Unspecific German-styled altbier is flagship offering. Faded charred wood mouthfeel, ashy tobacco stain and acquired smoked salami salience overrun by musty-fruited dry malting in a curious India Pale Ale manner. Spice-hopped orange rind bittering gains phenol acridity.
All posts by John Fortunato
OTTER CREEK ‘A WINTER’S ALE’
OTTER CREEK ALPINE ALE
Piney maple sap and subtle nutmeg-clove spicing indulge softly-hopped off-dry chestnut-hued seasonal amber. Caramel malt thickness intensifies citric grapefruit-tangerine souring as boysenberry, juniper, pear, and cherry hints resonate. ’05 tasting found toasted barley and roasted chocolate taking lead.
OTRO MUNDO GOLDEN ALE
Glutinously cloy Argentinean with ominous compost waft and gritty grout mouthfeel barely betters horrid malt liquor lameness. Cheap cereal-grained whiskey malting and rotten peach souring don’t help.
OSTANKINSKOYE LAGER
Do they drink this rust-hued pale lager at Kremlin while snorting vodka? Moderate malted hops penetrate the senses as refreshing water smoothness counters dirty grain consistency, combining for Scotch-like finish softening on the back of the tongue. Easy to plow down like many barely adequate, overly advertised American macrobrews.
OSKAR BLUES TEN FIDY IMPERIAL STOUT
A true first! A metal-canned Imperial Stout with all the expectant viscous tar-like thickness and hefty 10% alcohol intensity needed to please connoisseurs. Reminiscent of molasses-sapped milkshake on sweet side and burnt espresso on bitter end, tan-headed mahogany-hued full body latently drops tobacco chew, sticky anise, and cocoa powder illusions atop charcoal-smoked flaked oats.
OSKAR BLUES REVEREND SANDI’S SINFUL STOUT
Intoxicating deep brown-hued lightweight stout retains dry-bodied sour coffee bean essence and bitter nut influence to creamy raisin-like finish. Cola nut and cherry undertones tucked beneath relaxing groove add further dimension.
OSKAR BLUES OLD CHUB SCOTTISH STYLE ALE
Canned ruby-garnet wee heavy Scottish ale adroitly adjoins ashen butterscotch-mocha-chocolate sweetness to wheat biscuit spine. Dried tobacco, earthy peat, and leather linger beneath smoked maple midst. Roasted barley and rolled oats fortify veritable toasted lager-like finish. Alcohol insurgency impels charming barleywine recess.
OSKAR BLUES GORDON INDIA PALE ALE
Cheap aluminum-canned I.P.A. (given seperate review under updated G’Knight Imperial Red banner) shields durable spruce-hopped bitterness with chewy caramel creaminess to biscuit-y wheat bottom. Sweet carnival of marzipan, brown sugar, toffee, and whiskey illusions meander through floral-backed orange-cherry-pear trickle before finishing more like a frothy Scotch ale.
OSKAR BLUES DALE’S PALE ALE
Signifying bright marmalade nose and caressing citric-spiced hop bitterness inform smooth buttery resilience of embraceable medium body. Softly layered honeyed yeast seduction anchors sticky pine-sapped finish. Crisp ale will reward pilsner enthusiasts and ale heads alike.
ORVAL TRAPPIST ALE
Ambitious amber-clouded aperitif integrates sweet floral bouquet with cotton-candied white-sugared sweetness, tart cherry-citrus spray, and rosemary-oregano herbage before alcohol-laced acidity deflates complexity of dry-hopped finish. Watery texture depletes earthen mineral basin. Supposedly ages better than wine.
ORLIO ORGANIC INDIA PALE ALE
Dry bronze-coppered organic IPA posits biscuit-y toasted bread pleasantry above corresponding almond-pecan snippet and honey-spiced lemony peach drift. Light for its class, needing thicker mineral grain thrust and bitterer piney citric hop musk.