Ithaca Double IPA

Brewed by Ithaca Beer Company
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Ithaca, New York USA

Date: July 17, 2005
Mode: Bottle
Source: Trade
Appearance: cloudy dark yellow, nice fine white head
Aroma: sweet grapefruit aroma
Body: creamy body puncuated by sharp carbonation stabs
Flavor: sweet and hoppy flavor, nice mellow grapefruit with a piny accent, mellow bitter finish, solid sweet hop flavor lasts through to the last sip
Overall: a very fine double ipa

Date: April 29, 2006
Mode: growler
Source: tasting
Aroma: faint aroma
Flavor: flavor sweetness is tempered, lasting bitterness
Overall: a bit mellower than the bottle

Date: February 10, 2007
Mode: dry hopped cask with oak chips
Source: extreme beerfest
Aroma: a little grassy aroma with only a hint of the oak
Flavor: a big more of the sweet citrus flavor is brought out maybe by a touch of vanilla in the oak

Aroma: 8/10; Appearance: 8/10; Flavor: 8/10; Palate: 7/10; Overall: 16/20
Rating: 4/5.0
Drinkability: 8/10
Score: **4

(draft) Soft beige head with cloudy amber body. Aroma is medium sweet, grapefruit, light lemon. Taste is moderately sweet, grapefruit, orange/floral, some caramel. Medium-full body, alcohol very well hidden, some sticky, resin.

(Bottle) Pours a cloudy golden orange body with a medium beige head. Aroma of caramel, orange, biscuit, and pine. Flavor of toasted malt, hops, and orange peel with an alcohol burning sensation in the finish.

12oz bottle shared courtesy of dickinsonbeer. Poured a medium orange color with a small sized off white head. Aromas of citrus, biscuity, pine, caramel and orange peels. Tastes of oranges, caramel, lighter biscuit, and a grapefruit finish. Medium bitter with a lighter sweetness.

Slowly fading white cover thrones above the light-medium amber liquid. Surprisingly shy aroma hops greet the nose through muddled sweet malt that strives to furnish its perfumes. Plenty of alcohol manages to get through and might be the cause to the apparent dulling of the rest of the flavours, while the hops never manages to push their music further than an earthy jeremiad, the malts mostly play the candied sweetness notes. A bit stagnant and just very strong.

Growler shared by ElJefe at the Hampton Inn tasting following DL06: Pours a clear golden bronze with a nicely-lacing, thin, wispy white head. Nice fresh grapefruit and piney hoppy aroma has good sweet caramel malty presence. Body has lots of sweet caramel maltiness and some sugar crystals with plenty of piney bittering hops and some warming alcohol toward the finish. A pretty good IIPA.

Bottle... Hazy golden ale with a small, creamy, white head. The aroma is of grapefruit and pine with hints of peach and clementine. Good balance. Moderate sweetness and medium bitterness with delicate saltiness. Medium-bodied and astringent with tingly carbonation. Lengthy, salty, then dry finish. Cheers to growler for sharing this gem!

Any first impressions?
-A sheet of foam sits atop the glowing light orange.
-Unassuming sandy, dry-seeming hops branch out into orangey fruitiness over the biscuity maltiness.
-The flavor profile is more satisfying than the aroma, offering oily maple malt sweetness to support the talkative citrusy hoppiness.
-The smooth, tiny bubbles let the well-fed honeyed maltiness express itself.

What if you dig deeper?
-Mango chewing gum thrives within the malty sweetness.
-Hop bitterness is sandy, devoid of personality.
-Some toastiness is found in the maltiness, and balance is achieved.
-All in all, this feels like a fortified hop wine, and is as well-malted as their Cascazilla; but it doesn’t quite satisfy my Double IPA hunger.

Bottle; no date.

From the gravity cask at Tap NY:
A great aroma blends biscuity maltiness and citrusy hoppiness. The near-lack of carbonation also helps the body whose flavors are ably to breathe and express themselves much better. From the bottle: 3.3/5; from the cask 3.5/5.