Wolavers Pale Ale

Brewed by Otter Creek Brewing
Style: American Pale Ale
Middlebury, Vermont USA

Serve in Lager glass, Shaker

Bottle: Nice shiny amber and bubbly, capping itself off with a solid foamy white head. Invitingly crisp citrus hoppy nose. The flavor is more subdued, a shy grassy/pine hoppiness with a subtle oily texture. Good.

Bottled on 7/6/05 and consumed on 8/4/06.
Glowing, canteloupe-copper with some auburn highlights and a sparse white head that recedes immediately to a ring and leaves a slight trace of lacing. Medium-sized bubbles still rise steadily all throughout the liquid.
Wow, this is some oxidized beer. The nose basically smells of the harrington barley, bit of toffee and caramel (very dry) and then the rest is heavy oxidation (madeira). No hop notes at this point. No alcohol detected.
Oxidation is quite prevalent in the flavor as well, but the lower carbonation levels by now (this is forced carbonation) allow a bit of a creamy-sweet caramel malt to camp on the palate. Some hop bitterness provides a lightly dry, spiciness towards the finish, but the oxidation and dry caramel are the main show. Some paper and nuttiness trail on the finish. Light acidity/astringency and some sour fruits emerge as well.

The way I see it, I’ve got no problem putting a review of this beer at 13 months old. The beer sat in Luke’s Liquors in Rockland, MA, on the shelf, but the store is cool and dry and 13 months for a 5.8abv beer isnt exactly a long time. No, rather it’s Otter Creek’s dedication to heavily filtering all of their regular beers (and most of their specialties too). If this had sat on some yeast, it would be perfectly fine. Because everyone knows that you can’t expect your beer to be fridged everywhere it’s sold. So do the right thing and quit skimping on the quality of your beer.

This was a million times better than Wolavers IPA. Pretty decent for a Pale Ale. Nice hoppy taste. No harsh aftertaste.

Bottle. Pours clear orange yellow with white head. Aroma is citrus and floral with light spicing. Flavor is hoppy, floral, and malty. I’ve had 3 Wolavers thus far and thought that all 3 were better than their ratings depict.

UPDATED: SEP 16, 2007 Im sorry, but this is an underrated beer. If anyone likes a really well balanced, flavorful pale ale, give this one a try. I drink this beer a little warmer than other beers because it opens up nicely. Being a pale ale, you know its gonna have a hopsy bite, but I dig on the nice malty thickness that gives this beer an extra dimension and a tough of sweetness. Try it!

UPDATED: APR 29, 2008 The aroma has biscuit malt with some herbal hops. The appearance is amber with an average head. The flavor is malty and bitter. The palate is smooth. The finish is bread like and bitter.

UPDATED: SEP 2, 2010 A very nice APA, with a great hops bite! Yah, it pours amber, with a distiguished white head and hoppy aroma... this is a good beer!

Not impressive for what it is...maybe it is for an organic beer. Has a strong, borderline offensive taste that definately is different from other Pale Ales.