Alpine Beer Company Ichabod Ale (2009)

Formerly brewed at Alpine Beer Company
Style: Sour Ale/Wild Ale
Alpine, California USA

Serve in Snifter, Tulip, Tumbler

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Great sour ale. Probably one of my favorites. The red is a beautiful color for the beer and that fact that it’s barrel aged is great. Highly recommended.

Bottle. Pours a light brown to amber with a thin head. Aroma is cinnamon, sour, dirty sock and some light pumpkin. Taste is more subdued with the pumpkin and fall spices but the sour comes out more. The first bit is sour with then some spice and pumpkin flesh. Overall, probably the best pumpkin sour I’ve had though that doesn’t say much since I’ve had around 4 total.

Bottle. Pours a murky amber-brown with a fizzy off-white head and lots of bubble. Complex sour aroma, of wine, wood, spices, squash, malt, yeast. Sour taste, starts crisp and fruity, then picks up a lot of malty, yeasty bread notes, with light spices. Lingering bready sourness. Really different and tasty.

Poured from a 22 oz. bottle into a tulip. Ichabod pours a dark faded cloudy cherry color with a swirl of an off white cap. A few spots of lace cling to the glass as the beer subsides. The wine barrels come through nicely up front and at the end. A bit of white and red wine, and oak come through, and then a lot of cinnamon, some nutmeg, and some mild pumpkin. White wine comes through first with a nice bite. Cinnamon, nutmeg, and pumpkin come in next, with a tartness that is fairly strong. The finish has a bit of a cabernet bite. Overall the flavor is tart, with strong cinnamon and mild pumpkin. The body is standard for the style, with a smooth, medium carbonation. It is pleasantly sour, with a nice tannic bite throughout. The tartness and wine barrel character create a nice salivation throughout the sip. Although not known for their sours (at least in my mind), this is a beer that is well put together and does not overdue it on the pumpkin.

Big thanks to Tom for bringing this dope dad beer to Dadtoberfest 2012. Pours a deep amber body with thick haze and light off white lacing. Aroma is sour fruit - cherries mostly, fruit skins, tart funk and light vinegar. Mouthfeel is medium, tart and balanced with notes of sour cherry, puckering citrus, funk, and light spice.

2009 edition bomber purchased two years ago at the brewery. Nicely aged and it seems like the right time of year to finally open this, especially with the 2012 version of Ichabod just releasing (after a three-year absence in the series). Pours a beautiful plum-red hue with a half finger of beige foam. Aroma is very wine-like (both the red and white barrels showing themselves) with additional notes of vinegar, sour cherries, funk, and nutmeg. Flavor of tart cherries and raspberries, oaky tannic red wine, vinaigrette, lemon, funky brettanomyces character, with only hints of the pumpkin and spice. Quite tart but still with a nice level of complexity. This seems to fall firmly in the Flanders Red category and with a whole lot of sourness...would like to have gotten more of the pumpkin and spice (perhaps I should not have aged it this long??). Still a very good effort outside of the normal hoppy beer world where the Alpine guys reign supreme. (102, 742)

Aroma of sour cherries, other tart fruit, vinegar. The appearance is a deep amber, off white head. The flavor is like the aroma, tart fruit, cherries, lemon, pumpkin spices. The finish is spicy, tart cherries, vinegar. Good balance between sour and fruit.

hazy brown color with ivory sheen. Holiday spice, caramel, sour cherry aromas. medium body. Nice lightly sour cherry fruit flavors with some holiday spices, and mild chocolate--good

Bottle shared by Thorpe429 and Amyliz4. Thanks Mike and Amy! This was not one of the bottles that were part of Amy’s Christmas present, I was informed. A: This beer appears hazy and orange in color, with a decent sized white head that leaves a fair amount of lacing on the glass. S: The aroma is great, with scents of funk, sourness, wild yeast, holiday spices. I would be hard pressed to list pumpkin as a distinguishable scent. T: Again, pumpkin plays a subtle role. The flavor is predominantly sour, with hints of fruity sweetness. These fruit notes are quickly consumed by an acetic and lactic sour funkiness. Cinnamon and nutmeg flavors add a very interesting twist to this already complex and unique brew, helping to highlight the somewhat lost pumpkin flavor, which quietly emerges near the finish. M: Light to medium in body, with a healthy carbonation level. Funk and sourness present throughout, which I thoroughly enjoyed. D: A great take on a pumpkin / spiced ale. I would absolutely have this again. Serving type: bottle Reviewed on: 01-07-2011

Bottle on the RBSG 2012 bus. Dirty brown color. Nose of lemon, vinegar, spice. Flavor is very acetic, fruity vinegar, spice, but a rather simple aged character. Quite strange and not all that great.