Ithaca Cascazilla

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

Serve in English pint, Shaker

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Bottle
Appearance :Dark amber with decent tanned fairly creamy head.3+
Nose :Green hop nose with earthy sub profile
Flavour/Palate: Blend of malt and semi raw hops with hint of nutty earthiness. Average.

2006 bottle on 8/22/06.
Coppery-amber colored beer, not a terribly deep red or anything. Foamy, white head is smattered about, covering some parts and others not. Not much lacing and it sticks to the liquid, never fully vanishing. Clear and filtered is the clarity.
Fruity, hoppy nose strikes clear and consistent. Ruby red grapefruit, peaches, cherries, some lychee. Heavy caramel malt notes in the background quickly bring up the rear and provide support. As it warms, the caramel overreaches a bit, with its hard, candied sugariness. The hop aroma is not terribly varied but still sufficiently juicy. Medium to medium-high strength of aroma, no yeast, no alcohol apparency.
Hops again in flavor, but as soon as the citrus and juicy fruit begins to fade, a hard crystal malt edge bites in to the palate, with no suppleness/support due to the filtration. Candied oranges, caramel, plenty of base sugars. Carbonation is rather loose, though not biting. Ithaca is always better on draught, in my experience. Though to this beer’s credit, it talks a big game of hops and does deliver, however cliche the profile may be.

Bottled. Poured medium amber with a short, but sticky dark beige head. The aroma picked up somewhat oxidized floral and citrus hoppage over sweet caramel and nutty malts.. decent components, but it came across a tad stale. The flavor found sweet caramel and bready notes at the core.. quite bitter around, but fairly nondescript.. black pepper and piney bitters on the finish over bready malts.. just didn’t do it for me. Medium-bodied and sharp on the palate due to bitterness and higher carbonation.. just OK balance.. drinkable, but I don’t need another.

THOUGHTS: My first Ithaca rating. A little hop heavy for me. There was a good amount of malt and the hops kind of battle evenly until the end, when the hops beat the malt to death. A little bit British. TECHNICAL: Bottle. Poured a dark, clear, brownish red that looked bright red in the light with an average, off-white head that mostly diminished and left fair lacing. The aroma was moderate dark bread, toasted malts, and a little less caramel malt; moderate herbal, piney and earthy hops with some resinous ones coming out later. There was also tea notes. The initial flavor was sweet, rather bitter and a little acidic; while the finish was rather sweet, very bitter and acidic with a fairly long duration. There was dark bread, toast, tea, caramel, a little fruit, extremely bitter, earthy, piney and herbal hops and some metallic hops as well. The medium body was fairly dry with fizzy carbonation and a metallic and lightly alcoholic finish.

This is not nearly hoppy enough for the name and label. If you take that away from it, i may have given it a higher rating. It does have a good deal of sweet malt backing up the generic hop flavor... I wouldnt go out of my way to drink this again with so many other quality options available...

I was rather underwhelmed and disappointed by this beer. It poured a cloudy brown with a white head, but it struck me as murky. The nose was way too weak. I tried it first in a tumbler and then in a tulip, trying to give it the benefit of the doubt and draw out the nose more, but...it didn’t improve. The flavor was interesting, but not in an exciting way. It wasn’t sure what it wanted to do. The sweetness and bitterness didn’t complement each other very well. It was a bit watery. The beer never grew on me. The carbonation was lively and that was the most enjoyment I got out of the beer.

Pours a light amber color with a fizzy, white head. Clear body with a mostly diminishing head with good lacing. Aroma is of tea and honey. Initial taste is moderately bitter, moving to a light bitter finish. Light on the palate, it has soft carbonation with an oily/creamy texture. Reviewed on December 18th, 2006.

Date: 04/30/2005
Mode: Bottle
Source: Tasting

clear amber, whispy head, sweet carmel hoppy aroma, light body, nice sweetness with a well balanced hop flavor, me too ipa

Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 5/10; Flavor: 5/10; Palate: 5/10; Overall: 10/20
Rating: 2.8/5.0
Score: *4
-------- /> The score was calculated based upon the notes and an old scoring system.

UPDATED: DEC 24, 2004 (12 oz bottle, obtained in trade with jah noth, thanks Dan!) I do not think this is living up to its billing as "monstrously hoppy". This is a moderately bitter IPA, but not even close to being over the top. But it is nicely balanced by a somewhat roasty maltiness which makes me question the classification of IPA. There seems to be a general sour character to the flavor, though its light enough to be tolerable. Fairly dry on the palate. For whatever reason, the nose is reminding me of the floral, spicy aroma of a Viognier, except that this beer’s aroma is a touch sour too. Dark amber in color. Small off-white head maintains a thick rim around the edge of the glass, and leaves sporadic oddly shaped patterns of lace. You know, with a name like Cascazilla, I guess I was expecting more out of this beer, so I’m a bit disappointed. It’s decent stuff, but just an average, routine beer to me.

12oz. Bottle: Aroma is a bit earthy and medium bitter. Smells of hops, fresh cut grass, and Cascade hops. Poured amber in color with a small, off-white head that diminished at a medium pace. Clear. Sparkling. Flavor is medium bitter. Tastes of Cascade hops, fresh cut grass, seaweed, funk, Light to medium body. Watery, but dry texture. Average carbonation. Funky, grassy, skunky bitter finish. Overall, not the best IPA.