Ithaca Excelsior! White Gold

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

Batch E! 005; Sampled July 2008
A regular pour produces two-fingers of frothy, off-white colored head. The beer is a hazed, pale honey color that shows an orange tinged, gold color when held up to the light. The aroma has quite a lot of fermentation character to it; lightly musty, an earthy spice note, light notes of distinct candied orange zest, a spicy ginger & pepper, some fruity esters of pear, plum and aromatic apple as well as a lightly herbal flower nectar note. The grain aromatics come through pretty well to with notes of grassy wheat, honey like malt and saltine cracker aromatics. This is quite aromatic and I like how the honey like sweetness offsets the spicy note.

Quite spicy tasting up front with a peppery bite that is coupled with earthy, musty phenolics and some ginger notes that are accentuated by a honey-like malt sweetness that just barely kisses the palate. Quite grain like with notes of wheat and pale malt; cracker notes, a touch of dough-like breadiness, and some biscuit flavors are each noticeable. Somehow the malt has a slight candied note to it, without really being sweet; sort of caramel like, though very much in the background, I wonder if this is a touch of oxidation that is bringing this out. The finish has a certain bite to it that is a combination of a hop bitterness, a sort of herbal note, some spicy higher alcohols and a spicy floral type thing. Pretty quaffable, though it is not light bodied, instead there is a light-medium fullness to his that just sticks to the palate.

There is not much in the way of distinctly Brettanomyces derived flavors here, though they could be influencing the musty, earthy aspects of this beer (though this could just as likely be from a characterful Saccharomyces strain). This is a tasty beer though that is a pleasure to drink. The aroma comes off a bit more intriguingly than the taste, but only just.

Batch #E!005 Appearance: Big fluffy wheat head, pure white. Gorgeous golden color that’s only slightly hazy. Aroma: Floral hops, belgian yeastiness.. standard tripellish aroma: Fruity, hint of sour apple. Flavor: Initial bitter tang. Followed by what seems a mix of a good, belgian golden ale and a wheat ael that’s almost approaching a steam ale in some of it’s hop/malt mixture subleties. And a bit like apfelwein. Very clean, palatable, dry as hell but let’s loose a solid flavor on the tongue. Very mellow for so much flavor. This is a great drinking beer. Mouthfeel: fully carbed, and "bone dry" as mentioned. Overall: Excellent wheat beer. An american wheat mixed with a belgian golden/tripel. Very pleasant combination for sure.

April 2007 bottle #676. Poured hazy medium golden with a short cap of white head.. some lacing followed it down. The aroma picked up sweeter oranges, floral notes, and a bit of cat pee over peppery yeast and caramel-ish maltage.. warmth brought out lighter fruits and more oranges. The flavor had a sweet pale malt and dried toffee base supporting white pepper, cloves, and orange zest.. floral notes and more spicage on the edges with a warm finish.. wheaty tartness back there too. Medium-bodied and dry on the palate with a grainy back-end that was a bit rough.. if this lost some viscocity it would’ve been refreshing. Decent still.

Pours amber with a nice white head. Smells of citrus, hay, some dry bretty hints. Tastes dry with some nice coriander, citrus, hay, some pepper. Enjoyable.

Pale golden color. Grainy malts, fruity yeast and some wooden hop aromas. Lightly sweet with berry like fruits accompanied by cereal malts and some light hops in the finish. Ends slightly dry with some tart earthy notes.

The taste correlates more closely to an American pale. There is a bit fo sourness offset more by yeast than malting. It looks like an American pale wheat and the aroma is interesting because of the inclusion of brett, and Saaz hops. A good Summer beer.

Pale golden pour. Brioche and citrus aroma. The flavor is lightly tart and spicy, with the 8% well concealed; I would guess it much lighter.

Batch E!005 - Hazy golden pour, with a light soapy lace - aroma of pale wheat malt, honey, strong wildflower character, a belgian fruitiness, very young brett, and a spicy saaz bite at the end - a little too sweet in the nose - the flavor is more subtle than the aroma leads you to believe - a little bit of sweetness up front is cut off by a light wheat tartness and very light young brett - some european hop character, mild pils malt, spicy hops and herbs, and a peppery character all lend the beer a biere de garde/saison kind of character - a bit of warming alcohol in the finish kind of takes away from the subtleties of the beer, but otherwise this is pretty solid - once the brett develops more this has the potential to be quite ommegeddon-like.