Ithaca Excelsior! IPAbbey

Formerly brewed at Ithaca Beer Company
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Ithaca, New York USA

Hoppy tripel… I don’t think so. Slightly sweeter DIPA, ohhh yes! Pours with no head but a thick, dark orange color and absolutely no clarity, barely even any light coming through it. Aroma of bitter, young, tropical fruits that just have not ripened yet; thick and perfume-y. Nothing about the aroma says Belgian but it is sweet and hoppy, just like the taste. Taste is cloying sweet, over the top sweet hops, with an astringent bitter hop finish topped of with a decent serving of alcohol. Hard to drink, it’s a sweet, strong, alchy, hop-bomb. Finishes with a bitter-skins aftertaste. Medium body and slightly subdued carbonation with a syrupy mouthfeel. Summary: think Double SImcoe but thicker, bigger, more alcohol, and extremely cloying, ehh. 750ml bottle #1690 (out of how many..?), released April 07 (except I could not find it anywhere until July); Rodenbach Grand Cru smaller tulip glass

750ml bottle pours out a ligth haze amber topped with a off white hea. A great hop aroma. Abbey going on for me??? As and IPA very good. A nice bitter end. Thanks Indiana_red

Bottle: Murky, cider brown with a small head. Mild juniper aroma with a hoppy taste. This is not your average Abbey Tripel and I love it! It leaves a fairly bitter aftertaste and is a great drink! Thanks Indiana_Red for sharing this Ithaca treasure!

Bottle provided by Scraff. My favorite beer of the Walloping Wednesday Tasting. Deep copper with suspended particles and a light beige head. Has a pleasant fresh tea-like cascade/noble hop nose. Flavor starts with caramel/toffee sweetness then comes notes of a little tropical fruit, grapefruit, pine, orange zest, grass and plenty of resinous hop bitterness. I didn’t quite pick up any abbey/belgian fruity yeast character, the yeast seemed pretty clean, actually. Full bodied with a smooth texture and moderate carbonation. Instead of an Abbey Tripel, it’s more like a very well-made IIPA to me.

(750ml bottle, thanks scraff) hazy amber body topped by small beige head. Aroma is moderately sweet, caramel, orange, grapefruit. Taste is medium sweet, grapefruit/orange, caramel, peach. Medium-full body, alcohol held well by the body. Not sure where the Abbey comes in, but enjoyable nonetheless.

Sample from a 750ml bottle. About 20-30% opaque, dark amber and burnt orange in color. Sweaty hops and burnt honey hit the nose, followed by a coarse wood cask smell - sweaty peaches in there as well. Minerally flavor of tea leaves and tobacco formed by the hops and yeast, followed by some sweaty oranges and some old, burnt peach malty sweet flavors. Texture is mildly frothy, moderately thick, but lightly bubbly on the tongue as well, and thankfully it’s not viscous or syrupy for being so heavy. Very nice.

Hazy orange. Tight white head nestles into a tight surrounding while quickly settling. Peppery hops, blood oranges, honeyed biscuits, and soft notes of tangerine fill the nose. Carbonation is soft and dense, but sparse. Hop bitterness is simultaneously sharp and soft with vibrant notes of both citrus rind and pith. Spiciness soon exerts itself and continually builds while wonderfully assaulting the palate with pinpoint pricks. The core is saturated with oily resins which gorgeously adorn the rich nutty and cakey malt textures. Masterful malt extraction yields a lush, bouncy and full-bodied malt frame. Spicy alcohol imparts dryness while underscoring the fluffy malts. Quite honeyish throughout, but never overbearingly sweet thanks to the near impeccable attenuation and abundance of fruity esters and plump mango. Hops possess just enough acidity to gently buckle the cheeks and heighten drinkability, yet not enough to tarnish the delightfully dense oiliness. Soft and pillowy notes of orange pith are echoed by explosively flavorsome notes of mango which complement the understated and well-polished bitterness. Peachy acidity lends itself modestly beneath the more-forceful hoppiness. Finishes spicily hoppy and sappy, with substantial malt heft which lingers and balances the hop acids. Citric hop burps enhance the experience. My gut tells me that once they fine-tune the carbonation, which is just a bit low, this will be stunning. Thanks to jah noth for the bottle.

Bottle 046, released April 07. Attractive murky light amber - does look quite like apple cider - very slight off-white head which is the only down point to this otherwise good looker. Complex aroma: pineapple is most apparent, other tropical fruits, coriander and clove as well - a real nice mix of the two styles. A bit of alcohol in the nose as well. Taste is upfront honey malt with a slight tinge of caramel as well - very malt centric which is surprising. Spicy and hoppy near the finish as the malts fade, moderately bitter, clean finish. After is rasping on the tongue and slightly yeasty. Palate is a bit full for a tripel - approaching a barley wine in its mouthfeel, with very fine carbonation that fades quickly. Lacks that carbonated kick of more traditional tripels, as the aftertaste sits heavily on the palate. Really, really good interpretation of this hybrid style that seems to be becoming quite popular.