Ottos Arthurs Amarillo Pale Ale

sampled at the brewpub on cask. tasty beer with a great aroma. the beer was thin and I agree with jehoey about the beer’s watery nature. citrusy with fruity notes.

11/3/07 - On cask at brewpub. MMMMM. Coudy golden, small white head. Skunky hops. Great hop flavor. Bursting w/ floral and fragrant hops. Crisp finish, mouthfeel a bit flat, but that’s the hand pump. If Otto’s has any style down, it’s the IPA/PA. Delicious. I was pissed I couldn’t take this home in a growler.

On Beer Engine #1. Dark straw pour with off-white head. Nice floral hoppy aroma, with some fruity wafts. Medium palate, very smooth and complex, with floral hops and a nice balance of malt and some finishing fruit.

Sampled on draft at Zeno’s in State College PA this beer poured a hazy golden-amber color with a small white head. The aroma was fruity, floral and piney hops. There was a bit of catbox underneath. The flavor was sweet and bitter with strong catbox and pine.

On cask at Otto’s. Fresh juicy hop aroma, with grapefruit and apricot. Very aromatic and lush with Amarillo hops. Dull golden amber clear with thih lacing off-white head. Medium bodied with smooth carbobation (casked). Starts with mellow malt sweetness, smooth acidity, and a bunch of floral juicy fresh hops. This is what embodies and real ale. Fresh, flavorful, but smooth and silky. Great job on this one, and on cask brings out the subtle qualities that makes this a really good ale. Clean dry after.

Aroma was great, smelled like fresh hops, with citrus and a woodsy smell. poured a mostly translucent goldish amber with a lush white head. Flavor was citrus and mango from the hops with a firm malt backing, only thing was it was a little watery tasting, probably because it was too cold off the hand pump. palate was a little too watery, but I’ll blame that on the temp. Pretty good.

On beer engine at the brewpub. Aroma is a fresh, in-your-face blast of raw hop cone, the day picked. There’s a very upfront quality to the aroma, in that it’s very yielding and ready to express the brilliant bouquet of tangerine, glowing flowers, fresh fields and dank rainforest. Spicy, rich and just a totally delightful aroma. Pours a brilliant polished gold trim, with a sheen of carbonation, some minor translucency and a finger of fluffy off-white head. Flavor moves swiftly across the tongue carrying some ridiculous hop execution. Such utilization for flavor, aroma and complexity. Spices, fresh grasses, herbals, dank dew, and rich bready depth in the hops. Gummy, resin-heavy and full of life. It’s about as perfect a cross-section of the hop as one could want. Not shredded plant or vegetal characters, just soft, breathing wafts of the minty garden sensation. This pairs with a slightly lackluster malt character. Fairly one dimensional and seemingly maybe a nudge thin, but as a Pale Ale it does phenomenally carrying the brilliant hop work quite far enough. Backs out with no alcohol, minimal yeast presence and only the slightest curt reflection of bitterness. Really not set up for bittering, instead a palpable, real hop exposure. Fantastic work, refreshingly quenchable and a very well kept cask.

Cask half-pint at the brewpub. Pours a slightly cloudy orangish gold with a small creamy beige head. A nice green Amarillo hop nose, it smells incredibly fresh. Lightly citrusy and piney with only a minimal maltiness. The flavor is pretty light, with a soft subtle hoppiness that had moderate bitterness. Light notes of pine and grapefruit and a little doughy yeast. Mouthfeel is light bodied and thin with perfect cask conditioning, very soft. Otto’s is always right on with their casks, other than a penchant for serving them way too cold. Overall, a very nice beer. I’m a sucker for both single hop beers and anything on cask, so this was right up my alley.