Otter Creek Winter Ale
Otter Creek Brewing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to drabmuh for opening this bottle during the Outback Bowl.

Pours a reddish-brown color with a thin off-white head without much in the way of lacing or retention. The nose is pretty light with a mild malty sweetness, a bit of caramel, and a faint hint of the raspberry from the label. This comes out a bit more in the taste. Really faint though. Other than that, some sweet caramel malt. Feel is light to medium with sweetness pervading. Nothing really all that good about this beer, though nothing is offensive either. I do like the touch of raspberry.

Random single picked up at the local bottle shop. Beer is brown / red and clear with a thin head of off white bubbles, leaves a little lacing on the glass, carbonation moderate.

Aroma is nice and sweet with subtle hints of spice.

Well I don't know where I was getting spice in the nose, there is no spice on the palate. It's mostly a bready, malty, sweet beer with a little candy flavors. The beer is relatively pleasant and overall pretty drinkable. I like it, I don't know if I'd have it again because basically it's a sweet brown ale...

This was an interesting one. Pours a transparent brown with little head and lacing. Smells like raspberries, bread, malt, caramel. Those flavors really come through in the taste; slightly tart. Very unique, these are flavors I'm not used to finding in a brown ale. The raspberry really shines through, well done. Mouthfeel is a little too thin for my taste. Drinkability is alright; this beer is close to being cloyingly sweet, but it's all good.

This is an enjoyable brown, very unique. I love the use of raspberries! I wouldn't mind seeing more raspberry brown ales on the market!

The aromas are mainly rich yet lightly toasted malt with some notes of raspberries.
The main flavors are sweet, lightly roasted malts with light breadiness and raspberry that adds a little tartness, really well done. This is one of those beers which was a well made beer that has accents of fruit that do not dominate and steal the show. Hop are very light and understated, which is appropriate for this style in my opinion. It has a solid medium body and its carbonation is light on the tongue with a smooth almost creamy feel. Overall I really did not expect much from this beer but it delivered quite impressively, drank the whole 6 in a sitting, yum.

Beer review from BA Mag Dec 2007.

Otter Creek's latest "Special Release" brew with crystal and chocolate malt and "a touch of raspberry."

Dark, rich brown with garnet hues topped with a nice, creamy tan lace. A bit metallic in the nose at first, with pleasant aromas of chocolate, soft toffee and raspberries. Smooth up front and malty with sweet notes of caramel, honey and molasses--a touch syrupy. Jammy raspberry flavors meld well with the sweetness, without overpowering, while the slight tartness that it offers makes for a nice segue to a gently placed smacking of limey hops. A strong toffee forms at the end as the beer warms, providing that "sucking on a candy" experience. Gummy here and there. Crackery and bone-dry in the finish.

Interesting release, but nothing overly exciting and a bit too sweet and cloying at times. That said, this will no doubt appeal to fruit-beer lovers and maltheads, and provide some crossover potential for newbies to beer.