Ithaca Excelsior! IPAbbey

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

bottle- release april 2007, bottle no. 527- golden orange, pepper black yeast chunks. aroma was hoppy but not overwhelming. Great head retention. Perfectly balanced hop, malt ratio, with a terrific complexity due to the belgian and american ipa influences. A slightly buttery finish, with some bananna/fruit undertones.A wonderful beer. So glad to have had it.

Enthusiastic pour yeilds a slightly hazy copper with an orangetinted head that settled slowly. Nose is of sturdy hops, citrus and honey. Hop nose does not insatntly follow into medium body of balanced burly malts and yeastyness. A few whisps of my basement. Hops reapear in middle of body and fade with finish. Alocohol is not readily noticed.

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.

Bottle via trade with TomDecapolis, thanks Tom. Pours a hazy copper color with a thick off white head. Aroma is floral hops, grapefruit, caramel, light pine. Flavor is floral hops, caramel, some grapefruit, alcohol. Palate is medium bodied, medium carbonation, finished sweet from the malts yet had a nice hope bite. This was terrific stuff, very drinkable, and IMO underappreciated!

A deep unfiltered, orangey amber. Thin wispy head and lace. Nose at first was dominated by simcoe hops and then as it breathed in glass and warmed, it opened up to boast nose of honey, pineapple, the woodsy, piney, citric hops, peaches and others. Medium to full bodied, lots of sweet, well developed LUSCIOUS malts, hint of graininess, passionfruit, peach, caresses of honey and more. Bitteness and dryness back it all up, maybe thins a bit here and there but this is fantastic. I would call it a IIPA with a belgium yeast twist but not a triple IMO. Had again and had to up it a little. If enough folks have this, I bet it makes some waves.

Deep crimsony orange, creamy white head. Sweet hop nose loaded with pine, grapefruit zest, and vanilla, with underlying tones of brown sugar and warm honey bread throughout. Intense citrus and pine flavors blend with soft sugary spiced peachy vanilla tones. Full bodied and slick, medium carbonation, bittersweet finish. An interesting and unique take on this hybrid that worked very well for me. An after dinner sipper for sure...

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 # 161. Thick light tan head tops a deep golden orange brew. Really great looking brew. Lots of light spice, fruit and citrus up front. Fresh orange peel and a herbaceous spicy hop character as well. Soft resinousness showing pine and juniper. Malts are a bit honeyed with a soft earthiness and apple/pear esters. Warming brings up the sweeter honeyish character significantly approaching the sort of maltiness you might expect in a pale barleywine. I’d like the body to be a bit thinner, but there’s nothing here that isn’t pleasant. There is a lot of spearmint on the back with lingering yeasty spiciness and white pepper. It’s quite a nice brew with excellent balance and lots of complexity. The hops and light spiciness from the yeast complement rather than clash... which always seeems to be the problem with these hoppy tripels, but not here.