Dogbrick (24210) reviewed Excelsior! Ten from Ithaca Beer Co. 17 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
Courtesy of a traveling colleague. Batch E!006. This brew is a dark brownish amber color with a thick and foamy beige head that recedes slowly. Patches of lacing on the glass. The aroma is piney with notes of hops, caramel and fruit. Medium-bodied and chewy with flavors of hops, pine, malt and some fruit. The finish is hoppy with some spice and bready malt lingering. Good all around.
jcr (3164) reviewed Winterizer from Ithaca Beer Co. 17 years ago
Appearance - 2 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 3 | Overall - 11
Bottle. A sweet, warming beer. Pours reddish brown with a small, fizzy (cola-like) head that diminishes quickly. The aroma is spicy and slightly Trois Pistoles-esque. Cinnamon and nutmeg, caramel, toasted malts, molasses. The flavor is moderately sweet and lightly bitter. Finishes sweet with a slight to moderate bitterness. Medium body and watery texture and a very fizzy carbonation. This beer had me thinking it was fine almost to the finish, when it came unhinged and unbalanced — its watery texture and over carbonation kept the many flavors from sticking around as long as they should have for a winter beer. The more I drank, the less I enjoyed the mix of tastes, short-lived as they were.
Frothingslosh (19093) reviewed Nut Brown from Ithaca Beer Co. 17 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 5 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 5
Sampled from a 12 oz brown bottle this beer poured a dark brown color with ruby highlights and a small brown head. The aroma was moderately roasty and lightly smoky. The flavor was dry, bitter and very roasty with a hint of smoke underneath and a long, harsh and dry roasty finish.
notalush (7339) reviewed Excelsior! Ten from Ithaca Beer Co. 17 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
Hazy red beer, with a frothy, lasting head - aggressive aroma of earthy hops, wood, rye, whiskey, spruce tips, fairly strong sweetness - soft carbonation in the mouth - strong bitterness subdues what would otherwise be a very strong sweetness, mingling to generate sweet citrus and cherry flavors - strong woody character, hints of rye - some earthy, leafy, tobacco-like qualities - a faint hint of smoke - the finish is kind of sticky, with long-lingering fruitiness and pine-like hops - the alcohol is well-masked, but apparent enough to give warmth and encourage slow sipping - falls better in the category of american strong ale - an assertive but nicely balanced beer.
Ibrew2or3 (10819) reviewed Excelsior! IPAbbey from Ithaca Beer Co. 17 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
Big thanks to Quake1028 for bringing this puppy to the tasting. Pours hazy orange-copper with thin off white head. The aroma has a nice combination of pine hops mixed with sweet malts, sweet orange juice and cherries. I get a faint Belgian yeastiness too. The taste has nothing but up side with pine hop bitterness mixed with sweet chewy malts. The pine seems to bleed into grassy hop bitterness to midway and into the finish. Wow, this beer is really hop heavy with sticky malts sweetness for some semblance of balance. Nice IIPA.
Oakes (33493) reviewed Excelsior! Old Habit from Ithaca Beer Co. 17 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
Pours a bright, dark, golden-red with a beautiful, loose head. The aroma is gorgeous - deep dark fruitiness (cherries, plums), then getting into tobacco territory, with overtones of a herbal estate chocolate. Sweetish start moves to a moderately bitter chocolate middle, then takes on a slightly boozy accent later. The elements aren’t coming together on the tongue the way they did on the nose, which is too bad because there’s some killer stuff going on here...a little age might improve this a lot.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
Courtesy of Quake1028. Pours clear dark brown with white head. The aroma is big, roasty, burnt, smoky, nutty and coffee. Wow. A lot going on. The taste is the same as the nose and seems pretty even and blended. I get roasty malts, burnt malts, coffee and nuttiness that runs to midway and eases into the finish. Yummy.
theisti (5540) reviewed Excelsior! IPAbbey from Ithaca Beer Co. 18 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
750 ml bottle from Beastiefan2k, enjoyed at the csbosox tasting on 3/7/08. Bottle #135, released April 2007. Pour is hazy golden orange - yellow. Aroma of floral hops, some earthiness behind. The flowery bouquet is really soft, and very nice. Taste is big on the floral hops initially, though falls apart a bit in the middle. Finish is actually really thin - makes it drinkable, but takes away a lot of the initial complexity. Thanks for giving me this one Eugene.
jgb9348 (11828) reviewed Cascazilla from Ithaca Beer Co. 18 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 6
Nice very deep and hazy amber coloured body with brown tints and a shade of ruby. Smallish tan head with some larger bubbles on the side of the glass. Aroma of pungent hops, strong malt, toffee, nuts and even a bit of metal. Medium-bodied; Strong hops up front in the taste fading to a bit of malt and some sweet caramel flavours near the end. Aftertaste shows some hops, but mostly rounded out malt - but this could be due to the age. Overall, a good showing from the beer, but not amazing. However, by me having this bottle for 4 years shows that it could still stand up over the time. I sampled this four year old bottle purchased from Beers of the World in Rochester, New York on 01-March-2008.
GRM (7524) reviewed Cascazilla from Ithaca Beer Co. 18 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5
Brown bottle, 355 ml, savoured on February 19 2008; eye: orangey caramel, slight effervescence, lightly hazy, coffee head made up of rather large bubbles, lots of lacing; nose: lots of Cascade hops, pine, grapefruit, a bit tired; mouth: foamy, orange zest, resinous hops, a bit of caramel, grapefruit, a bit tired, finale in resinous hops, light astringency, lightly sweet, mildly bitter, medium body, not much carbonation; overall: quite likable FRANÇAIS Bouteille brune, 355 ml, savourée le 19 février 2008; œil : caramel orangé, très légère effervescence, légèrement voilée, dentelle, mousse café formée de bulles plutôt grosses; nez : beaucoup de houblon Cascade, pin, pamplemousse, un peu fatigué; bouche : mousseuse, zeste d’orange, houblon résineux, un peu de caramel, pamplemousse, un peu fatigué, finale en houblon résineux, légère astringence, légèrement sucrée, moyennement amère, corps moyen, peu carbonatée; en résumé : bien aimé