Saturday I had a Double IPA from Ithaca Brewery in Ithaca NY. I was surprised but it did pour a little cloudy with a short head then realized it was bottle conditioned. The color was lite orange to yellow... I expected more of a darker appearance for some reason. Very nice hop aroma and a hint of malt sweetness and alcohol but mostly in your face hops. I let it get too cold so I let it warm up a bit and malt aroma started coming through. The taste was citrus and pine flavor from the hops with a very dry finish. I would have thought the malt sweetness would have come through more but it didn't. Some of the Double IPA's I have had were too sweet. The finish was medium body with the hop bitterness staying with you but no hot alcohol sensation. I got some other flavors and aromas but I haven't been able to pick them out yet. I'll try some more and try and pull them out. I really enjoyed it a lot. This IPA is different and stands on it's own I think. Nothing like all NY hops to make your beer stand out. The only thing I would like to see is to smooth it out a bit and pump up the hop aroma with more agressive dry hopping and/or late hopping. Maybe a little more sweetness to balance the hop bitterness but this was bottle conditioned so I bet if I find it on tap it will be a little more rounded or if I cellar it for some time that could help too.
This company isn't distributed too far out of NY but if you can find this try it, you won't be disappointed.
Cheers,
Rob
