Otter Creek Brewing
Middlebury, VT
Available: CA, CT, DE, DC, FL, IL, ME, MD, MA, NH, NJ, NY, NC, OH, OR, PA, RI, VA, VT, WI
Otter Creek employs techniques to reduce refrigeration needs, CO2 and particulate production, and wastewater generation.
Alcohol (vol): 4.8
Alcohol (wt): 3.8
Color: 3
Bitterness: 20
Original gravity: 1048
Crystalline and pure gold. Remarkable simple undertone of aromatic malt sweetness, yet flavor refreshes with friendly crisp hop bitterness. Inhale deeply and, in tandem, pour your mouth a thirst-quenching swallow. It’s a spring seasonal and what a welcoming way to drink your way to the solstice. Do yourself a huge favor: serve it in a thin-sided glass. Heavy pint glasses are a shameful injustice to the delicate balance this beer offers. Nice job Otter Creek!
Spring has sprung. At this time of year, we’re emerging from the darkness of winter and its rich, malty beers, and leaping into the sunshine like an Easter bunny with lively, new season beers like this. Shiny golden in colour, with an inviting, peppery aroma of lemon and honeyed malt, this kölsch clone is sweet to taste and loaded with juicy citrus notes, rounding off dry and bitter. Being critical, it may perhaps be a little too fruity and overly sweet for the style, but otherwise it’s fresh, fruity, frivolous and fun, just as a kölsch should be.
Author of the New Complete Joy of Homebrewing, founder of the Great American Beer Festival and a Beer Examiner at www.examiner.com, Papazian is a leading voice in beer and brewing.
Author of the Good Bottled Beer Guide and The Book of Beer Knowledge, Jeff Evans is an eight-time editor of the CAMRA Good Beer Guide and one of Britain's best-known beer writers.
