Ottos Double D IPA

Brewed by Ottos Pub & Brewery
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
State College, Pennsylvania USA

Serve in Shaker, Snifter

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UPDATED: MAY 10, 2008 Bottle sampled on 5/10/08: Similar to the tap version with a nice fresh hoppy character throughout and a good sweet malty balance. A pretty nice IIPA.

On tap at the brewpub on 4/9/07: Pours a clear copper orange with a spotty-lacing white head. Big, sweet caramel malty aroma has a lot of grapefruity hops. Body starts with nice caramel malty sweetness and good earthy piny grapefruity hoppy character toward a crisp, slightly warming finish. A good double IPA.

Picked up at the brewpub meself. The silly cartoon now makes sense, it’s big on malt and on hops. Cloudy with an off-white bubbly head. CItrus aroma, and the dot loace. Big mouthfeel: big bitterness and big maltiness. Above average mouthfeel. Big and bold, hits the mark.

UPDATED: SEP 26, 2012 Rerate: bottles, Mar 09 - they freakin’ suck. Higher abv, fusel, iced tea bombs, messy. ugh. Why did Otto’s have to change the recipe?

Rerate: bottles, Sep 07 - they freakin’ rock. That is all.

This beer changes from batch to batch. It sucks because the August/2006 batch was STELLAR, I gave it a 4.5. The newest batch (Jan/2007) is not as good at the last one, but still plenty tasty... and of course the nose is what kills for this beer. The Jan/07 batch has a big nut and cedar flavor, almost metallic, and it takes away from the juicy dank leafy quality that makes this beer great. This current batch is more in the 4-4.2 range, while the best Double D batch will be in the 4.4-4.6 range.

"Old" draught sample - near the end of the keg. This rating is from the first time I had this beer. Murky dark orange, almost red in color, rusty looking. Spicy nose, with some Belgian-like yeast esters, and some cannibus tinny hops, and a sweaty BO-like nose of chewy malts. Brash bitterness, fruity and tinny. Overall quite good, but not outstanding. Reminds me of the Whoop Pass IPA actually, and is in the vein of DIPA that I do not enjoy: tinny, chewy caramelized hops.
7/5/7/3/14

"New" draught sample... had this right around when a new keg was tapped... this... beer... is... phenomenal. I was disappointed the first time I got a pint of this, but the next day the keg was blown. Trying this new keg... holy crap, the nose is downright perfect, so full of such juicy, dank, fruity and sugary cannibus buds, hop cones and sugary candy... the nose is one of the best I’ve experienced on a double IPA. Flavorwise it’s spot on, sweet, hoppy, properly bitter, even a little too bitter, but just full of flavor... tastes like sugar-coated hop and cannibus buds.
10/5/9/4/17

Pours dark straw/amber colored. Huge aroma of hops, with some citrus, and floral notes. Tastes extremely hoppy, and finishes with more hops, malt, slight dryness, and some fruitiness. I took a growler of this home (I bought 3 growlers here on my first visit, that's how good the beers were).

Bomber. Poured a rich, deeper orange with a short cap of off-white head. The aroma picked up orange and grapefruit citrus notes with sweet, lighter caramel and grassy notes backing it up.. rather juicy and powerful, yet approachable. The flavor had a bunch of grainy sweetness at the core that was hard to classify surrounded by a nice array of pine, citrus, and cat pee bitterness that lasted through the long finish.. alcohol was well hidden and served to warm up the back-end and throat. Medium-plus bodied with only OK flow on the palate.. I didn’t much dig the graininess and the bitterness was rough about 3/4 way through.. otherwise a very good brew.

2012-08-17. Crisp dark orange, modest beige head. 3+ Lovely hop aroma, nice citrus character with leafy green notes. 7+ Nice hoppy flavour, citrus melange, tangerines, good amount of bitterness throughout, modest leafy green hop accents. 7+ Smooth average bodied palate, starting to lose some carbonation in the growler but not significantly so. Very good! Growler, Campground Brewdown 2012

Bottle (22oz). Shared with blankboy, my bottle via trade with sirpsycho. Lovely thick and cloudy deep orange pour, average beige lasting sticky/creamy head - good lace (4+). Balanced aroma - thick sweetish malt, plenty of acidic resin hop bitterness, a dry wheat/grain overlay - and some alcohol (not much). Taste - initially very malty, not too sweet but thick, then the strong resin/citrus hop bitterness kicks in and pitches a tent, and the alcohol shows up soon after to cadge a smoke and tell tall tales. Thick bodied, quite acidic, heavy malt backbone but the hop bitterness outlasts it in the fairly long finish - but for all that incredibly drinkable - reminded me of Arrogant Bastard, but way smoother, and a bit less malty.

On tap at Otto’s on our way to RBSG. Pours a ruby hued orange gold with a medium sized white to beige head. Big citrus and pine, hop candy, and caramel. Huge juicy earthy hops, dripping and pungent. Smooth warming alcohol. Slow soft grapefruit. A little boozy, but very tasty. Big slow grapefruit and quinine on the finish.

In short: An intense IIPA but unfortunately a bit shy on the malt front. For the hophead only.
How: Tap at brewpub
The look: Clear golden body with a small off-white head
In long: Shy nose but very tasty, a recurrent theme at this brepub. Crisp sweetness half-honey half-caramel. Lots (and I mean lots) of hop bitterness. Pine needles juice up front with orange peels and grapefruit. Hard to take a big sip without making a face, this is a very bitter beer. I like when IIPAs push but with such an intense hops bill this one would have benefited from a thicker malt profile to bring some kind of balance and provide a place for the alcohol to hide (which was very apparent even at only 8.2%). Overall it is a pretty decent beer but somewhat overrated. But that’s American, everybody likes a Double Ds over in America. Not me, I’m pretty happy with a just a B. Hi Ruxandra!

Bottle in a trade. Pours an amber body with an off white head. Big hop character earthy, floral, green, grassy, light citrus, and some tangy grapefruit. Good brew.