Alpine Beer Company Ichabod Ale (2007)

Formerly brewed at Alpine Beer Company (CA)
Style: Sour Ale
Alpine, California USA

An old rating i finally got to entering. Aroma was of light pumpkin and spice and a little sourness. Flavor was light on the palate and mild overall.

Bottle courtesy tpd975. Pours amber with a small off-white head. Aroma is vinous with notes of pumpkin spice, tart cherries, and caramel. Taste is vinous and tart with notes of tart cherries, pumpkin spice, and spicy yeast. Medium thin tart mouthfeel with a mild amount of bitterness. Very good.

Bottle@BlindTastingSession. Complex aroma with tangerine, orange peels, rosebuts and cinnamon. Sweet, pretty sour, light bitter, rosebuts, orange, very fruity, hints of oak and vanilla. Sticky mouthfeel. Nice balance. Quite complex beer with a real Belgian feeling.

Courtesy TheCheeseMan. Aged about 6-7 months. Pours a cloudy, dark caramel brown color with a large, foamy tan head. Intricate ribbons of lacing circle the glass and coat it nearly fully. The nose shows classic sour brown notes of mild caramel, dark fruits, sour, vinous grapes, and dry, new oak. Some dark spices come through as well, with cinnamon and nutmeg showing particularly strong. Pumpkin is barely detectable on the nose, showing itself a bit more in the flavor. The aforementioned elements are joined by some mild, fleshy pumpkin notes, adding further depth. Thankfully, the pumpkin and spice simply provide highlights to the sour brown profile, choosing to stay in the background. The mouthfeel is substantial, with a lively carbonation. Goes down very easy, with a clean, refreshing, mildly sour aftertaste. Overall, this is a very nice sour brown ale, with complimentary spicing and perfect use of the vinous oak barrels. Very nice brew. Best pumpkin based beer I have ever had, by far.

Gold, hint of ruby, tan head. Nose is pumpkin spice, caramel. Flavor is tart pumpkin spice & some odd caramel. Chocolate comes out in the finish. Odd.

Different one. Poured a brownish color with small head. Aroma was full of spices, lots of cinnamon. Flavor was lots of grapes and some of the spices although mild. Okay nothing amazing.

22oz Bottle. Pours a light brown with red highlights. Smell is intense on this one. Sour funk, brett, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, pumpkin and a nice red wine profile. Taste is nice and sour with a great yeasty quality. Red wine and oak first with a nice cinnamon, nutmeg and spicy dry finish. Good carbonation. This was something I did not expect from the crew at Alpine. This is right up there with the best of them.

In short: A weird and dry spicy not-sour Sour Ale. Ok in small quantities.
How: Infamous super-snowstorm Montreal suburb tasting session.
The look: Partly cloudy amber body, some particles, little beige ring of foam
In long: Nose is wild/bretty with spices and quite a bit of pumpkin. In mouth the brett and pumpkin are not as prevalent as they are unfortunately overshadowed by the spicy candy flavour. Cinnamon, liquorice candy and an overall taste of those goldfish spicy candies that I eat all the time. A bit vinous. Lack of body, rather low on the malt front. Despite the candy flavour the finish is surprisingly dry with a light tartness and some pleasant woody notes. It was nice enough in a tasting session but I’ve got take away a few points because I’m pretty sure a full bottle would be tiresome to drink. It’s weird, unusual, maybe even a bit gross, certainly not something I’d like to have it all night long, yet the morning after I strangely found myself wanting to give it another try. I haven’t felt that way since the first time I had intercourse with a farm animal.