Unsophisticated Taste
Apr 19 '04
The Bottom Line Sophisticated Otter is lethargic, with weaknesses everywhere except for the atmosphere.
Visiting a new brewery or brewpub is always a welcome event and one that I look forward to with great anticipation. All sorts of thoughts start to race through my mind as I approach a new beer- drinking opportunity. I envision what the facility will look like. I anticipate meeting with the brewer and talking about the subject of beer and brewing. I wonder how good the food will be (if it’s a brewpub) and, most important of all, I conceptualize how good the beer will taste as I prepare to embark on a new eating and drinking experience.
For the most part, breweries and brewpubs usually have something good to offer. Even those that fail to impress as a whole still manage to come through with at least one or two decent tasting products. But then again, there are some places that just don’t measure up, no matter how long and hard I happen to search for something good to say about them. One establishment that fits into the latter category is Sophisticated Otter, a brewpub and eatery located at 400 Ashe Street in Johnson City, Tennessee.
The Beer:
Sophisticated Otter follows the usual formula for brewpubs, producing some year- round products and a few seasonals that change from time to time. When I visited, I was able to try the following five products:
Otter IPA- This IPA has an obvious citrus hop taste and aroma, but it’s very weak and it finishes watery and lifeless. The body is cloudy with a gold/amber tint. Rating: 2 stars
Otter Porter- This beer is very coffeish in taste with some roasted malt notes and a little bit of chocolate and caramel. The color is dark brown and once again, the finish is watery and also a little sour. Rating: 2.5 stars
Otter Raspberry Wheat- This beer is a seasonal. It has a pronounced raspberry taste that overpowers the wheat malt taste and a body that is light golden in color. The taste is also somewhat soap- like. Even the aroma reminded me of the smell of wet laundry, just before transferring to the dryer. I could detect some other fruit flavor, too, perhaps peach. This beer was served a little warmer than it should have been. Rating: 1.5 stars.
Otter Honey Blonde- This beer features an aroma of alcohol and graininess. It has a somewhat stale taste, and doesn’t offer much of a honey flavor, like I was expecting. It seems like a mainstream beer with a grainy profile and an alcohol and cardboard- like taste. Rating: 1.5 stars.
Otter Pale Ale- This is an unusual pale ale. It has an aroma that reminds me of bananas and oranges and a flavor that is a little bit orange with a touch of grapefruit. Any and all fruit sensations are quickly washed away as you approach the finish, leaving an aftertaste that is mostly alcoholic, if anything. Rating: 2 stars.
Menu Selection:
Sophisticated Otter offers a few different things to eat, but there isn’t much in the way of variety. The following categories of food are available:
Salads- A total of seven different salads are available, ranging from a plain salad with lettuce and a few other ingredients to more filling salads with meat. Price per salad is between $3 and $6 each.
Appetizers- There are thirteen different appetizers on the menu, and they include the usual choices, like chicken, nachos, cheese sticks, etc. Prices here range from $2 to $6.
Sandwiches- Here, you will find a decent number of selections- seventeen in all. These sandwiches include burgers, chicken, ham, turkey, and others. The price per sandwich ranges from $5 to $7.
Desserts- For after dinner, Sophisticated Otter offers one sweet treat, with a price of about $3.
Atmosphere:
This establishment is divided into two large rooms on the main level. When you walk in, the brew kettles are in plain view, near the main entrance which also includes the bar area and many tables and chairs for dining. In the back of the building is a second large room with a stage for live performers and a large, open area for dancing.
Upstairs, Sophisticated Otter has a few pool tables, electronic games, another bar with stools for sitting, and a few couches. When the weather is warm, the outdoor patio is open for your enjoyment.
Final Thoughts:
Sophisticated Otter is one of the lamest brewpubs I have had the misfortune of visiting. I stopped by one weekend on a Saturday night, with a notebook in hand, to see what it had to offer and to take notes. Located in the college town of Johnson City (East Tennessee State is here), I was hopeful that it would at least have a fun, exciting atmosphere and some halfway decent food and beer to attract certain members of the college crowd as well as some of the locals.
Right away, I could tell that this establishment wasn’t going to offer a very pleasant dining and/or drinking experience. As soon as I walked in, I was greeted and taken to a table. This was nice, but when I was handed a menu, I couldn’t understand why it was so empty. Was this actually the lunch menu, I wondered? Why does it have so few food options? To make matters worse, the menu was crumpled up on the edges. A minor point, I know. But it made for a bad first impression. How difficult could it be for a restaurant to at least have its menus in good condition?
The menu, I quickly learned, was not just a lunch menu. It was the only one they had and it offered no dinners. So, I was stuck ordering a sandwich. I chose the bacon cheeseburger with fries and also ordered a sampler of all the beers on tap.
With most breweries, I can always count on finding at least one decent tasting product. But with Sophisticated Otter, the products were all worse than average. I tried as hard as I could to like at least one of them, and I even ordered a full pint of the Porter (it seemed the most bearable of the five), hoping that its taste would grow on me. It failed miserably. In fact, the more I tasted, the less and less I liked this beer.
The other products were even worse than Otter Porter. The IPA had particles floating in the glass. I figured it was just sediment, but I brought it to the attention of the waiter, anyway, just to be safe. The bewildered young waiter didn’t know what to say. He walked to the bar, got me another glass, came back, and stated that no one knew what it was (the second glass also contained floaters). That was fine with me- I wasn’t really enjoying the beer much anyway and I don’t know if my stomach could handle a second helping. Also, I noticed that some of the beers had a distinct sour taste in the finish. That’s not cool- it usually means that the beer has gone bad. I wanted to meet the head brewer, Jay Holingshead, to hear his take on things, but he was no where to be found.
Once my food arrived, I turned my attention to eating a good meal. Still optimistic (like I always try to be), I anticipated a good- tasting sandwich that might help to change my opinion of the Sophisticated Otter. Instead, I bit into an overdone burger that had no seasoning or character of any kind. Thinking back to when I placed the order, I realized that I was never asked how I wanted my burger cooked. I don’t know if this is the standard way of doing things or if my waiter just forgot to ask. Whatever the reason, I was stuck with an overdone burger with a patty that was about as bland as the pre- made frozen patties you can buy in bulk at your local grocery store. A Big Mac Extra Value Meal was starting to sound very tasty at this point.
The last thing I sampled was a dessert- Sophisticated Otter’s Apple Crisp dessert- the only one they offer. This wasn’t too bad, actually. It was nothing great, but I couldn’t find anything wrong with it either, which automatically made it an improvement over the other food.
The one redeeming factor of Sophisticated Otter (and the one thing that keeps me from giving it a one star rating) is the atmosphere. I like the fact that it has two separate rooms- one for the live bands and one for dining only- and the upstairs game area. This allows customers a way to escape the loud music on those nights when a band is performing. I like the outdoor patio, too, and the brick construction of the building makes it look like a former warehouse. It has lots of potential, from this perspective. It could eventually turn into a pretty good place to eat and drink.
Another unusual quality that I noticed was the odd hours of operation. Sophisticated Otter opens at 4pm Monday- Friday and 5pm on Saturday and Sunday. I found this quite strange when you consider that the menu looks more like a lunch carte than something that is appropriate for dinner. Yet the place is only open in the evenings. It didn’t affect me, since I was there at night. But I found it strange that it would offer hours like these. Given its proximity to businesses, it would seem like a place that would be popular for lunch.
Overall, Sophisticated Otter is one brewpub that just doesn’t cut the mustard in my opinion. The atmosphere is nice, and there is plenty of elbow room and enough space to get away from the crowds or the loud music. But the food is bland and the beer is tolerable at best. These qualities earn Sophisticated Otter a rating of 2 stars out of 5 and a “not recommended” overall. As a beer critic, you have to be prepared to accept the bad with the good and I realize that not every experience is going to be positive. With Sophisticated Otter, I have reached one of the lower points in my beer sampling/rating career. I don’t want to say that it can’t get worse, because it very well could. But I am going to chalk up this experience as one to forget and one that I am anxious to put behind me.
Sophisticated Otter might have the word “sophisticated” on the signpost outside, but all unique and interesting qualities have been purged from the inside. It’s a place to avoid.
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