Double Or Nothing
Otter Creek Brewing

Double Or NothingDouble Or Nothing
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From:
Otter Creek Brewing
 
Vermont, United States
Style:
American Barleywine
Ranked #130
ABV:
10.5%
Score:
89
Ranked #10,604
Avg:
4 | pDev: 8%
Reviews:
97
Ratings:
402
Status:
Active
Rated:
Mar 20, 2024
Added:
Jun 12, 2015
Wants:
  20
Gots:
  101
Collaboration with Lawson's Finest Liquids

A Devilishly Sweet Barleywine aged on maple wood and brewed with a heavenly dose of Vermont maple syrup. Brewed in collaboration between Sean Lawson of Lawson's Finest Liquids & Mike Gerhart of Otter Creek Brewing Co.
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Ratings by brentblack1:
Photo of brentblack1
Rated by brentblack1 from New York

4.35/5  rDev +8.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Oct 13, 2016
More User Ratings:
Photo of stevoj
Reviewed by stevoj from Idaho

3.5/5  rDev -12.5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
12oz bottle pours out a rich copper color capped off with a small, tight beige head. Aroma is fairly complex, lots of elements here, kind of sweet with the maple notes kicking in. Taste brings in the rich malt background, more maple syrup , some butterscotch and toffee. A bit sweet and hides the ABV well.
Mar 20, 2024
 
Rated: 4 by psweendogg from Connecticut

Feb 01, 2021
 
Rated: 4.57 by deg from New Hampshire

Oct 05, 2019
Photo of EMV
Reviewed by EMV from Pennsylvania

4.05/5  rDev +1.3%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Poured from a 12 oz bottle into a Dogfish Head tulip

L: Cloudy burgundy pour with thin barely-there head. Thin rim of lacing.

S: Maple, caramel, and sugar. Sweet grains and dark fruit.

T.F: Sweet up front. Maple and toffee... caramel and brown sugar. Cooked raisin and plum... molasses and a bit of spice. Medium bodied... sticky on the tongue with some hopping for balance. More baked goods and sweets at the finish.

O: A big rich barleywine. Sweet and fruity... a step below the best of the style but good drinking. A nice evening sipper.
Jul 25, 2019
Photo of Bierman9
Reviewed by Bierman9 from New Hampshire

4.09/5  rDev +2.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
Stopped into Cask & Vine yesterday (29DEC18) and had a 10oz pour of this, for a pricey $11.50.

Served in a small snifter, it was a dark, opaque chestnut color. Had a frothy beige head with good lace on the glass. Nose had good amount of dark fruit, like raisins and dates. Body was medium-plus, and it was quite smooth.

Had some light caramel and toffee action to start, followed by more dark fruit. Had some currants and figs, a hint of brown sugar and a smidge of rummy fruitcake. Not getting any maple, though. A solid barleywine, though well over-priced. Prosit!

4.09/5 rDev +2.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4

2051
Dec 30, 2018
 
Rated: 4 by KMcGrath from Massachusetts

Dec 03, 2018
 
Rated: 4 by jzeilinger from Pennsylvania

Aug 16, 2018
 
Rated: 4.04 by dental from Massachusetts

Jun 05, 2018
Photo of smcolw
Reviewed by smcolw from Massachusetts

3.93/5  rDev -1.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
Darker amber color. It seems to be clear. Small but lasting head. Some spots for lace.

Deep dark caramel sweetness to the nose. There's a bit of molasses as well.

Solid, darker malt base. Interestingly, this is not sweet initially but the sugar kicks in quickly. The body is very rich as one might expect with a lower carbonation level to boot. The swallow is very sweet with a strong treacle flavor. The aftertaste lasts with this sweetness dominating but I get a light bitterness which fails to provide balance.
Apr 28, 2018
 
Rated: 4.06 by johnpalisi from New Jersey

Mar 24, 2018
 
Rated: 3.68 by SadMachine from New Jersey

Mar 04, 2018
 
Rated: 4.02 by paresis from Massachusetts

Jan 01, 2018
Photo of ThickNStout
Reviewed by ThickNStout from Georgia

4.2/5  rDev +5%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4
12oz bottle from CraftBeerLos (thanks man!). No discernible bottling date. Served in a Barrel and Barley teku. Enjoyed 8/6/17.

Pours a turbid, rosy burgundy with just shy of two fingers of ecrue head. The froth shrinks to a thin film and modest band with only a couple tiny pinpricks of lace.

Smells of maple, sweet cereal grains, toffee, caramel and dark fruit.

Tastes ofsweet caramel malts, grainy cereal, earthy raw sugar, cooked caramel, maple and dark fruit.

Lush, full body with very little carbonation. The aftertaste is like maple cereal.

Double or Nothingis a my first taste from Either Otter Creek or Lawsons. The oak and maple are a bit more subtle that I may prefer but the base barleywine is solid.
Dec 19, 2017
 
Rated: 4.01 by Sammy from Canada (ON)

Nov 20, 2017
 
Rated: 4.03 by Shafaegalo from Texas

Sep 21, 2017
 
Rated: 4.18 by ale_addin from Illinois

Sep 21, 2017
 
Rated: 4.03 by AD17 from New Jersey

Aug 25, 2017
 
Rated: 3.98 by cmurphy7 from Massachusetts

Jul 23, 2017
Photo of woodychandler
Reviewed by woodychandler from Pennsylvania

4/5  rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
I bought one of these bottles when they were initially released, but when I saw that they were in the Clearance area of one of my local bottle shops due to lack of movement, I snapped up another one. One for cellaring, another for consumption a couple of years already down the road. Such is the nature of The Bottle Backlog here at Chez Woody.

From the bottle: "A Devilishly Sweet Barleywine aged on maple wood and brewed with a heavenly dose of Vermont maple syrup. Brewed in collaboration between Sean Lawson of Lawson's Finest Liquids & Mike Gerhart of Otter Creek Brewing Co."

Having Pop!ped the cap, I had no choice but to perform a VERY gentle pour since I had a real feeling that there was probably some settling involved here. Once decanted into an awaiting snifter, an in-glass swirl raised two brief fingers of foamy, soapy, light-tan head with moderate retention. Color was Dark Brown to Very Dark Brown (SRM = > 27, < 34) with NE-quality clarity. Nose left me reeling as a sugary malt bomb, laden with maple syrup, suddenly blew up in my sinus cavity! I should have been warned by the fumes wafting off of its surface, but I am the Duty Dummy & took a good whiff just to make sure. Whew! Two years in the bottle & it had not mellowed one iota! Its twin is going into the cellar, perhaps never to be heard from again. Mouthfeel was medium-to-full, suggesting that maybe at least one aspect of this monster was beginning to fall away and mellow. Jeez-O, man, the sweat was simply streaming off of my forehead & down my face. I think that Sean Lawson is The Devil (or if not, he certainly called her forth for this one)! Sweet & boozy - why I am not a fan of most rum. This was like diabetic shock in a bottle/glass. This would have been better served calling it an English Barleywine, since those are more malt-driven. This lacked the requisite hops, IMHO, leaving me with the sugar shakes. I kid you not, I was sweating & shaking from this one. I generally eschew such things in search of bitterness & having let down my guard, I was paying for it. Finish was ironically, dichotomously dry, a testament to the yeast having continued to do its thing in the interim since its purchase. It will be quite a beer someday, but it needs a LOT more time to age in the interim, IMHO. YMMV.
Jul 14, 2017
Double Or Nothing from Otter Creek Brewing
Beer rating: 89 out of 100 with 402 ratings