of green apples and, for some reason, pumpkin pie. I would definitely drink this again, especially in Autumn.