Not quite as mysterious as The Stig, and not quite as common as Cheryl Cole is Mrs Otto, the Bent and Bongs Beer Svengali. With a love for beer beyond even Donald Trump’s love of bricklayers, Mrs Otto returns for the 2017 festival to share some personal recommendations.
For 2017 Mrs Otto, the Bent and Bongs Beer Svengali, recommends …
Real Ales
Prospect – Pickaxe (5%)
A red/brown pour with an aroma of roasted coffee/chocolate. The taste has ripe fruits and sweet roasted malts, nuts, and coffee with a touch of vanilla on the finish. A very quaffable porter.
Abbeydale – Moonshine (4.3%)
A great example of a Yorkshire Pale Ale. Your taste buds will experience grapefruit and leather. Make sure you try some.
Tiny Rebel – Juicy (4.8%)
A golden/amber colour pour. The aroma is sweet, pineapple, and tropical fruits. The taste is sweet and juicy with tropical fruit, pineapple and fruit salad. A highly drinkable tropical fruit juice.
Blackjack – Dragon’s Tears (5.2%)
Pours clear gold. Lots of Saison yeast in the nose, some citrus hops, tangerine, peach, and grapefruit. Medium sweet flavour with rich grapefruit, peach, and pine needles. Medium bodied with white, soft, delicate carbonation. A tasty beer indeed.
Deva – Dual IPA (5.6%)
Hopped to hell and back. Dual IPA is a big, brash American India Pale Ale. Hugely hopped to give waves of powerful citrus and hop resin all backed up with a strong, complex, malt backbone. This one will give your taste buds something to talk about!
Weird Beard – Mariana Trench (5.3%)
Pacific Northwest meets Pacific Southeast as the best of American and New Zealand hops meld together with just enough malt backbone to allow them to sing. A riot of mango and passionfruit on the nose but balanced enough to drink by the bucketful. Dive in and grab another glass full, but don’t get the bends!
Draught Beers
Erdinger – Festweiße (5.7%)
A hazed amber body. The aroma is malty and bready with light spice. The taste is sweet malts, bananas, more fruits, mild breadiness, and light yeast. The body has sharp carbonation feel that finishes fruity and malty with some milder sweetness and lighter spices.
Lervig – Café Sur (4%)
A limited release kettle-sourced Berliner Weisse with a late addition of fresh brewed coffee. The flavour is reminiscent of fresh espresso with a nice acidity coupled with lightly roasted coffee flavours. It has a soft palette which compliments itself quite nicely to the rich complexity of the coffee.
Left Hand – Milk Stout (6%)
This English style of beer, also known as Sweet Stout or Cream Stout, first appeared in London in the late 1800’s. The early brewers touted the health benefits of the milk sugar in this beer which today relates mainly to the increased amount of calories. Sorry – no real health benefits! The milk sugar adds a well rounded sweetness to this dark beer and makes it an outstanding year round stout.
