Friday, July 3, 2009

Troegs Hopback Amber Cask Ale

While at Troegs yesterday, the employees opened up a keg of a special brew. This was a special run and an experiement, but they took a keg's worth of Hopback Amber Ale and conditioned it in a cask prior to putting it in a keg for serving. The result was miraculous. The aroma mostly comprised of the Hopback with a floral scent, but there was a hint of oak. I felt that the conditioning in the cask really rounded out the flavor and smoothed the hop bite. The beer took on a different character all together. I would assume the stats are the same as the Hopback, which has an alcohol content of 6% ABV. I would really like for Troegs to try this again, as I thoroughly enjoyed this special brew.

Troegs Scratch 20- Apollo Imperial Ale

I went to Troegs yesterday for happy hour and decided to try Scratch #20- Apollo Imperial Ale. Troegs brewed this batch for The Drafting Room as their Anniversary Ale for 2009. It pours a dark amber color and has a sweet floral aroma. The scratch has a malty taste with a crisp hop bite in the after taste. It was noted by my coworker Ben that it is almost creamy in taste. The alcohol content is 7% ABV and the it's bitterness is 115 IBUs, making it a little on the hoppy side, but it was still a very enjoyable beer. I took home a growler of the beer.

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Ithaca Partly Sunny

The final brew I have in my Ithaca sampler pack is Partly Sunny. The beer has a light amber color that is semi-transparent. Its smells of lemon with a hint of spice. The Partly Sunny tastes sweet and creamy at first, but a slightly sour after taste, coming from the lemon addition to the beer. The spices in the beer are very subtle and compliment the beer nicely. There is not any hint of hops with this beer. The alcohol content is 5.0% ABV. Overall, this is a decent beer for the warmer months.

Monday, June 29, 2009

Ithaca Pils

Continuing with my Ithaca sampler pack after vacation, I opened a bottle of the Pils. It has a very nice medium amber color and a nice floral aroma. The taste is fresh and smooth at first, with a slight hoppy finish. It is a refreshing summer time beer and I enjoyed it thoroughly. The alcohol content is 5.5%. Just be careful taking this one out of the fridge as it likes to explode out of the bottle.