Name: Arthur’s India Pale Ale
Date: 07/24/2007
Mode: Firkin
Source: Brewpub

hazy dark gold, fine beige head, drippy lace, light caramel malt and floral hop aroma, nice sweet caramel malt flavor, light bitterness with a long bitter finish,

Aroma: 5/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 6/10; Palate: 7/10; Overall: 11/20
Rating: 3/5.0
Drinkability: 8/10
Score: **/4

Cask at brewpub. Pours orange amber with an eggshell head. Nice floral hop and fruity aroma. Medium bodied but with a British like texture and soft carbonation. Flavor of toffee, caramel, and tea that transitions to a spicy hop middle. Not much residual sweetness/ Finish is dry and lasting. I prefer a bit more sweetness to balance things out, but otherwise this was pretty solid.

First off, if you are an IPA lover, ignore my numbers. This is a good example of IPA, it’s just not my style and my numbers reflect how much I like it. Clear and slightly darker than the ubiquitous pale yellow american lager. Citrus floral hops aroma. Very strong bitter hop impact like I’m chewing on green grapefruit rinds. Mild carbonation. Overall a good example of the style. Lasting bitter medicinal finish. I give this a 2 only out of respect for mj, Nate and DocLock! Otherwise it would be a 1.8

Cask (forced) at the brewery. Initial flavor is ashy and stale hop cones, like the hops were aged, or at least you could taste some age in the hops. Dusty, yet doughy and bready as well. Appearance is unfiltered, ruby orange and cloudy red in the body, glowing even. Chewy caramel malt flavors abound, with somewhat grassy hop flavors present. Yeast is prominent, as is the norm with Otto’s, doughy and bready throughout. Has a light bitterness for an IPA, though the bitterness is heavy for a supposed British IPA styled beer. Has some sweet apple and pear flavors, even some white grapes in there. Gravity is higher than expected, it’s a bit heavy, that’s easy to see, reminds me of their DIPA actually, with the high gravity and also the grassy hop notes. Velvety texture, high carbonation from the cask (though it’s a forced cask), with some apple and caramel flavors in the finish, and still with that ash character. The sweetness is high, as is the bitterness, but the sweetness is not like bubble-gum, but rather like apples and pears and other overripe fruit.

I hate to say it but of all the Otto’s beers I’ve had this one was surprisingly un-inspiring. There was nothing bad about it other than a somewhat boring average-ness about it. I certainly mean no offence by it. A brewery can’t be expected to make a best beer every time. Appearance: Served and amber color. Smell & Taste: Grassy hops and hints of fruit on a sweet malt body. Mouthfeel: Light medium body with a distinct dryness. Drinkability: It is beer. And good relative to the macro world but a bit avererage in an ocean of great beers. Still if I was in State College and I was eating a spicy dinner that simple need a beer to drink w/o thinking about it, this would be a very fine choice. Hope this is helpful. Cheers!