Ottos Helles Lager

Rated 9/15/07 - Draft Sample at brewpub. Light golden color with small white head. Sweet, normal malty lager taste. A bit muddled finish, hoppy and lingering. not bad.

On tap at the brewpub. Aroma, what aroma? A plain weak malt falters into the room, barely noticed. Pours a polished bronze, golden in hue, rimmed in white. Flavor is even less descriptive than the aroma, there’s a palatable seltzer water quality and a particular derision of light corn, but mostly a bland malt figure, with nips of old lemon, salty grain and sweet honey. Body runs somewhere between thin and full. Maybe satisfying, but somehow not thirst quenching. Finishes dry with maybe a little bit of grain crispness. Totally forgettable. Seems a shame to waste this style as the BMC look a like.

On tap at the brewpub on 4/9/07: Pours a transparent bright golden with a thin, frothy white head. Aroma of slightly sweet pale grainy malt and a touch of floral noble hops. Body starts lightly malty turning more bitter and thinner toward a crisp finish. True to style and drinkable.

On draft at Zeno’s, Penn State. Poured clear gold with minimal head. Flavor is sweet and light. Very crisp finish.

Re-Rate. Tap at the brewpub. Poured into an imperial pint glass- nice clear gold with lively carbonation, a nice lasting fluffy head and some nice lacing. Aroma is grainy, fresh pils malt, bready, lightly sweet and very light herbal german hops. Nice slightly sweet, with a dryish grainy flavor with more bready fresh pils malt, and a nice crisp quenching finish. This was a lot better than the first time I had sampled this at the brewpub a couple years ago.

Sampled on draft at the brewery this beer poured a medium golden color with a small white head. The aroma is light sour malts with a hint of floral hops. The flavor is your typical sour tangy lager with a hint of dry nut on the finish. Fairly basic.

Draught at the brewery. Clear solid yellow color, a bit darker than most, with light trails of bubbles rising quickly through the body, with a thin white head. Light, syrupy flavors of corn and hay, with a moderately peppery nose. Simple tasting overall, crisp and refreshing, but still simply made.

Clear yellow-straw body with moderate visible carbonation and a loose, sudsy white head. Aroma is fresh with pleasantly buttery malt qualities plus floral and honey notes. Good malt character in the flavor with light residual sweetness and some lightly crisp, developing bitterness. A nice, clean helles after a long drive.