Ithaca Excelsior! Ten

Formerly brewed at Ithaca Beer Company
Style: American Strong Ale
Ithaca, New York USA

Serve in Snifter, Trappist glass

Batch E!006; Sampled January 2012
A solid pour into my large Tripel Karmeliet tulip produces a two finger thick, amber tinged, dirty tan colored head. The beer is a dark amber / plum color that shows a lightly hazed brightly red stained, amber color when held up to the light. The aroma smells of lightly aged malt, dark fruit, and aged citrus / berry fruit aromatics (this last seems distinctly like a hop signature). Oxidized, caramelized malt notes lean a bit towards sweet tea (though without the sticky sweetness), definite caramel, toasted-brown-sugar-crusted desert breads and a touch of nuttiness that is even more accentuated by some oxidation character. The hop character here is still quite present, even after four years, though it is certainly greatly diminished it still reminds me of citrus infused berries and ruby red grapefruit.

The beer is fairly sweet tasting, though this is fairly well tempered by a lot of citrus oil hop character, some palate coating hop bitterness and a toasted and nutty / oxidized malt character that comes into its own towards the finish. Flavors reminiscent of caramel soaked grapefruit zest, fresh pine needle syrup, ripe / fresh spruce tips (with that woody / citrus vibrancy). The hop character still has enough vibrancy to them to add a green, almost astringent edge towards the end of each sip, and there is still a lot of fruity hop character here, despite it being obvious that the hop character has been quite reduced since it was fresh. My wife describes the confluence of aged / oxidized malt and hops as smoky, which I can definitely see, but wouldn’t have come up with on my own.

This definitely has a nice character to it; it reminds me a lot of an aged bigfoot; it is certainly better fresh for those that are pure hop heads, but this is close to the sweet spot for the oxidized malt yet still fairly aggressive, but greatly mellowed hop character. Actually, as I work my way through the second glass, after the beer has warmed up a fair amount I really start to get a peaty, smoky, umami / not-quite salty character that is definitely noticeable; I would swear that there is some smoked malt in this, but age could have done it, and seems the most likely that this last is the case.

750 mL bottle. Translucent rust in colour with a small beige head. This bottle is a couple of years old. Still smells hoppy, though (high alpha - zeus or simcoe or one of those), along with lots of caramalt. Big, sweet malt profile. There is still some hop flavour, but I suspect that the bitterness has faded. Good example of a great style.

750 shared by bhensonb. Pours reddish brown with a massive beige head and an enticing floral hop aroma There is a chewy toffee and alcohol flavor with a long dry warming finish. Lots of delicious ingredient.

Capped 750. Batch E!009. Pours very dark red with a foamy beig head. Aroma of strongly roasted malt and some aged hops. Med+ body. Flavor is old malt, old hop, touch of tobacco. Some heat. Suggests aged Fuller’s Vintage Ale. Excellent.

The Dan Journal #485. Tasted 7/4/11. 750ml Capped bottle, 2008 vintage. Batch E! 014. Pours mildly hazy with a bronze, amber hue. Aromas of sweet candy malts, spices and burnt sugar. Full bodied, rich and thick with a sticky and mildly burnt malt bill. Good dose of alcohol. All malts in the palate.

Tasted on 8/18/11 from a 750mL bottle obtained in a trade, batch E!011. Pours an opaque dark mahogany with a thin, bubbly white head that doesn’t actually go anywhere, but just hangs out for a while. The nose is full of caramel malt and some citrus hops that seem to be past their prime. The flavor is malty and somewhat spicy with the flavor of citrus hops that, once again, are past their prime. The body is full and oily with light carbonation and a long caramel malt and lightly spicy, old hops finish.

Got this in a Secret Santa. This pours a murky-reddish color with a thick foam on top. Thick lacing slides along the sides of the glass after each sip and a thin head lasts the whole glass. The aroma is very malty; toffee, biscuits, caramel. Citrusy hops follow and there’s also an underlying raisin dark fruity scent. The flavors follow, minus the dark fruit, which is nowhere to be found here. A hefty toasty malt profile really stands out with caramel and toffee. Bitter and dry in the finish; the hops are much more assertive in the flavor, which is needed with all that malt, and they show as more resiny tasting than the citrus that was noted in the aroma. Big beer; full-bodied, doesn’t show much alcohol sting but the richness of it certainly screams 10%. Pretty solid too but the idea of an Imperial Red doesn’t really intrigue me so it’s not surprising that I got sick of this one rather quickly. A classic example of an American Strong that probably didn’t really need all the ingredients put in it.

Bottle at flossmore pre party. Very strong flavours, mostly of rasty malts. Very well done.