The Friday Pint #19 - Otley O3 Boss

With a week to go until the European Beer Bloggers Conference in Leeds, and a week and a half until I go to America, I'm back in Southampton, and I've stopped off at the South Western Arms, next to St Denys station, to try some of the beers at their festival. Hopefully, I'll be able to ignore the fact that they have Rochefort 8 and Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout in their fridge, both available for a rather reasonable price of £3.60 a bottle, and try some good beers. There's some breweries I recognise here, but a lot that are new to me.. For my Friday Pint this week, I have chosen one of those that I am already familiar with, Pontypridd's Otley. The beer in question is O3, a chestnut red ale, with 4.4% alcohol. I think I may have had this before, but not being one for caring about ticking, or keeping meticulous records of what I've drunk, I can't really be certain. Let's ignore that though and just focus on the pint in front of me. It's the first of the day. It's the only pint I'll have today. After this it's halfs all the ways as I attempt to try as many beers as I can before I start to feel either a) drunk, b) bloated or c) I can't really taste the beers anymore. I highly expect though, that we'll be leaving long before any of those occur. The beer is a light red in colour. It catches the light well, creating an amber glow on the table as it shines through. It's the sort of image a marketing campaign could be built upon, a glowing amber pint, a shining beacon of relaxation and enjoyment. Aroma wise (I have a slight cold again, perhaps unsurprisingly) it's subtle. If there is anything distinguishable, I'm not experienced enough to distinguish it. Taste wise, well, I'm half way down the glass already. I keep going back for more. It coats the mouth with a lovely moreish taste with a hint of sweetness. This is what I want a beer to be like when I *need* a beer. I don't want anything challenging or unusual, I want something I can drink and enjoy without thinking about it. London Pride is one of those beers, and now Otley O3 has been added to that list. I'm going to enjoy the rest of this pint, and then go for one of those Rochefort 8s. I might as well enjoy myself whilst I'm alive.