Ithaca Double IPA

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

Perfection en glass! I missed the first batch of this, so jumped on the second as soon as it came out, and boy am I glad I did! Appearance: Poured beautifully, a sparkling golden hue. Just the right head settling to a nice lace. The nose: This is a DIPA, where is the nose? It is soft and subtle, very crisp and citrusy, not in your face at all. Shouldn’t this be bigger? Disappointment ahead? Taste: Well, the first taste is not too intense either.The hops are present, pleasant, very even. There is wonderfully sweet malt backing everything up, so the balance is right on. As I continue, the hops become more pronounced, and the DIPA character starts to assert itself. This is like fine Thai cooking, the heat slowly building to a toasty crescendo, setting off that perfect buzz between your ears. Mouthfeel: Weighty over time. This beer builds over time, the high ABV well hidden. Oh so dangerous! Drinkability: Magical Mystery Hop Tour! Perfect! Side note: the hops are from Pedersen Farm in Seneca Castle NY. They are Cascade, Mt Hood and Willamette, and "this is the first time in at least 50 years that a beer has been brewed with all NY hops." Praise be: they are expanding!

Ithaca Double IPA is a very clear and sparkling amber ale with a dense, light khaki head that fades to a thin film that leaves pretty nice lacing. The aroma is bright, sweet, floral and piny. There is some light cereal in the nose. It’s a well balanced aroma. There is a fruity, perhaps peachy, quality to it. Juicy. The medium bodied beer is soft and sticky, but the finish comes suddenly: crisp, dry and a little sharp. It has a nice full flavor that shows a nice balance. It is very bitter and destroys the tounge. There are flavors of tropical fruit and bubblegum. The malt is very smooth and mellow. It’s a touch sweet and boozy. The aftertaste is a long green bitterness bomb. It may be the slightest bit woody, but it’s only twigs. It fades in and out in a non-shocking manner. This beer is very straightforward. The malt simply does the needful and nonchalantly as possible, while the hops rob your tounge’s house before it gets back to the store! Seriously? This is Ithaca? It pretty much whumps this style in a simple, but unique way. I can only imagine that this was dry hopped with at least a couple different things. It’s the fresh fruity thing that sets this one apart. It’s a little more brazen than Cascazilla. Rock on, Face in the Lake!

Well, well, well…Floral hop aroma with some spicy zing and slight alcohol in the nose. Nice white head. Copper color. Nice assault of hop juice, zesty pine and citric juiciness. Despite the high alcohol content, you hardly notice the burn, unlike some in this category. Halfway through, you become well aware of its strength. Brewed entirely with New York hops. The best Ithaca brew…try it if you find it.

Sllightly hazy orange coloured body with a super thin white bubbly head and some floaters on top. Aroma of pure hops, sugar, oranges (not just the peel), malt, more hops and tons more sugar. Medium to Full-bodied; Super strong hoppiness up front with a bunch of bitterness leading into a strong malty taste with a bunch of twangy characteristics. Aftertaste has way more hop bitterness which makes this really nice - no sweetness or malt to speak of...just an alcoholic kick and a hoppy taste in the mouth. Overall, I liked this beer way more than most other IIPAs, because it didn’t kick as much, but it had TONS of hops. Definitely worth trying if you can get your hands on it! I sampled this twelve ounce bottle purchased at Oliver’s Beverage in Albany, New York on 18-November-2006.

Comes in the 12 oz brown bottle. Very attractive looking IPA, dark murky orange in colour with a smallish pure white head. That goes fast,but there is nice lace. Nice spicy,hoppy aroma,cirtic almost. Taste is mostly of course of hops but it is a pleasant bitterness,some alcohol present in the final taste, but not too much. Very very good mouthfeel to this one, very "full and smooth, alcohol warmth in the lower throat but its welcome. For a 10% beer I have to say this is ultra drinkable. Thanks go again to Jah Noth for this wonderful brew

Included as a part of BIF X-Mas by shippos, this beer poured nearly perfect looking, with a partially cloudy peachy orange boy and a creamy mountain of a head. The aroma was hoppy, but not overly so. The smell was that of grapefruit, and hay, but lacked much pungent pine resin like qualities that many other beer of this style exhibit. The taste was not hoppy without being over the top with bitterness. There was a sweet malty undertone that restrained the peppery and citric hops. The mouthfeel was creamy and syrupy and was aided by diacetyl. This was bit sweeter than I would have liked, but otherwise very solid all around.

A hazy bright golden color with a thick white head. Aroma screaming with fruitiness. Grapefruit, mandarin orange and pineapple come through, with some woodsiness. Flavor is hops, hops, and more hops. Pine and oak flavors take over in the finish. I think it would have benefitted from just a touch more malt, but it’s great nonetheless. Ithaca may have found their niche with hoppy beers, because this and Flower Power are very nice.

Courtesy of Puzzl. Huge caramel malt aroma with toffee notes also making a strong showing. The hops side of things is not overly pronounced from an aroma standpoint. The body is a warm buttery orange color and holds a diminishing (good lacing) white head that is pretty uninpsiring, but teases back up nicely. Very malty fore with a sweet toffee/caramel flavor well intot he middle ranges. Finishes with a sweetish (almost candied tasting) citrus blast. Very much my kind of DIPA. The malt component is to the fore and the hops compliment those flavors. Nice!