Otter Creek Russian Imperial Stout

Brewed by Otter Creek Brewing
Style: Imperial Stout
Middlebury, Vermont USA

Serve in Snifter

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Cask and bottle. The cask seemed to have more roastyness and bitter caramel and the bottle was just a little smoother and sweeter. Almost seemed like different beers. I prefer the bottle.

22 oz bottle. Pours a beautiful mocha with a deep brown head. Nice chocolate, burnt malt, and a perfume-like scent?! Last is deep with complex malts, some mild smoke, and slight chalk. Subtle milk chocolate flavors, nice little spice from the hops, a tinge of marshmallow too. Mouth is very carbonated, very full. Alcohol is fairly well hidden so be cautious. Great RIS!

2009-03-20. Pitch black body with a chocolate milk head that fades. Rich aroma, lightly roasty malt, dusty malt touches and muted alcohol notes. (7+) Flavour is surprisingly sweet at first with a sweet malty base, roast and bitterness builds as the glass goes on. Mild muted coffee undertones throughout, lingering roast and bitterness are the lasting impressions, pleasantly so. Smooth average plus to medium bodied palate. (3+) Unexpected, but rather good! Bottle shared by HogTownHarry

Bottle shared with Hogtown Harry, Blankboy, GregClow, Jerc, and Garthicus, at Blankboy’s, courtesy of either Harry or Paul (I forgot to write down who brought what - thanks for sharing guys!). Pitch black, chocolaty brown head. Lots of roast in nice aroma. Very roasty taste - tingly hops in there as well, and rounded out by a nice milk chocolate finish. Good stuff Otter creek!

Bottle. Pours near black with a tan head. Roasty aroma, with coffee beans and citric/floral hops. The flavor is well balanced with roast and a sweeter espresso coffee note. Lingering hoppy and roasted bitterness. Very good, better than I expected.

Bottle shared by argo0: Pours a rich opaque black with a well-lacing spotty froth of light head tan head. Aroma of lightly sweet toasty dark caramel and chocolate with a touch of light fruity esters. Body starts with good fullness and rich dark maltiness and some mild fruity character, roasty coffee, some piny bittering hops and a bittersweet slightly warming dark chocolate finish. A good brew from Otter Creek.

On cask at the Mountain Dale Inn, and side by side with a bottle brought and shared by yobdoog. Both versions pour a deep jet black with a small but dense deep tan head. Cask version was full of roast aromas and notes of coffee and chocolate with a hint of caramel. The bottle version’s aroma had hints of all of that, but a large buttery caramel, toffee, vanilla and raw sugar aroma which was incredible. Both fairly medium bodied, though the cask version was a little thinner. Piles of roasty malt flavors, leading into a long light bitter finish with notes of leathery tannins. By themselves each was a little one dimensional, with the cask being all roast and flavor, and the bottle sweeter and all about the aroma. Together they were great, and towards the end mixed together they were fantastic. Very impressive for what I generally think of with Otter Creek.

I enjoyed this beer on draft at Max’s Taphouse in Baltimore. It had a thick, full, somewhat syrupy, black color with an average-sized, creamy dark tan head with average retention and cling. The beer had an aroma of grainy hops mixed with some toasty malt characters, including molasses and a touch of fruit. Its taste was sweet and grainy with some underlying bitterness. The body was wet and syrupy with lots of cling in the mouth and some stick. It had low amounts of carbonation, and was dry throughout and at the finish.

Bomber - Poured a very dark black/brown in color with a one finger foamy dark tan head that quickly settled to a thin covering over the top of the beer. This also provided some really nice lacing on the glass. Aroma is slightly sweet and has plenty of dark roasted malts, some chocolate, some coffee and is very slightly smoky. Flavor is quite strong of very darkly roasted malts... a bit too much black patent perhaps... with dark chocolate, coffee/espresso, mild hop bitterness and some of that sweetness mentioned before. Alcohol not that apparent. Palate is nice and thick. Finish is lingering and bitter. Overall it could use some cellaring to mellow it out a bit (I might just do that), but it is a really good effort. In my opinion Otter Creek tends to be a "middle of the road" brewer, but this is good beer.

Brewed in the USA.......... Pours black in color with a small tan head. Aroma of roasted malts, chocolate and caramel. Taste has a slight burnt flavor, dark malts and chocolate. The mouthfeel is pleasant with a slight bitterness at the finish. Not bad !!!