Archive for June 20th, 2009

• Having a Widmer Drifter Pale Ale. Nice hop taste with a good malt balance. Not a hop bomb. Perfect on a rainy afternoon. #
• Bottling tomorrow. Time to make the @chachahut Cheesesteaks using cinnamon coffee flank steak,baby bellas,vidalias&grill roasted peppers #
• @SimplyBeer thanks. Never even thought of using oxyclean. Just been using bleach and elbow grease. in reply to SimplyBeer #
• Peeling labels from bombers to save on bottling costs. Trying to motivate to bottle 2 batches 2day. Bottling a drag-must start kegging soon! #
• 11am:Got the coffee cinnamon flank steak grilled before rain. Will now have steak for dinner. Thinking flank cheese steaks. I hate rain days #

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Brewery: Otter Creek
Location: Middlebury, VT
Style: Brown ale

Like the Otter Creek Copper Ale, the Otter Creek Mud Bock came in a 12 pack sampler we served up at the Cha Cha Hut Grill Club 2009 Kick off. Of the beers in the sampler (two more remain to be reviewed), this was by far the most interesting.

The Mud Bock is a dark brown American ale with a medium bubbly tan head. There is quite a bit of hoppiness in the aroma. Smelling it, you would expect it to possibly be a dark ale hop bomb. It’s actually mostly a sweet roasty malt brew with a nicely balanced citrusy floral hop undertone. It’s a medium bodied ale that went quite well with smoked pork and spicy pulled chicken.

The low alcohol content means it’s a perfect session beer for an afternoon of outdoor drinking. Sadly, it is seasonal and will soon disappear. If you’re looking for something a bit different than the usual utility ale, I suggest stocking up on this while it’s around.

Brewery: Otter Creek Brewing
Location: Middlebury, VT
Style: Copper ale

Since I reviewed the Wolaver’s Ben Gleason’s White Ale yesterday, I decided to keep in the Otter Creek Brewing mode and review two of their non-organic line.

For the first Cha Cha Hut Grill Club of the 2009 Season – in addition to a variety of foamybeer brews – we decided to back up our beverage selection with a couple of 12 pack craft samplers. This Otter Creek Copper Ale came from one of these samplers.

This is a definite utility ale. There is nothing particularly spectacular about this ale, but then again sometimes you do not need spectacular. It has a nice clear copper color with a moderate foamy haed that falls rather quickly.

There is a flowery malty scent that carries over to the tasting. It’s a medium hoppy ale with malt sweetness rounding off the hops. You get a moderate hit of flowery hops at first taste that is quickly followed by a nice mellow malt finish. It’s a medium bodied ale with not too big of a kick. Perfect for around the BBQ.