Ithaca Vitus

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

(BCTC, draft) Small beige head atop dark brown body. Aroma is medium sweet, Brett/cherry, some wood. Taste is medium sweey, wood/cherry/Brett, wood in finish. Light-medium body, some effervescence.

(Draught) Pours a hazy dark red body with a small beige head. Aroma of leather, sour fruit, light whiskey, and some roasted malt. Flavor of sour cherry, citrus, grapes, and light funkiness with a dry finish.

Dark brown and clear, with an off-white/tan head. Nose contains some light smoke, more prominent tart bready crackers, some acidic medicinal notes… flavor has a medium sourness, some light to moderate acidity, somewhat puckery, very vibrant, with licorice, bran and cereal grains playing around with some dark fruit.

BCTC. The Supplication to Brute’s Temptation, I say. This has an intense oak aroma with some nice underlying cherry. Grapey flavor with a calm sour is backed by a metric ton of oak. Mellow and lovely. This isn’t a smack you in the face sour, but it still works rather well. When these barrels have been used a few more times and lose most of their oak flavor this should really come together.

Labeled as "Ithaca Vitus," draft @ BCTC. Pours a dark, pitty red-raspberry color; light tan head with fine-bubbled lacing. Loads of dried dark fruits, cherries, and dust in the aroma; some fresh stemmy fruits and grassiness. Medium mouthfeel: light carbonation; dried cherries, light tartness; some dust and citrus notes; a touch stemmy and flabby in the mouth, though generous. Lengthy finish: tannic red fruits, ashy, and toasty malts; slight tartness.

Pros: Very nice dark ruby color. Aroma shows a lot of depth, chocolate, wood (bourbon, wine.)

Cons: Very mild flavor, not a lot of complexity or depth. Not a lot of fruit character. Really thin body.

A high quality beer, but it wouldn’t be one I’d collect.

Labeled as "Ithaca Vitus," draft @ BCTC. Pours dark brown with crimson red edges and some tan lace. Nose of dark and red fruits with a bit of tartness from the brett. Flavor is heavily oaked, more dark and red fruits, some mild tartness. A bit too woody for my liking, but still a very nice sour ale.

BCTC’08 as Vitus. Pours a murky brown color with absolutely no clarity. Aroma is sweet, strong brown ale with plummy malts. And then a very nice subdued fruit sourness. Taste has light acidity with a nice sourness and Welcher’s grape juice (in a good way). I really liked this, I though the malts of the brown ale gave a nice back drop to a decent sourness. Then the earthy dark grapes added a very nice dimension to the beer.