Ithaca Excelsior! IPAbbey

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

Pours a hazy copper bronze with a spotty-lacing white head. Aroma of sweet biscuity Belgian malt and some fresh grapefruit bittering hop presence. Starts with a fairly full biscuity maltiness and nice earthy resiny hop balance toward a drier, crisp bittersweet finish. A nice hoppy tripel.

This is apparently a love it or hate it beer, and I’m more in the prior than the latter. Great American hops, although I’ll admit the yeasty funkiness of a belgian isn’t really shining through, although it is maltier than would be expected from an IPA.

Bottle. Head is initially small, frothy, off-white, mostly lasting. Body is hazy medium amber, bottle conditioned. Aroma is lightly to moderately malty (toasted grain/bread, malt syrup), moderately to heavily hoppy (resin, grapefruit), lightly yeasty (dough), with light notes of dried pineapple, alcohol, and pepper. Flavor is moderately to heavily sweet, lightly acidic, lightly bitter. Finish is lightly to moderately sweet, lightly acidic, moderately bitter. Medium to full body, watery/syrupy texture, lively carbonation, lightly to moderately alcoholic. Noticeably poor mouthfeel on this one (wet, syrupy, saccharine-like coating), and much more IPA than abbey. Simply put, kind of a mess...the brash, aggressive hops clobber the Belgian characteristics; nothing gels.

Thanks to Brewfiend for sharing. Nice fiery orangish brown. Very hoppy aroma........Tripel really? Very hoppy flavor with well thats about it. This is nowhere near a tripel and more like a DIPA, with a nice malt balance, but tipicity aside a killer brew.

Bottle #1692. Pours a dark cloudy orange. Aroma is floral, hoppy, fruity (pineapple?). The taste is that of an IPA with a touch of flowers and some Belgian yeast. Surprisingly not a bad beer.

Bottle from trade with MaxxDaddy. Cloudy light copper color with a thin white head. Nice floral minty Cascade hop aroma - not too much of a Belgian twist although the aroma belies the use of a Belgian yeast strain. Otherwise, not much else is tripel-esque. Floral, slightly grassy taste and a nice dry finish. Not really the hoppy-tripel I was expecting, but a nice brew nonetheless.

Bottle #755. Pours an orangey amber color with an off white head that lasts. Aroma is sweet citrusy. Nice smooth body with restrained carbonation. The taste is slightly sweet at first, but then the hops kick in. Long, dry finish. I could feel the alcohol, particularly after drinking 750 ml myself. Better than White Gold, the only other Excelsior I’ve tried.

Bottle 695 from jah noth. Thanks a lot! Pours turbid deep copper with a splotchy, 2-finger off-white head and nice random lace remnants. Aroma is heavy hops, caramel malt, spicy florals. Rich, very complex palate that gets a tad hot at the end, offering flavor notes of hops, a solid dose of caramel malt, tangerine, black pepper, florals, and honey. This one is outstanding.