It’s been a number of years since I last had an Ottakringer and this is much more as I would define a Vienna lager than was what I recall, beginning with its bright copper colour and well-defined collar of just off-white foam. (In hindsight, and with the brewery website to guide me, it occurs to me that the last Ottakringer I drank was probably their Helles.) The nose has just a hint of caramelly sweetness hiding under a dry, almost austere and steely aroma.
The start of the body emulates the aroma, with hints of caramel amid a slightly minerally malt-and-hop mix. In the mid-palate, however, the beer grows sweeter and fuller, with juicier malt and a prevailing minerality to the hop character, before finally finishing dryly and with lingering caramelized grain notes. Not at all a bad beer, but I would suggest more a simple quaffer than a lager of great elegance or sophistication.