Ottos Arthurs Best Bitter

Brewed by Ottos Pub & Brewery
Style: Premium Bitter/ESB
State College, Pennsylvania USA

On cask at the brewpub on 4/9/07: Pours a transparent copper orange with a thin ring of off-white bubbles. Aroma of lightly sweet and toasty pale malt with a touch of fruity esters. Body starts fairly well balanced and malty sweet with some earthy notes and floral English hops. A decent ESB.

Could be listed as an IPA, with the amount of hops this thing contains. Murky soft orange/brown colored body, nose is sweet and lightly grassy hops, with a nice lemon and grapefruit hop scent. Flavor and palate are spot-on for an IPA, in fact it reminds me somewhat of HOTD Blue Dot batch 1. Lightly coarse on the tongue, biting and sharp, fresh and lively. A wonderful beer.

Had this over the holidays last year. Nice head and lacing. Aroma of malt and hops. Very smooth with a caramel bitter finish. Awesome.

Cask... Poured a cloudy orange color with a small, white head, that left nice lacing on the glass. Aroma of sweet and citrus, malts, though lots of orange appeared. Flavor is also nicely hopped, more citrus orange, finishes with light hop bitterness.

Arthur’s Best Bitter from Otto’s Pub. Great nose - heavy and bitter, tangy oily hops and sour apples. Nice off-white creamy head (hand-pumped) with lacing. Slightly cloudy, deep red tea color. Smooth, almost no carb. Heavy body. Was served about room temp (which is in the style but a little too warm tonight). Very hoppy/bitter, more from musky hops (oils) than from light, crisp floral hops. Some sweetness of malts. Smooth finish, but big bitter after. Really nice bitter, though I’d like a bit more carb and served a little cooler. Great tasting burp from this beer.

On handpump, at brewery. Pours a hazy amber body with a small wispy white head. Patchy lacing. Light floral hop nose with some toasty maltiness. Nice light and floral bitterness, short leafy hops on the finish. The malt is dry and toasty with touches of caramel. Thin and smooth mouthfeel, light carbonation, great cask conditioning. Overall, just a nice and sessionable Bitter. I could drink this all night long.

Cask @ Otto’s. Pours a hazy, slightly pulpy orange color; creamy light-tan head with excellent retention and lacing that coats the glass; a gorgeous pour. Light aroma, showing tea, citrus, and a dry, toasty malt core. Medium mouthfeel: oranges, basic soft fruitiness, and touches of tea; slightly relaxed malt profile and edges, very soft carbonation; toastiness appears mid-palate and continues through the finish; sugar, toasty malts and solid amounts of fruit and lightly tannic tea.

On cask at the brewpub in State College. Off-white colored head, good lacing. The aroma was pine and earthy, floral hops. The flavor followed the aroma in terms of hop profile, but the flavor featured some decent malt elements of fruity and woodsy notes. Overall a tad watery even on cask, decent still, just not better than that.