Ithaca Cascazilla

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

Serve in English pint, Shaker

On tap at the brewery. Pours a dark amber. taste is plenty malty and roasty. some fruit such as plumbs and grapfruit. Slightly sweet and sticky.

Categorized on this site as an IPA, and while I definitely get a lot of hop flavor, I disagree. Nonetheless, a very pleasant brew and far and away the finest beer I’ve had from this brewery. Aroma is bread-like, citrusy and hoppy and sweet and malty. Appearance is dark red, almost brown with a fluffy brown head. Taste is much like the aroma, with a dry, somewhat fizzy, malty finish, which weakens it’s overall score, but only slightly.

aroma of roasty and caramel malts along with some fruity quality and a bit of maple..nice looker..red clear but with a pillowy foam head lots of lacing very nice..tastes great cold more hop[s upfront a citrusy and piney sort of tingle and again solid malty and fruity(apple?grapefruit?) undercurrent..goes down great very refreshing for this hot day and 9 bucks for a six..good choice

12 oz bottle
The build up on this is better than the beer itself. Regardless for a $1.49 (if you pick up a six pack) release this is not a bad summer porch beer. I don’t know that I would call it "monstrously hoppy" but it certainly is not subtle about its use of Cascade. Overall if I am ever in the Finger Lakes region and this is the best tap option I will probably order a pint.

Aroma / Appearance - A deep maroon body is bouyed by a creamy white head the color of vanilla yogurt. Sticky lacing indicates this might be a bit heavy to drain a six pack in an evening but it is not thick like a 13% bourbon bomb either. The nose is a mixture of orange sorbet, lemon crisp, and waking up after a night spent camping under the shade of a grove of hardwood trees. Fruity and inviting it does enough to make this interesting.

Flavor / Palate - Unfortunately that does not carry through in the actual taste. The chewy mouthfeel is like licking the scraps left over after a marathon session at the sawmill. Resiny residue bobs on a wave of malt until it attaches itself to the throat. The lingering butternut finish is not too aggressive to wipe away everything but does conflict a little with the other impressions. Lightening this up just a touch would make it a better product in my opinion.

Bottle from Half Time. Pours dark amber with a red tinge and a 4 finger beige head that’s foamy/clingy. Aroma is mostly roast malt. Medium plus body with foamy carbonation. Flavor is a lot of roast malt with some citrusy hop. It’s very hoppy, but the "reddishness" of the roast malt keeps pace with it. There’s a lot of flavor of malt and hop, and neither really dominates. Quite drinkable, though a bit too malty for me. Or maybe not. It keeps getting "better".

Location: 12 oz bottle from Buy Rite - Jersey City, 6/29/10

Aroma: The nose has some sweet caramel, a good amount of fruit, hops, and some bread-like characteristics
Appearance: It pours a slightly hazy amber color with a creamy beige head that sheet-laces the glass.
Flavor: The taste is moderately sweet (caramel and some grapefruit) with a hop presence for balance.
Palate: It has a medium-full body, soft carbonation, surprisingly short duration, and a somewhat sticky feel.
Overall Impression: I tend to be a big fan of these hoppy Amber IPA-like beers, and while I think this one is pretty good, it isn’t as great as some of the other beers I’ve had in this style. Anyway, I do like it, it has a pretty good hop presence but remains balanced enough. On the other hand, the finish is so abrupt that it ruins the beer just a bit. I just don’t really get why, but for some reason each sip seems to be completely out of my mouth by the time I tilt the glass back to the up-right position. Very odd, and surprising for this style. I like it, but I have to take away some points for that issue.

Tasted from 12oz bottle obtained in a trade. Pours dark amber with a medium bubbly head that slowly recedes to lace. Nose is both hoppy with citrus and soap, and malty with bread and hay. On the palate, the beer is hoppier with the malts taking a back seat. The hops linger for a long time with a nice bitter finish. The body is light with lively carbonation. The alcohol is masked well, but the watery body and active carbonation don’t quite fit. This is a good beer that I could drink a lot of, but it is lacking the complexity and depth that I look for.

Bottle. Dark copper in color. Slightly hoppy aroma. Taste is both malty and hoppy. Doesn’t taste very strong.