Otter Creek Citra Mantra
Otter Creek Brewing

12oz bottle into a Captain Lawrence tulip. Bottled 1/27/14, drank 2/14/14.

Appearance: Careful pour yields a 2 inch frothy white head, which dissipates slowly and leaves sweeping lacing. Almost translucent light golden.

Smell: Lime-like Citra hops at first, very bold. Transitions to fresh baked bread. Undercurrents of pungent, dank weed and citrus, with a lot of malt and bread. Very refreshing. Hops take a back seat to malt eventually, but why not?

Taste: Starts out with beautiful, homebrew shop cereal malt (also in the nose), tinged by Citra hops. Transitions to deep country bread yeastiness, then dries the hell out just as it ought to. Aftertaste of light grains and citrusy hops.

I love this beer. Not "like" but *love*. Just masterful combination of ingredients and flavors. It's like a great American lager like Southampton Keller Pils or Stoudts Gold Lager in its perfectly coaxed out bready and cereal flavors, with a deep tinge of Citra. It's not dank weed, it's a hint of earthiness and a fair amount of that orange/lime citrus characteristic of Citra. If this were the 70s, I would say that it's "Just terrific."

Other notes: some peppery flavor coming out from the Citra that's quite interesting. More and more malt nuances emerge as I get through the bottle.

Mouthfeel: Light body, lively carbonation during the hop and cereal burst up front, then bone dry at the end. Exactly what I want in a lowish ABV pale beer.

Overall: I could drink this beer every day. It's excellent. I know this is very subjective, but for me, *this is the ideal beer*, in that it exemplifies, explains, and perfects what beer as beer is (good malt, good hops, clean yeast, good water profile, spot on mouthfeel). It reminds me of NEBCO Gold Stock and Hill Farmstead What Is Enlightenment; perfect marriage of *fresh* tasting malt and nuanced, full-flavored hops.

This beer hits every idiosyncratic me-virtue that can exist in a beer, so much so that I really don't know if I can unbiasedly suggest the beer to people. I have to assume they'll realize it's great, but maybe I'm just too far in dry, cerealy, Citra heaven. I hope this beer is released again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was poured into a pilsener glass. The appearance was a nice looking semi-hazy yellow color with a light transparency about it. Carbonation could be seen rising to fill a three finger white foamy head that dissipated within less than a minute leaving some light ringy foamy lacing cutting into the glass appropriately. The smell had a sweet to semi-bitter connotation of citrus spiced rind over some light biscuity breadiness. It’s backed up by a nice sweet floral aspect as well. The taste was moderately bitter with a sweetness sliding in to confide in a sweet smooth yet bitter sticky citrus aftertaste and a light sweet finish. On the palate, this one sat about a light on the body with a pretty good sessionability about it. Carbonation comes across fairly tame allowing a sticky smooth citrusto grassy feel rolling over my tongue. Overall, I say as an India pale lager it works. Not sure why it’s labeled as an Imperial lager on here. Just cause it’s got a higher ABV doesn’t mean it’s an Imperial lager. Eh, oh well, whatever. It’s good for what it is and would be a good food beer.