Ithaca Excelsior! IPAbbey

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

Date: 09/29/2007
Mode: Bottle
Source: Tasting, Cellar Party

clear dark copper, wispy off white head, specks of lace, sweet caramel malt aroma with strong citrus and earthy hops, sweet malt flavor, touch of fruity character, dark caramel malt sweetness, well balanced by lots of citrus hops, good balancing bitterness leaves a light bitter finish,

Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 13/20
Rating: 3.4/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: **+/4

(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.

750ml bottle shared courtesy of TomDecapolis. Released Apr ’07. Bottle # 1654. Poured medium and cloudy golden color a small sized off white head. Aromas of floral, earthy, citrus, yeast, and just hoppy. Tastes of lighter yeast, melons, citrus, earthy, and caramel.

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.

(750ml bottle, Apr 07 vintage, # 630) Pours a cloudy golden brown body with a small off-white head. Aroma of apple, caramel, orange, bread, pineapple, passion fruit, and banana. Flavor of hops (floral, pine, herbal), clove, toasted bread/biscuit, and honey with a bitter finish.

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.

Bottle... Murky amber ale with a small, wispy, off-white head. Earthy, fruity aroma with notes of peach, tropical fruits, PNW hops and damp leather. Well-balanced by moderate toffee sweetness and an equal amount of grapefruit pith bitterness. Medium to full-bodied with medium carbonation. Mid-length, snappy finish. Seems like a PNW IPA to me; nice juicy hops with good balance and no tripel-like esters or phenols. A big SHOUT goes out to jayg for sharing his bottle of this fine IPA!

My Bottom Line:
Piney hop resins develop citrusy buds atop the portly honeyed, caramel maltiness of this strong ale hybrid. Do not approach this as an example of any style, and you should enjoy the experience greatly.

Further Personal Perceptions:
-A veil of foam covers the hazy orange.
-Carbonation is soft and does not build an authentically Belgian body.
-The intense hoppiness is balanced out by the loads of caramel maltiness, but the malts do appear a bit fatty in the long run.
-Alcohol warms up the back end, but does not bother the flavor profile.
-As a Tripel, I would not say it is very successful. As a Double IPA, I would not say it is very successful. But as its own beer, I enjoyed it quite a bit.

Bottled in April ’07.