Otter Creek Copper Ale

Brewery: Otter Creek Brewing

Location: Middlebury, VT

Style: Alt

Brewery Website

Rating: A

Today's tasting is generally considered the flagship beer from Otter Creek, their Copper Ale. True to its name, the Copper Ale pours up copper-amber in color with an off-white, clumpy foam head. The nose has citrus/grapefruit hops notes paired with a pretzely malt aroma.

The overall impression on the palate is a rich, full maltiness paired with crisp hops. The malt has bready & pretzel notes. Hops have a oily bitter note that coat the tongue with a piny note that hints at copper. There is a bit of citrus fruitiness as well. The Otter Creek Copper Ale has a medium body with some oiliness. The finish has slight residual sweetness with bready malt and lingering hops.

The Copper Ale is Otter Creek's flagship beer for good reason. The Copper Ale has rich, full malt with nice, dry/piny bitter hops as a compliment. I've found that the Copper Ale is even better on tap, but draft quality can be approximated by using a good, firm pour from bottle. If you've never tried the Otter Creek Copper Ale, you're missing out. If you're familiar with the Copper Ale, maybe it's time to grab a sixer and revisit an old friend.

Otter Creek Alpine Black IPA

Brewery: Otter Creek Brewing
Location: Middlebury, VT
Style: Black IPA
Brewery Website
Rating: A-

We're following up on our recent review of the perfect Heavy Seas Black Cannon with another Black IPA. Today we have the Otter Creek Alpine Black IPA on tap. The Alpine Black is ebony-amber in color with a thick, foamy dark-tan head. There is a considerable amount of chunky sediment as well, so take care in pouring if you prefer not to have it in your glass. The nose has the classic grapefruit note of Cascade hops along with some smoke.

On the palate the Alpine Black IPA has a long initial fruity lead-in before bitter and smoky notes start to roll in. Hops provide citrus fruitiness and a mild kick of juniper/bitter hop resin. Smoke and roast notes are here, but mainly play a support role to the hops. Also notable are yeast notes and a touch of residual sweetness. The Alpine Black IPA is medium-bodied and juicy, making this a very drinkable beer. The finish has a squirt of lemon over bitter hops notes and black coffee.

In contrast to the Black Cannon that we recently reviewed, the Otter Creek Alpine Black IPA is really more of a fruity IPA with some smokiness as a highlight rather than equal parts porter and IPA. This is just as effective of an interpretation of the style, as the smoke and roasted coffee-like bitterness really play well in supporting the hops-forward flavors of an IPA. The Alpine Black is a great beer with some great flavor. I'm really liking this Black IPA style. I hope more breweries follow the lead that breweries like Otter Creek and Clipper City have set, because there is a wide range of interpretations possible on this style and I want to taste them all.

Wolaver's Oatmeal Stout

Brewery: Otter Creek Brewing
Location: Middlebury, VT
Style: Oatmeal Stout
Brewery Website
Rating: B+

Continuing with our run of dark beers brings us to today's review of the Wolaver's Oatmeal Stout. This beer pours up opaque ebony in color with hints of ruby. The head is a deep, brownish-tan color and is nice and foamy. The nose picks up big, roasted barley notes along with earthiness and some mineral notes.

On the palate there is a big roasted malt note. There is also a sharp minerality up front. Some herbal hops notes are here along with a solid bitter bite. Earthy and woody notes are present. There is also a hint of wine and just a touch of sweetness. The Wolaver's Oatmeal Stout is medium-bodied, well-carbonated and has a nice chewiness that really works well with the big flavor here. The finish is rather long with lingering roasted malt notes paired with bitter espresso undertones.

Otter Creek has another damn good beer on their hands with the Wolaver's Oatmeal Stout. While I did find the mineral note on the palate to be a bit overpowering at first, that tends to settle down after a bit. This beer has some big roasted flavors and a nice bite, which is exactly what I'm looking for in a winter sipping beer.

Otter Creek Pale Ale

Brewery: Otter Creek Brewing
Location: Middlebury, VT
Style: Pale Ale
Brewery Website
Rating: A

In my glass today we have the Otter Creek Pale Ale. This has long been one of my all-time favorite beers for the summertime, and it's long overdue for a critical tasting.

The Otter Creek Pale Ale is golden amber with a faint haziness. The head is pale tan in color and leaves a nice trail of lace behind it. The nose detects a citrusy hops note along with some pretzels and a slight sweetness.

On the palate there is a sweet, bready malt flavor up front. A bitter hops character builds slowly. There are some nice hops flavors of citrus and herbs. There is a bit of a mineral water character as well. The finish has bitter hops, some herbs and pretzel notes. The finish fades a little bit quicker than the typical hoppy pale ale. The Otter Creek Pale Ale has a crisp, medium body that is smooth, but holds up well to the hops.

The Otter Creek Pale Ale has the perfect balance for a summer session pale ale. There is a nice hoppy "oomph" here without being overpowering. The Otter Creek Pale Ale is flavorful, yet crisp and smooth at the same time. Along with the Smuttynose Pale Ale and the Long Trail Pale Ale, this is one of the best American Pale Ales coming out of New England right now. Highly recommended.

Wolaver's Brown Ale

Brewery: Otter Creek Brewing
Location: Middlebury, VT
Style: Brown Ale
Brewery Website
Rating: B+

Wolaver's is a line of organic beers produced by Otter Creek Brewing. The brown ale is one of four beers available year-round from Wolaver's. The Wolaver's Brown Ale pours a deep reddish amber with a hefewiezen-like haziness. There are lots of fine bubbles rising as well. The head is a foamy, golden tan, and is fairly short. The head has citrus and yeast. There are faint aromas of sweet cereal, wine and rye bread as well.

Initially on the palate there is a sweetish maltiness, which is followed immediately by bitter hops. Mineral notes as well as a faint buttery diacetyl flavor are detectable in the background. The dominant flavor character I note is a piney hops bite. The finish has notes of cereal, grapefruit and resinous hops. The Wolaver's Brown Ale has a medium body. There is some slight astringency and a touch of fine fizziness.

I do appreciate the hoppy bite of the Wolaver's Brown Ale. It is a bit out of character, hovever. Brown ales tend to be very malt-forward, but I found the malt being a bit overpowered by the hops here. Despite the hop inbalance, this is quite a tasty beer.

Otter Creek Stovepipe Porter

Brewery: Otter Creek Brewing
Style: Porter
Location: Middlebury, VT
Brewer Homepage
Rating: A

Otter Creek has long been one of my favorite breweries. Their Stovepipe Porter is one of the main reasons why. I love drinking porters in the wintertime, and the Stovepipe Porter is my go-to choice for a easy to drink porter.

Stovepipe Porter is a deep brown-black, which is nearly opaque when poured into a pint glass. The head is a dark tan. The nose is balanced between roasted notes and fruity hops, similar to a coffee with high acidity.

The Stovepipe Porter has a creamy mouthfeel without being too heavy. There is a deep roasted malt flavor that plays the lead here. A tart, hoppy zing as well as some herbal notes and a hint of spiciness compliment the roast. The finish tails off rather quickly, but the bitter hops and roasted notes remind me of a good espresso or dark chocolate.

All-in-all the Stovepipe Porter has some big flavor, but still manages to be smooth and drinkable without being too heavy. Highly recommended.