Ithaca Excelsior! Brute

Brewed by Ithaca Beer Company
Style: Sour Ale
Ithaca, New York USA

Poured a hazy light yellow with an off-white head. The aroma was mildly tart with nice lemon and leather aroma. Some woody notes as well. The flavor was tart but far from being crazy sour. Lemon, white wine, bretty, and mild wood. Light bodied with a dry finish. Nice beer. If you are looking to start somebody on sours I think this would be a good choice. If starting them on beer as I found out today...bad choice.

Hazy yellowish orange pour with a large white head. Great aroma of tart brett with a touch of oak and yeast. The flavor is great as well. This beer has gotten better over the past several months. There are some light dried fruit along with a sour barnyard flavor. Yeast is present as well.

Thanks a ton to turdferguson for sharing. Pours a very pretty soft hazy gold with a two finger creamy white head. The nose is very pungent and forward. Jumps out of the glass. Very fruity, lemony, yeasty, bretty, mild spicy oak, vinous. The flavor has a level of acidity and tartness that I was not expecting and showed notes of lemon, spicy oak and vanillins, yeasty, some citrus peel waxyness, some tannic character and a mild vinous quality. Very very impressive sour. Very nice crisp and lively on the mouthfeel with a nice acidic bite and some tannic character. Lovely.

New Years Bottle. Pours a hazy orange golden body with a massive white head. Dry brett leather honestly almost one dimensional, how disappointing. Light spice and a note of lemon zest and coriander in the finish. Dry sour with a brett dry finish. Uneventful.

Thanks to Baker. Happy new years! This is an absolutely ridiculous brew. It reminds me so much of the rare biere de champagnes of Belgium. Cloudy orange body with a bubbly white head. Lemon, orange, apple, ginger, and spice in the nose. Amazingly sour, funky, dry taste. Loads of fruitiness, and the longest, driest finish a man could ask for. Dangerously drinkable. This is one of those brews that could turn a wine drinker on to the world of craft beer. This is a monster of a beer that could be a force to be reckoned with. These beers are what is next in American brewing, and not just the craft world. A step above.

Bottle shared at tasting. Thanks! Pours a hazy rich orange with a dull whitish head. Smell is funky, gueuze like and citrusy grapefruit. Taste is much milder than the smell and is very bubbly, and lightly citrusy with a champagne like dryness. Moderately tart, but not as much as the smell leads on.

Sampled during Minnesota first annual Sourfest and shared by Stine. Pours a semi-hazy golden pale brew with a thin off-white head that quickly dissipates to a fine film. Aroma of barnyard funk, tart citrus and a touch of vanilla. Taste is mildly sour with some vegetable/corn character and tart pineapple. Finish is slightly tart, metallic, with a lingering bitterness that slowly disappears.

On tap, BCTC 08. Pours a hazy straw yellow color with a small fizzy bright white head. The nose seemed pretty light at first, but gained more intensity the more I smelled it. Some hay and wheat, doughy malt, fruits, citrus, oak. Very dry and rather tart flavor with a really nice crispness to the finish, kinda like that last lingering smack you get with grapefruit juice. Light to medium bodied with nice fizzy pinpoint carbonation. Overall, a really nice beer, among my favorites from the fest. I’d like to have a bottle to really get to know this guy.