Salient creamy brown chocolate theme runs through richly bittersweet tan-headed brown body. Chewy toffee-caramel familiarity saturating roasted grain sliver counters dry cocoa-soured finish cloaking embittered tar and tobacco chew hints. Just a tad oily and astringent.
All posts by John Fortunato
PALMETTO PALE ALE
Spicy lemon-orange rind frontage routs barley-roasted wheat grass whimper of puffy beige-headed moderate body. Sullen yeast froth softens sinewy pale malting to sharply bitter citric-hop finish.
PALMETTO AMBER ALE
Spice-hopped sour malt tempest obtrudes off-dry grassy-hopped wheat-cracked horsehide-hay lathering, abating supine sweetness prematurely as carbonation flattens to dismal aftertaste.
PACIFIC RIDGE PALE ALE
Spice-hopped orange peel bitterness positioned above buttery caramel malts. Soft-flowing moderate body climaxes with bright citric finish.
PACIFICO CLARA PILSNER
Typical pale-bodied Mexican done right. Clear pale yellowed suds retains fizzy lemon spritz crackling atop cardboardy French breading as distant floral perfumed agave snip wavers. Only slightly reminiscent of Dos Equis or Carta Blanca. Unassuming caramel-spiced nut graining assuages musty green apple bitterness if warmed. Perfect with spicy Mexican food, though ultimately unoriginal.
PACENA CENTENARIO PILSENER
Simple cookie cutter brew lacks memorable sweet grain flow and loses wispy citrus fizz and predictable hop bitterness to soapy Asian-like buttered rice finish.
OXFORD RASPBERRY WHEAT ALE
Tart stone fruit aroma and dry-grained assertiveness mired by ripened bittersweet raspberry mustiness and astringent cranberry subsidy. Pungent barleymalts lie flat in the distance below cracked wheat slab. Brewery defunct: 2001.
OXFORD HEFEWEIZEN
Relaxing straw-clouded Bavarian-styled unfiltered wheat beer conveys lemony banana-clove theme. Mild doughy white bread undercurrent thins out grassy hop bittering, mandarin orange lilt, mild quince stint, buttery honey snip, and placid bubblegum illusion. Brewery defunct: 2001.
OXFORD CLASS ALE
Aggressive medium-bodied hop-spiced ale brings bittersweet citrus flow and dank malt reticence to penetrating orange peel finish. Aftertaste welcomes unobtrusive lemon-lime bitterness to increase gentle warmth. Brewery defunct: 2001.
OTTO’S RED MO ALE
Peculiar red ale brings honey-malted candied apple sweetness to orange-dried grassy-hopped vegetal astringency. Brown ale-like backdrop contrasts sweet hazelnut against dry walnut, but deeper fruited penetration needed.
OTTO’S MT. NITTANY PALE ALE
Aromatic piney grapefruit essence receives sour lemon-lime tingle and dried orange reminder. Mineral-grained husked wheat backdrop picks up tertiary twig, hemp, and bark illusions.
OTTO’S MAIBOCK SPRING LAGER
Persistent caramel-malted red-orange-fruited sweetness obtains honeyed wheat glaze, hiding dryly metallic copper ale-like insistence. Tangy candi-sugared tangerine-peach-quince center brightens and heightens peppery herbal-hopped resonation reminiscent of lighter Belgian ales.