Ottos Five Year Ale

On tap at Otto’s. Sweet aroma. Tobacco and raisins, plum, vanilla, Twizzlers. Light oaky notes and a bit of hoppyness. Amber coppery clear, with thin off-white lacing head. Medium-heavy oily body, with medium-light carbonation. Silky and smooth. Starts with huge sweet sugary malt. Brown sugar, candy sugar, oak, vanilla. Treacle, perhaps. Very little bitterness to counteract the sugar. Cloying. This should sit down for a year or two, and I’d love to try it then. After is sweet and thick, with alcohol warming.

Pours a very calm, very dark amber with oily chestnut hues. Only a notion of a light beige head is spurned by very low carbonation and a viscous body that seems to stifle what carbonation there is into stasis. The aroma is a dense conglomeration of caramel malt and treacle. Candi sugar is heavy, but there is also a raw component to it that signifies overattenuation. Alcohol is mild, but everpresent. Cereal grain grinds against Rhum orange traits, creating a syrupy attack on the senses. The flavor is much the same, syrupy and loaded with caramelized sugars and scorched caramel maltiness. Doughy malt is scattered about and occasionally roars to a head, suppressing some of the more delicate chocolate and spice that seems to lurk beneath. The finish is caramelly and semi-sweet, fading quickly but softly. Mouthfeel is a particular quandary: medium body, lightly sticky, some watery pockets, awkward textures. Decent. Even though this wasn’t exciting or particularly well-executed, I’m happy I got to try it.

Poured a reddish-chestnut brown. Aroma is very sweet, at least to these nostrils. Candi sugar, almond extract or marzipan, some banana, all seem to be fighting for dominance, with no one clear winner. The alcohol is present as well. Flavor is cloyingly sweet. The lack of carbonation is really hindering my enjoyment.

12oz handbottle, courtesy of mj. Thanks, Mike! Pours a bright, viscous honey-amber color; oily and clear; headless with slight legs. Dense, maple syrup and candy sugar in the aroma; pretty sweet and sticky with a bit of alcohol coming through. Full, chewy candy sugar and maple syrup core; minimal carbonation, and quite viscous and heavy on the palate; tasty stuff: plenty of doughiness, sugar, and malt density. Lengthy, sticky sugar and maple syrup in the finish. I was surprised to see how low some of the other ratings were.

aroma was subtle, but had typical belgian spice with some rummy molasses. Poured a dark amber with lots of protein haze, and a frothy white head the disapated into swirling patterns on top of the glass. Flavor was much too sweet, and not helped by the lack of carbonation for the style. some rummy sweet notes, that hand hints of maple along with a little pepper, and bananna. Palate was way undercarbonated lacking the belgian feeling of mouthcoating bubbles, and the body was probably a little heavy for the style. Did not pass the belgian digestibility test. This beer finished awfully sweet with a disgusting not of maple syrup and butter, I didn’t take the sip that was left after that. not good

Poured from a 12 oz handbottle. Clear, syrupy pour of metallic yellow. Cinnamon, butter, blonde brownie on the nose, leaning into maple syrup and an uneasy wink of heat. Yeast lends a touch of synthetic quality similar to canned cheese. Flavor is dirty, sugary and light with tripel sentiments; french toast and muddy peat are prominent and touched with pineapple ferment, sticky honey, and toasted malt. The crunchy candy sugars define it more clearly in its hot quad design, while alcohol rushes swiftly back through the nose. Almost uncarbonated, which seems to inhibit its cloying tendency a bit; thick, and reasonably silky. Reserved, and rather nice, though it needs to darken its disposition significantly. Thanks for sharing, Mike!

On tap at the brewpub. Aroma is a cranky, stippled reek of bathroom medicines, fermenting gourds and overly sweet sugar. Not appealing. Pours a amber-tinted gold, plain, clear and rimmed with whitish. Flavor yields an overly phenolic and biting Belgian yeast. Alcohol runs hot and the body sticky, cloying and overworked. There’s a lot a sense of yeast stress in this beer. Too much alcohol, fusels, and harsh grain chemicals. Really nothing pleasant about the component profiles of this beer. There are a few washes of pale mature fruits and bubbly bread spritzes, but generally it suffers from overproduction. Bold notes of bubblegum that puts it over the line for me. Finishes with confused mossy hop flash. Right up there with the Reverend.

On tap, at brewpub. Pours a clear orangish amber with a large bubbled creamy beige head that had pretty good retention. The nose is extremelt sweet with lots of fruity esters of banana and bubblegum, candi sugar, and some noticable alcohol. Flavor is very sweet with lots of candi sugar and toffee. A good alcohol kick on the finish. This needs alot more yeast influence, both in flavor and to cut down on the sweetness. Mouthfeel is extremely thick and viscous with a soft fizzy carbonation level and a mouthcoating sticky finish. Overall, this was not their best offering. Kinda reminds me of Avery The Reverand, and in my mind that’s not a good thing.