Ithaca Excelsior! IPAbbey

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

This abbey triple pours a slightly cloudy orange gold color from a 750ml bottle. Medium sized white foamy head. Aroma is fruity and sweet, some honey and some hops. A medium bodied triple. The malts are fruity and sweet. The hops are citrusy and a touch grapefruity. Nice balance, Think they did a nice job trying to meld to diverging beer styles here, its more of a IPA than a Abbey Triple, but there is a nice yeastiness and sweetness to this beer. Mouthfeel is full. Finish is clean and smooth. Aftertaste is slightly bitter.

From Goldtwins’ bottle at PP Strong Ale Fest 07. Murky but bright copper color with a white head. Honey, citrus and a bit of oxidation in the nose. Tons of hop bitterness with a strong honey note. Lingering bitter finish.

2007 PP SAF Bottle (#1708)brought by Goldtwins, thanks: Deep hazy amber with a frothy head and okay lace. The aroma has notes of apricot, pear, floral and grassy bitters, honey and biscuity malt. The taste is fruity and sugary with a moderate bitterness in the background. Spicy and phenolic on the finish. The mouth feel is sharp, biting and woody dry. Not too bad but seems to miss the complexity I hoped for.

PP Strong Ale Fest Bottle 4/07 #1708 from Goldtwins. Pours orange with a thin off white head. Nose is citrussy and yeasty. Taste is sweet mild, hoppy, yeasty, nice and balanced. According to BBB63 this is the style of 2007 the hoppy belgian.

750 ml bottle. Released April, 2007. Bottle # 1600. Pours a slightly hazy amber gold with virtually no head. Pleasant aroma of caramel, floral hops, and some light pine. The flavor is initially caramel, followed by some strong pine flavors. Resinous, bitter finish. I realize this is an attempt to mesh two styles, but I think the IPA attributes pretty much run over any of the Tripel characteristics. As an IPA, this beer is ok, as a Tripel, it is not very good.

Bottle provided by Scraff. Hazy amber body with a small white cover. The nose is apricot, tangerine, cat urine and caramel. The flavor is moderately sweet with cotton candy, toffee, tangerine and grapefruit. Medium/full body is soft and sticky with light carbonation.

Bottle #1654 shared by TomDecapolis. Pours a slightly hazy golden/amber color with a smallish white head. Lot so citrus and pine in the aroma, with some floral notes and some yeast. the citrus & pine are not as prevalent in the flavor. Tastes of yeast, caramel and some fruits. Slight alcohol on the finish.

Deep cloudy golden ale covered by a fading white head. Flowery, lightly piney, citrusy, mandarine-like, Simcoe/Amarillo American hops nose. Light alcohol notes manage to peak through more and more by the sip. Floral and bready. Well put together, but very sweet in mouth, honeyed and cracker-like. Toasty, biscuity finish. Small-bubbled, yet intense carbonation completes the medium body. Kinda unclean and perhaps not bright enough, nor fresh tasting enough to be great at what it does, but still pleasant.