Brewery: Otter Creek Brewing
ABV: 5.5%
Serving method: 12-oz bottle
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown
Last time there were bottles of Otter Creek at Mom & Chuck's house, they had accidentally set their refrigerator far too cold and frozen the beers. This resulted in some beer volcanoes, and made the beers undrinkable. This time was much more successful, so I was actually able to enjoy a few of these OC brews.
Winter Red Ale is a seasonal beer that I drank straight from the bottle. This means that I have nothing to report on its head retention or lacing. On the other hand, even in a bottle there is a nice piney hop aroma. There's also a little toasted caramel in it as well. It's a nice combination, so hopefully the flavor can match up.
Well this is much more drinkable than the last red ale I had, so that clears up the issue of whether it was the beer or the style. There's a light hop character to it, but the star of the show seems to be the malts. They have a nice grainy caramel to them, with the hops keeping things interesting. The beer leaves a light aftertaste on the back of the tongue. Unfortunately, after about 2/3 of the bottle, the flavor shifted from a nicely balanced beer to a sort of off-putting bitterness.
Final thought - Things were pretty good at the beginning, but the flavor kind of went south after a little while. I think this would be a very enjoyable beer as long as you finish it within about 10 minutes or so. Open it up, start the clock, and get drinking!
-Jon
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