Twentieth Anniversary Ale

This was poured into a snifter.
The appearance was a dark brown close to black color with a slim finger’s worth of white to off white foamy head that dissipated pretty quickly.
The smell starts off with sweet milk and dark chocolate and a light coffee to balance underneath slightly.
The taste was mainly sweet through the milk and dark chocolate. A light sweet sticky chocolate aftertaste runs into a sticky sweet cocoa finish.
On the palate, this one sat about a medium on the body with a fair sipping quality about it. Carbonation seemed to be barely there - I’m thinking the bottle was a bit old, eh, no worries.
Overall, I’d say that this was a pretty good American Strong Ale that I would have again.

Bottle shared at a ChrisO Tasting - London. This one I brought from the USA. Pours lightly hazy, glowing ruby with a fine, white foam head. Big malt aroma, hints of caramel and berries. Hefty sweet flavor with lots of ripe and semi-dark fruits, caramel, some booze, mild earthy hops and pine. Full bodied with average carbonation. Warming finish with syrupy caramel and other toasted sugars, plenty of very hot alcohol, caramel, semi-dark and ripe fruits. Not perfectly balanced. It’s OK. Pretty punchy.

Bottle. I will be completely honest and say that the reason I didn’t crack this one earlier is that I wasn’t very excited about it. You could even say that I had been avoiding it. I mean a twelve percent beer from a brewery with some pretty mixed results in my book... Anyhow, it has been in the back of the fridge for a long time. Hell, the label fell off when I grabbed it off the shelf. At any rate, I entered this ready to cut my losses and chuck it if it didn’t hit a level of quality that I deemed necessary to kill off 12 liver points. Pour is nothing too exciting... It’s the color of a tarnished penny and supports very little head, has lots of yeast floated swimming around in the glass and has aromas of wet cardboard and a little bit of brown sugar. I didn’t think I had a cold, but now I’m wondering. First sip is much more pleasant than I expected. Kind if like a really big sugar bomb barley wine or something. Boozy, sugary and sticky with a heavy ABV kick as it goes down. I take back all of my earlier reservations and complaints. This is pretty good stuff. Kind of wishing I had had the forethought to buy a few more for the cellar. There is just a hint of oxidation, but I would love to have another one in a year or so.

Bottle 12fl.oz.Clear medium amber colour with a average, frothy, good lacing, mostly lasting, off-white to beige head. Aroma is moderate to heavy malty, bread, caramel, berry - dusty fruit, mint. Flavour is moderate to heavy sweet and moderate bitter with a long duration, alcohol, caramel, malt sweet. Body is medium, texture is oily, carbonation is soft. [20120506]

Deep perfectly tinted ruby coloured body with a nice robust brown and even copper glow, all perfectly clear - very nice. Aroma of strong oak, vanilla, metal, alcohol, pit fruits and a strong amount of nuts. Full-bodied; Strong alcohol and brandy flavour at first with a lot of hops, some deep peat and malted barley notes with a kiln-fired smokiness and a hint of oak at the tail end. Aftertaste shows good depth and a nice pit fruit sweetness behind the bitterness and strong oaky bits. Overall, a nice beer - this is definitely a barley wine, and a good one with a lot of complexity. I sampled this twelve ounce bottle purchased from Oliver’s Beverage in Albany, New York on 18-November-2011 for US$4.49 sampled at home in Washington watching the fireworks from here over Washington on our nation’s birthday - 04-July-2012 - sampling an all-american birthday beer in honour.

Bottled. Amber colour, small off-white head. Aroma is sweet malts, toffee, mild floral and fruity notes and some mild earthyness. Flavour is fruity, toffeeish, caramel, sweet malts with some mild notes of yeastyness as well. Rather pleasantly balanced. Slight alcoholic burn to

Draught at Akkurat, Stockholm. Hazy mahogany colour, small head. Aroma of plum brandy and molasses. Sweet and viscous with huge body. Caramel and treacle, salty dried grapefruits, ripe fruits, syrup and molasses. Soft mouthfeel. Intense warming finish. Huge beer.

Sample at the Columbus Winter Beerfest on 01/14/2012: Pours a deep reddish-brown color with a medium tan head that recedes steadily. Small patches of lacing. The aroma consists of caramel malt and dark fruits. Full-bodied with a sweet ripe fruity character and notes of malt and hops. The finish is fruity with a lingering sweetness left behind. Decent offering from Otter Creek overall.

draft - Pours deep ruby red and has an assertive fruity malt aroma. There’s a big, sweet, malty flavor with caramel, fruit, and subdued alcohol under all that syrupy sweetness. It’s pretty good, but stay away if you don’t like sweeter beers.

On tap. Pours with a not quite clear, deep brown body with a thick, creamy and lasting tan head. Aromas are boozy, sweet, burnt flan, malty, caramel, esters. Overall a burnt impression. Flavors are bready, malty and alcoholic. Decently up front esters, alcohol, vanilla, brandy, toffee. Medium bubbles but a bit sharp on this application. Full bodied and warming.