Otter Creek Alpine Black IPA

Brewed by Otter Creek Brewing
Style: Black IPA
Middlebury, Vermont USA

Serve in Shaker, Tulip

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Bottle. Dark black color. Malty palate. More malty than hoppy taste and aroma. Doesnt taste like ipa at all. Good beer, but nothing like an ipa

Aroma= Black. You can’t even see through this when put up to a light. Nice yellow/tan tint to the foam. Smell = earthy, malty, with a hoppy background note to the smell Taste = Tastes just like it smells but with a hint of fruitiness that I couldn’t make out in the smell. This isn’t a traditional "IPA" in the amount of hoppieness to the flavor. It is amazingly well balanced to be such a dark beer. Starts with an earthy maltiness and goes to a full flavor full of spices and a bit of fuitiness as it fills your mouth, and ends with the floral/hoppy notes at the end. Mouthfeel = smooth yet full bodied Overall = This is a great alternative to a stout. If you drank this blind folded, you wouldn’t know it was a black beer.

Hops. Some petrol aroma. Didn’t see much......drank from bottle. Tar. Bread. Pretty flavorful and alcohol is masked well. Average feel, not too light. Some liveliness. Parking lot beer after hockey.

Awesome flavor with incredible palate. After taste is clean an makes me want more.

Otter Creek is a brewery that, in my opinion, makes okay to good beers across the board. So when I tried their Black IPA I was genuinely shocked by how great it tasted. This beer could probably pass for something made by one of the more revered craft breweries as it’s got a bold, well-balanced palate and high drinkability. Now why can’t the rest of their line be this good?

I poured a 12oz bottle into a tulip glass.

Appearance: Opaque black body. Forms a large, coffee-colored, frothy head which laces and retains very well.

Smell: Plenty of citrusy hop aroma as well as a subtle, but significant amount, of pine needles. Distinct roasted barley scents as well.

Taste: Otter Creek Black IPA is pretty much the embodiment of the black IPA style to the letter. Plenty of hop character throughout, but a strong malty presence as well. The citrusy, West Coast-style hops are strong here. Orange is quite prominent throughout the palate, as well as a milder presence of pine or resin, but without any cloying or sticky characteristics. Roasted barley creates for a strong malty backbone the entire time with a sudden burst of sweet milk chocolate at the apex, followed by what tastes a lot like coffee on the finish and in the aftertaste (though the beer is not brewed with coffee).

For a non-imperial brew it’s quite robust and the flavors here definitely are delectable. This is definitely a hidden gem sitting on the shelves of supermarkets and beer stores throughout the Northeast.

Drinkability: Though extremely flavorful, Otter Creek Black IPA is not an intimidating beer. The mouthfeel is mostly soft with a slightly creamy texture, yet it still has a discernible carbonation presence. It goes down smoothly with a pleasant hop bite at the end, but still has a mostly clean aftertaste. That they got this much body and character out of "only" 6% ABV is quite impressive, as it could mistaken for something bigger. A bit too big to session, but one serving is quite satisfying.

Bottle. Almost black, tan head. Aroma of Pine! Taste is roasty chocolate milk and coffee grounds. Good stuff.

Bottle. Pours very dark brown with pretty low beige head. Aroma is of malt, sweetness, caramel, roasted malt. Taste is of roasted malt, sweet. Palate: Medium body. Overall: Not very complex, but not bad.

Bottle. Small pour at an RBQ tasting. Brown with a small off-white head and some lacing. Aroma and taste are mainly roasted malt with slight hops. Medium body. Good beer, but I believe this one is more on the Porter side than on the IPA side. Still drinkable.

Great aroma of hops and dark roasted malts. Tastes pretty close to how it smells with a nice finish. Overall a pretty good Black IPA

Coffee smell. Looks great nice dark ipa with a foamy head. Has a minor coffee taste but a great bitterness of an ipa. Hangs on palate for a few not all that thick.