Otter Creek Middleberry Ale
Otter Creek Brewing

 

 

Poured a light copper hue with a one finger creamy white head. There was good retention and lacing.

True to the label, the smell was a soft blueberry and grape aroma. Soft malts were also present.

The taste very much mirrored the aroma. A subtle and soft blueberry and pale malt flavor. Very akin to blueberry pancakes.

The mouthfeel was light and smooth.

Overall a very drinkable fruit beer. Very similar to Blue Point's Blueberry Ale.

A - 12oz bottle pours out a golden color with a foamy, white head. It left a little lacing.

S - The first smell I noticed is the blueberries.

T - The blueberry flavor is not as strong as it smelled. There is also a bitter spiciness to it.

M - It is a nice crisp and light-bodied beer.

D - It is a very nice Fruit/Vegetable beer. However, I don't think that I could drink several of these at one sitting.

The beer poured a light gold color, a bit hazy, with a very slight white head that didn't even cover the top of the beer. Very slight carbonation here. The nose is refreshing but not overly potent with some berry notes. The taste is also a bit refreshing but not overly complex. I get some blueberry notes and a backbone of malt, but not much else. Light body but not worth drinking more than one.

I usually really like Otter Creek brews, but this one wasn't up to par, with what I am used to from them. Sure, it had a nice foamy head and a nice subtle blueberry smell, but something just wasn't matching up for me. Then, I figured it out. The hops. This one could have been a bit less hoppy IMO. I liked what they were going for, but the hops ruined it for me. Don't get me wrong, it's not some super hopped up brew by any means. I just think it would have been a bit better with some more "malt action" and less "hop action".

This is an interesting brew. This poured a light amber color with an allright white head. Decent lace. The smell is obviously blueberries but also elderberries. Nice fruity scent. The taste is also of blueberries/elderberries and is very pleasant. Not bitter at all. medium mouthfeel and very drinkable. Another pleasant fruit ale, nothing special.

A: Crystal clear with a nice tight white head. The head faded slowly and a thick lace appeared. The never ending combination race up the glass and kept the lace until the end of the beer.

Aroma: Mild hints of berries, touch of malt and a splash of hops. The berry was not overpowering but gave it a nice touch

Taste: A bit sweet up front with the berry flavor, mild malt tones in the middle and a bitter hop pucker mixed with a fruit finish.

M: Mouthfeel is dry, crisp and bubbly, not bad.

D: For a fruit beer I was expecting the worse, something that was like drinking syrup. This is not that way. I could enjoy many of these, more so on a hot summer day as it has a refreshing feel to it.

Overall: Not into fruit beers? Give this one a try. It is not overpowering. Enjoy!

I am not a huge fan of flavored beers but this one is okay because my wife likes it. Pours a clear pale gold with a shortlived whie head that left minimal lacing. Aroma is of herbal hops and tart blueberries. Taste is mildly tart blueberries with some biscuit notes. Refreshing , crisp and light bodied. This beer helped cut the heat and was a nice prelude to something better.

Light golden color. Not much of a head,and little lace. Bluberry smell grabs you right away. Mouthfeel is very light. Taste is is mainly blueberry. Bitter finish I could have lived without. All in all not bad,but I would not run out and buy a six pack.

This beer purs a clear golden color with a small white head. You can smell the blueberries as soon as you open the bottle. The smell of the blueberries overpower any hops this beer might contain.The taste is also a little to much blueberry, but you can taste traces of some bittering hops on the finsh. The lacing is very minimal but a small head still remains.

This poured with a medium white head that quickly evaporated. It gave off a really strong nose of blueberries, both in the bottle and in the glass. The color was a slightly hazy light yellow. It had a light mouthfeel with a slight tang of a bitter fruit (perhaps the elderberries?). The finish was quite refreshing with a strong blueberry presence. This is a great summer beer.

Absolutely, positively, smack dab medium amber. The head is absolutely, positively, smack dab medium white. The cap's surface is nicely ruffled. Thick strands of foam connect head and glass, depositing large hunks of lace when they break. A decent look, but nothing really stands out.

The nose features the unmistakable scent of blueberries. I'll have to plead ignorance with respect to elderberries since I've never smelled or tasted them. It's a nice fruit beer aroma; not overpowering and not too subtle, but just right. Unfortunately, the fruitiness doesn't quite cover what smells like a less than wonderful base beer. It's hard to know without actually tasting it, but I'm having doubts about this one just from sniffing it. That's rarely a good thing.

Middleberry Ale doesn't work as well on the palate as I had hoped. The berry essence isn't too bad, there just isn't enough of it. Perhaps the fact that Otter Creek italicized 'hints' of blueberries on their website gives some indication of their intention. My feeling is that if a brewery is going to create a fruit beer, then they should give it plenty of fruit flavor. Otherwise, why bother?

The biggest problem, as I suspected from the nose, is the lack of a solid base beer. Too many brewers neglect that element of the fruit/vegetable beer style, which to my way of thinking is just as important as the berry, pumpkin or what have you. This beer is too bitter; in a crushed aspirin kind of way rather than a hoppy kind of way. I prefer my fruit beers to err on the side of sweet if they must err at all.

The finish is medium in length and tastes of bitter berries. The slightly lighter than medium mouthfeel neither adds nor detracts. I find myself wanting to like this beer more than I do. Even though it isn't bad per se, I'm going crazy thinking of all the ways I'd change it.

Middleberry (brewed in Middlebury, get it?) Ale is, according to the Otter Creek/Wolaver's website, their newest seasonal. Who knows, maybe those in the brewery's distribution area love this stuff. As must be obvious by now, if it was up to me, I'd give it a pretty serious overhaul between now and next spring.

Purchased in Woodstock, Vermont -- batch was bottled on 5/16/05. Poured from a 12 oz bottle.

The appearance is typical of that of a wheat ale -- a nice color -- darker than that of Long Trail's Blackberry Wheat. White foamy head at first, but quickly fades -- lacing is minimal.

Smells nicely of blueberries (although the bottle says it is brewed with blueberries and elderberries). Taste is also quite pleasant -- you definitely get the blueberry notes, but not in an artificial or too sweet of a manner. In fact, the taste is pretty natural -- as if the blueberries are there to complement the ale and not the other way around, which is sometimes the case with fruit ales.

This is a very drinkable ale -- an flexible summertime beer. What really makes this a success (read: appealing to many sorts of beer drinkers), I think, is that even though it is flavored, it still tastes and feels like beer (not a cooler, spritzer, kool-aid, or other sort of concoction). If you see a six or twelve pack (and it is a hot summer day) you could do much worse than to partake of this offering from Otter Creek (a beautiful river/creek in parts, too, by the way). But if you really want to taste some of their best, try the Copper Ale or just about any of the Wolaver Beers.

Wheat golden, slightly cloudy body. White head is shortlived and doesn't leave much lace. Good carbonation.
Strong sweet and tart berry scent, mostly blueberry and something more tart, maybe elderberry as the label suggests. Some subtle wheat, grass and floral notes.
Very acidic and tart flavor with some mild berry sweetness struggling to come through. Faint sweet licorice. Aftertaste is mostly tart with little hop presence.
Mouthfeel is decent for the style though I wish it had a little more body, very faint coating.
Always interesting to try a different beer and good to see the courage of brewers even if it doesn't turn out that great.

-Oelergud

Interesting fruit beer. My girlfriend loved it. I found it one of the more palatable fruit beers. However, I always thought elderberries were poisonous. Shows what I know.

Pours very pale and light. The aroma was of unripe blueberries (I used to work on a blueberry farm, brought back some nice memories). The malts and hops are there, but almost forgotten because of the elderberries. They are kind of like blueberries, but a little more sweet and a little more sour (not contradictory in my mind). Finish is crisp and just slightly too much sourness going on.

Light bodied, pale straw color with a quick disappearing white head.

The aroma is BLUEBERRY with an herbal grassy background.

The taste is heavier on Elderberry which, combined with the herbal hops tends to be slightly bitter and astringent, with a dry finish and continuing astringent aftertaste. This could take some getting used to unless you are a real elderberry fancier.

If so, this may be what you've been waiting for. It might go well with a tart berry pie.

12 oz bottle, courtesy of my roommate.

Pours a clear yellow, good carbonation, not much of a head. If i didn't know better I would think it was a macro by appearance. However, that theory goes out the window once you smell the sweet berry smell of this beer. The taste is of sweet berries, but not nearly as rich as the smell is. The mouthfeel is smooth, lots of carbonation. Would make a great session beer on a hot summer day!

Saw this while I was out buying singles last week and thought I'd take a chance on it. Not my best decision.
Pours a clear straw color with small fizzy head that disappears quickly. It looks like a macro in the glass. Smells like blueberries or blueberry muffins with a bit of hoppiness in the nose. It's thin in the mouth with a pronounced
berry flavor, but the hops give it kind of an acrid taste on top of the sweetness of the berries. A slight puckering tartness in the aftertaste, but it's mostly just kind of....bad. It tastes slightly artificial like a candy.

I've liked a number of Otter Creek brews. This isn't one of them.

Took a walk around the Marbleworks with this one on 10/16/2004. 12-oz. bottle poured in a shaker glass.

Light, nebulous sheen of head with soft lacing. Very light golden to almost a washed out yellow hue. Tons of constant carbonation releasing fruity esters from easily a foot away; up close the fruit imparts sour notes, lime. Acrid, soapy, sour taste profile with the berry skin pulp echo creating a slight chew, but more of a residue. Not overly impressed by this, but better than some other fruit ales.