Ithaca Cascazilla

Brewed by Ithaca Beer Company
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Ithaca, New York USA

Bottle with a little pasta. Paired well with food.. a strong hoppy bite. Wasn’t expecting this to be as full and flavorful as it was. Nice

12oz bottle from a variety pack. The beer pours dark amber with an off-white, foamy head. Aroma of caramel malt, cherry fruit with hints of piny hops. Light, crisp body with a piny hops fill the mouth. Caramel malt provide some balance. Long, dry, earthy, hoppy finish. When I was drinking the beer I was wondering weather it should be an IPA, while based on the label I thought it would be an Irish red. Apparently, it is classified as an IPA. Anyway, it is an average and overpriced, not quite IPA.

Tap at pony bar. Poured a deep brown with a thin beige bubbly head. Nose was big and hoppy. Some nice hop notes balanced out by a Tom of malt. A big but drinkable beer. Actually thought the bartender poured me a Yakima twilight which was also on tap at the time. Very similar or he was lying lol. Nice bitter finish.

This beer pours dark amber with a medium foamy light beige head that dissipates steadily. Patches of lacing on the glass. Aroma of floral hops and fruit. Medium body with a moderately bitter hops character with floral and fruity notes, plus some malt in the background. The finish is hoppy with a grapefruit aftertaste. Above average overall.

Pours a deep red color with a small tan head. A very excellent combination of malts and hops. Taste is pretty well-balanced, strong malty backbone, nice hops crispness at the end. Not too bitter, but there’s enough to know the hops are there. Pretty tasty, easy to drink and easy to enjoy.

aroma is well developed caramel that gives way to not toffee but rigid peanut brittle. red hot chile pepper hued pour with low carb and thin head but great lacing. flavor is more peanut brittle with steel toe kick of citric hops tied around it. i sampled this away from a computer and was convinced it was an amber ale due to the color and huge malt character. it does not have the crushing hops you might expect from the name/label and stands well as a malt based beer. i am honestly confused having now read this is considered an IPA. though it did not earn points as such, this is about the best label ive ever seen, the photo does not do it justice.

Cold in a pint glass. Pours a beautiful red color with a small head that quickly gives way to lingering lacing. The nose is all fresh hops with a nice hint of orange/grapefruit. Has a malty start and strong bitter IPA finish that lingers as a seedy/bitter bite beyond the innate bitterness of the hops. I think it could do with more malt to balance the finish but I did like it overall. It has good mouth feel but the seed like bitterness could be improved. Its an interesting beer that I would get again but it would be a bad choice for your first IPA. On the other hand, if you like IPAs, its an interesting departure from the usual.

Bottle at Rick’s Sports bar. Ok, this beer to me is a classic example of "never judge a book by it’s cover". I’ve seen this beer in several bottle shops and bars over the years, looked at it and always chose something else. My reason ? I thought the name and label design were both cheesy and too commercial looking. Fast forward to 2010. I’ve been aquiring several of the Excelsior series of beer over the last few months because of the raves about them. When I saw this the other night, I figured I was long overdue to try this. Pour is amber with touches of red, aroma is pine, hops, grapefruit, malt. Flavor profile is really well balanced, just the right amounts of juicy hops and malt. Finsh is slightly bitter. Wow ! Now I’m mad I didn’t try this years ago, a really well done IPA, this one will go into my case rotation to have on hand.