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Saturday, January 3, 2009

Otter Creek Sphinx

I'm up late on a regular Friday night chat session I've been doing since 1993; same bunch of guys, we're on about our fourth chat service. We talk about beer mostly, but a lot about life, food, family, and...Amish women (I mostly blame Guy Hagner for that).

But tonight was Bomber Night, the theme was drinking big bottles of beer. So I grabbed a sample I'd received: Otter Creek World Tour Sphinx, an "Egypt-inspired multigrain ale brewed with honey & chamomile." Maybe. But it's not going well. It's very tart, to the point of gut-ache, though I don't think it's soured. I think the brewers meant it to be this way, and I don't know why. It's tangy, tart, and it's not very quiet in my stomach.

I like the World Tour series; on the whole, they've been excellent. The Baltic Porter I had a couple weeks ago was delicious. But this isn't doing it for me. I'd run from this if I saw it again.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

After a few sips from my bottle, I poured the rest down the drain.

Yes, I like the World Tour concept, but this is one stop on the tour that I wish I had skipped.

Anonymous said...

In hindsight (pun intended), maybe they should have called it Otter Creek Sphinxter.

Scoats said...

I'm not sure what the opposite of crowd pleaser is. This was a very unpopular beer at The Grey Lodge. Usually every beer has at least a few people who love its quirks, but not this one.

Sphinx is not a love it or hate it beer, such as Roy Pitz Lovitz Lager (I love it but am in the minority). Sphinx is a hate it or hate it beer.

Alexander D. Mitchell IV said...

Heck, sounds like many an interesting methlegin or braggot I've had.

Without even having had any yet, this mead maniac will volunteer to take your unwanted bottles, of course.

Lew Bryson said...

And that, folks, is why you don't see meaderies dotting the countryside. "Interesting" is a good -- polite -- word.

Happily, Sandy, I only had the one bottle.

Anonymous said...

I'm glad I tried it but my wife and I both didn't like it at all. It was an odd combination, not even sure how to describe it except that "overly spicy" works well.

BTW, what happened to your site Lew?... you expired....

Lew Bryson said...

bill,

Forgot to renew the site! Thanks for the tip, I hadn't realized it. Yesterday was the expiration date. I renewed about 20 minutes ago, might take a while to go through, but it will be back up. Embarrassing...