Saturday, July 29, 2006

Brew Pub Review: Otto's in State College, PA

Edit: This post has been a long time coming. I decided that I was just going to finish it today as it stands. So it might seem a bit incomplete in the tasting notes area. As I mentioned in an earlier post I stopped to see a good friend in State College, PA. Along the way I was able to sample some of Otto's beer and get a bite to eat. I must admit the first time I saw this place years ago, I didn't think I was missing much. Who knew that Otto the cat was doing his part to inspire his owner to bring great beer to humans all over State College. Jeff agreed to head to Otto's after we made a stop at the Penn State Model Railroad Club open house. Just as a quick aside, I'm not really into model trains, but, this layout was impressive. I only wish my son could have been there. Back to the beer.. When we walked into Otto's. My first impression was, "This is not some fancy sterile chain." We were seated right next to the glass enclosed brewing area and presented with the beer list and menus. With a long drive ahead I sugested that we share the sampler and Jeff agreed. We looked over the food and decided what to order. When the sampler came out I noticed how distinct each beer looked. No two were colored the same they really looked good. I took this a good sign. We started with the lighter beers and worked our way to the darker ones. Jeff doesn't consider himself an great beer taster, however, he did a great job characterizing these samples. Since I lost my tasting notes I'll just wrap up here and assure you that all the beers were awesome. Each was inline with their styles. This is one of the best brew pubs I've been to. Don't miss it if you are in that part of the state. By the way, they sell small (reg size) and large (2 gal.?) growlers here. That ought to hold you over at your next party :-)