Ithaca Excelsior! Ten

Brewed by Ithaca Beer Company
Style: American Strong Ale
Ithaca, New York USA

[1465-20080531] 1pt9.4floz bottle. Mild orange hops aroma. Hazy, dark brown red body with quick white bubbles. Orange bitter hops flavour base is muted. Medium-full body is smooth. Tasty, drinkable.
(Post-Mondial Tasting)
Overheard: "It’s the beer that gives you a back rub while you drink it."

Courtesy of tpd975. Pours hazy brown with a hue of copper and tan head. Inviting aroma that beckons with a load of varying maltiness from caramelized to roasty to burnt to biscuit. I get some hoppiness while the alcohol hotness begins to hit. The taste is bold in all the right places with roasted to caramelized malts, crystal malts and biscuit to go along with some fruity esters. The hop bitterness comes in midway to reign in the malty apocalypse. The complex malty sweetness builds again into the finish leaving a pleasing after taste lined with mild hop bitterness.

Bottle from Wegmans in Canandaigua, NY, Batch# E!006, poured into a tulip and a Watou trappist glass, I like the trappist glass for a better presentation, pours a clear brown rust red with off-white and tan bubbles (pour turns cloudy as you get to the bottom of the bottle from sediment), nice varied bubbled head and creamy lacing on the glass, very efferevescent, this stuff just oozes a thick head, a generous amount of dark sediment covered the bottom of the bottle, so, I guess this stuff is not filtered, has a big caramel aroma, chocolate and this chocolate aroma reminds me of the Great Divide ‘Hibernation Ale’, roasted malt, citrus, floral and pine hop aromas, faint dark fruit fragrances, my oral cavaties were filled with flavors of roasted and toasted malt, caramel and citrus fruit biting hops, faint alcohol felt on the palate which mixes well with the hop bitterness, hop bite gains strength at the finish, alcohol grows some with warming but the hop bitterness is right there to parade along, and the mix is pretty good, hop bitterness lingers afterwards, mouth feel is pretty full and creamy, has a chewy feel to it on the palate, this is a big malt flavored and hoppy beer and you know it with each sip taken, I picked this up while visiting Canandaigua, glad I did, what a pick, if you like a big malt flavored, hoppy beers buy it, you will not be disappointed.

Pours a darkish maroon, with a small off white head. Smells partyl sweet, big dark fruit presence right away, roast, and sugars also are in the mix here. The flavor was also a bit on the sweet side, however much more balanced than the nose. Lots of syrupy malts, and a much more noticeable hop presence that balances out some of that sweetnesswith a little bitterness. I thought this was pretty well done brew. Nothing overly complex about it, just tasty.

Bottle courtesy of tpd975. Pours a caramel color, with a thick frothy white head, and very thick filmy lacing. Very spicy nose. Malts are big and delicious, with vanilla and sweet brown sugar. Flavor is very malty, brown sugar, caramel, chocolate, rye, wheat. Unique. Bitter, yet balanced well, tasty, drinkable and filling. Could pound again.

Thanks Eric! Pour is clear and dark reddish amber with a big and tight off white head...smell is strongly hoppy with citrus and lots of resin and some pine...taste is sweet at first with some nice hard toffee candy like a Werther’s...then a citric and piney bitterness...the finished quickly turned amazingly dry with an astringent type quality...interesting how it turned my mouth into a desert like that...Thanks Eric!

Poured a deep red orange with a creamy tan head. the nose was very citrusy, grapefruit rind, caramel sweetness, spicy hops. Very spicy hoppy flavor, bitter, grapefruit rind, thick, sweet. The palate was thick and waxy with a warming finish. Very enjoyable.

750ml Bottle Fresh. Pours a deep brownish red with a thin head of creamy white lace and bubbles. The aroma is attractive enough, rich malt base with a significant hop presence; spicy and piny. It rolls chewy over the tongue and the malt is nice. I could get these flavors with a well-aged American barleywine or I can drive down to the store and pick up a bottle of this. Not bad for rolling out of the Ithaca brewery.