Otter Creek Pale Ale
A refreshing, golden amber brew, with Cascade hops from the Yakima Valley. Adding Cascades during conditioning captures the rich aroma of the hop, and completes the clean, well-balanced flavor of our American pale ale. Crisp, refreshing and exotically aromatic.
3.2
331 reviews
Middlebury, United States
Community reviews
12oz bottle into a De Struise glass...A dark but clear straw with copper and orange notes. Off white head rises and falls quickly, light lacing...A light aroma of grass and chalk and caramel. Interesting has my hopes up...Sadly my hopes fall flat with a very disappointing taste. Almost no flavor at all, light chalk, a little skunk, the grass is gone. I was hoping it was similar to daisy cutter, this isn’t even close. A light sour finish is out of left field.
your average pale ale. piny hop flavor, slightly off. a little too carbonated. not really impressed. no reason to drink again unless it’s free.
Not the best PA I have had, sort of bad actually, not to rip it, but it tastes almost skunked, actually it tastes skunked with an off flavor, almost like something else got into this batch....may be drain pour city.
12 oz bottle. Pours dark golden with a long lasting white head and lively carbonation. Aroma is of biscuit malt and piney hops. Medium, smooth body. Light piney, grassy hops on the palate balanced by biscuit malt. Short finish. Quite a boring brew.
Vermont is a great place, and a lot of craft beers get made there. Most of them are good, but not great. The same is true for most of the other New England brews I have had, and I am not sure why that is. Maybe people there don’t go for brews that are too strong and demanding? The old Yankee belief in simplicity and moderation? This release from Otter Creek is a case in point. Nice color and aroma. It is a decent PA with some metallic notes. The hops are subdued, but clearly present. Good but not great.
gold brown pour, foamy head. bready, biscuity malts in aroma. Same in flavor, with a bitter finish. very smooth.
This Pale ale poured a cloudy medium yellow colour with a big, rocky, bright white head. To the nose there are scents of orange, lemon citrus, pineapple, spruce/juniper hopps, metal and a light coconut. First swig was vey smooth, almost to the point of watery but not quite. Flavours of citrus/spruce hopps the most prodominant flavours. Finish is slightly bitter.
This is a nice and flavorful pale ale with not too much hoppy bite. Pretty smooth for an APA, too. I thought this was very good and refreshing.
Beer of the month club selection. Rather drinkable and well balanced pale ale. Serving: Bottle
Pours a clear deep golden/amber color with a big time white head. Aroma is of malts, hops, pine, and some grains. Flavor is pretty much the same. There seems to be a little bit of caramel present also. This is a typical American pale ale.
Otter Creek Brewing Company--Pale Ale--1998 12 oz. Bottle. 5.20% ABV. 23 IBU’s. (2.5 / 5.0) Despite dry hopping with aromatic Cascade hops, very light hop profile. Flavorful malt body reflected in deep golden color. Hops show up stronger in finish. Basically a light Pale Ale. Sampled 11/19/1998.
Otter Creek Brewing Company--Wolaver’s Brewing Company--Otter Creek Pale Ale--2003 12 oz. Bottle. 4.84% ABV. 23 IBU’s. (4.0 / 5.0) Beer of the Month Club Selection October, 2003. Clear thin bright golden color. Light lacy head. Dry hopped floral Cascade front. Crisp tangy caramel butter dry sweet fruit biscuit body. Tangy dry mild citrus hop earthy end. Light. Sampled 11/11/2003.
Nice copper pour in the glass. Nose is bready malts. Taste is light caramel toast. Rated 6/20/02
Gold in color with a decent off-white head. Aroma is of cardboard, hops and caramel. Taste is of light hops and caramel.
It seems my last few beer reviews have started out with a lead along the lines of, “I like this beer style, but in my experience it’s been hit or miss.” I was about to do the same thing again for this review, but wouldn’t it be redundant? Although I guess pointing out the redundancy is even MORE redundant!
Regardless, I’d like to say that I like the pale ale style of beer, and American brewers seem to get this style right for the most part. This is true of Otter Creek Pale Ale. It has a very hoppy taste without being overwhelming, it’s smooth going down and it doesn’t fill you up.
POUR, COLOR AND AROMA
This beer pours very smoothly and forms a decent-sized, off-white head. The majority of the head dissipates, but over the course of four different bottles I noticed it never disappeared entirely. It also left a lot of lacing on the glass. Again, I don’t know if this is good or bad, but it’s a sight that always impresses me.
Otter Creek Pale Ale isn’t as pale in complexion as you’d think. It’s actually an orange/copper color and fairly clear with minimal carbonation action. It has a strong aroma of hops and just the slightest hint of a floral scent. Overall, this beer made a good first impression on me.
TASTE
Pale ales are a crapshoot. Oftentimes brewers make them entirely too hoppy, other times they’re tasty but don’t finish clean. Aside from Magic Hat’s #9, I can’t think of an American mid-level brewery that has gotten the pale ale style down pat as Otter Creek has here.
This beer is extremely tasty from the first swig to the last. Naturally, it has a strong amount of hops to its palate but it doesn’t overwhelm you. I’m surprised there isn’t a fruit or citrus flavor to compliment the hops, but as it stands, it’s delectable
FINISH
Being an expert beer drinker I didn’t find this brew to be difficult to drink, although I wouldn’t say it’s the smoothest beer in the world. For a beer with such a strong hop taste the finish is much easier than you’d think. Lightweights might find it to have a bit of a bite, but that’s not necessarily as demerit.
BODY
I’ve encountered pale ales that were flavorful but entirely too weighty to appreciate. Thankfully, Otter Creek Pale Ale is a lot less filling than your average craft beer. It’s definitely not light and if you were to drink several in row you might find yourself feeling bloated. However, I twice drank two bottles back-to-back and was not at all full.
FINAL THOUGHTS
There’s a lot to like about Otter Creek Pale Ale: good taste; clean finish and a medium body. It’s what you might call an “all purpose” beer in that it would compliment a meal quite well or work as a refreshing beverage on its own. It’s not exactly perfect, but it’s very impressive. If only more American niche beers were like this.
Orange to orange-amber pour into the glass, with an initially wispy head that diminishes to a bleak white trace film that leaves spotty lace. The nose is of oxidized floral hops. Flavors are dry, of orange zest, slight caramel malts, hints of muddy citrus, light biscuit and a finish of bitters, zest and biscuit flour. The mouthfeel contains active carbonation and makes for a lively palate. It’s not superbly complex, but is decently integrated for an APA. A mildly watery body makes for an easy pull, but this thin brew lacks substance that might push it into the next tier.
Nice golden orange color with a lovely aroma of floral, fruitiness, and some hops. Light citrus ish flavor and body linger on the palate with a touch of an oily finish, leaving a little bitterness. This is a very drinkable pale ale.
Pours a clear orange with a thin, filmy white head that quickly fades away. Aroma has a grassy, floral, orange citrus nose with a mild grainy note at the tail end. Flavor starts off with a mild grassy presence moving into a water orange and finishing with a strong grainy and light caramel note. Body is light with low, fine carbonation with a smooth, slightly crisp ending. Overall not a bad brew pale ale but the flavor is just a bit watery in the middle as the flavors don’t transition the best from the to the finish.
This Pale Ale pours beautifuly with a golden brown color and a nice crisp head. It has the aroma of citrus mixed with hops, with a light and zesty flavor. In all it is an easygoing beer from a brewery that tries to do good by its communitee.
Transparent gold with a foamy white head that laces plenty. Heavy caramel nose, light grass. Flavor shows a bit of diacetyl, still some caramel malt and grass in addition to a nice breadcrust finish despite a depressingly short length. Not very impressive and not really sessionable. Oh well.
(12oz bottle, courtesy of Cavie) Pours a clear golden body with a small white head. Aroma of grass, florals, and caramel. Flavor of grass, crackers, nuts, light citrus, and caramel malt with mild bitterness in the finish.
12oz bottle courtesy of Cavie (2010) into a pint glass. The pour is clear light brown with a 1.5 finger fluffy white head. The aroma hints at malt and earthy hops with perhaps a bit of oxidation... the aroma is a bit light. The flavor is a little watery with dry and earthy hops, and possibly a hint of diacetyl.
Bottle. Clear golden with white head. Aroma is herbal with grass and cereal. Flavors of cereal, toffee, and citrus. Thin body with oily mouthfeel and sparkly carbonation. Watery upfront with musty malt flavor in the back. Slightly metallic.
( 12oz bottle thanks to cavie) Pours clear orange with nice oily head. Nose and taste of grass and citrus hops with an oily creamy body.
Light brown ale with a hazy appearance and limited lacing. The aroma is slightly hoppy and taste some spice with spruce notes. The palate thin and airs on watery.
pours a rusty orange with a white head predominantly around the brim of the glass. The aroma is somewhat nutty and cereal. Basic and suprisingly mild for a pale ale
The aroma of this really makes me want to pass it to someone else and forget I ever picked it up although it doesn’t seem as repulsive after half the glass as at first. Wet leather taste throughout a soggy pale malt body. What is it about northeast breweries where there i always vet stale oxidized flavors? Plain and not worth the recycling value of the bottle.
Light orange-yellow, whitish foam . Thick pine sap and caramel aroma. Taste is thinner, sweet malt base, light caramel, pine aroma, thin bitter finish.
Pours a hazy pale color with a good lace and a small head. The aroma is faint and mildly spicy, also mildly buttery. The flavor is bitter with herbal hops and a mildly astringent character. The palate is a little thin.
Bottle thanks to Cavie. Pours a gold with white fizzy head. Aroma of some nice hop and malt, little grapefruit. Flavor doesn’t have much going on here, watered down malt and hop taste. Mouth feel is light and watered down. Overall, easy to drink but just too watery.
Pours amber with a decent beige head and a citrus and toffee aroma. There is a substantial caramel malt flavor that begins with some sweetness followed by some hop bitterness. Not too bad.