Ellicottville EVL Amber Ale

I picked up a growler of Ellicottville EVL Amber Ale while at the brewery and took it with me to my hotel in Buffalo to open with some friends. The beer pours an amber color with a frothy off-white colored head. The aroma consists of caramel, grapefruit, pine, and lemon. The taste is lightly dry but has lots of grapefruit, lemon, and a good caramel base. There is a nice pine finish that leaves mouth dry. The alcohol content is 5.2% ABV. I would say that the EVL Amber Ale is a solid amber that has a great variety of hop flavors. It is rather easy drinking but is bitter enough to be enjoyed by those that love hops.

Ellicottville CATT County Cuvee

Another beer I ordered on a recent visit to Ellicottville Brewing Company was the CATT County Cuvee. The beer pours a golden color with a thin bubbly white head. The aroma consists of banana, orange, and vanilla. While those flavors are detectable, the aroma is faint and light. The taste is smooth and sweet with a large orange and vanilla profile. Honey, banana, and pepper also provide some accents. The finish brings out dry oak and sweet vanilla flavors. The alcohol content is 8.5% ABV. This was a solid beer with plenty of flavors and without an alcohol burn on the tongue, so beware of the 8.5%.

Ellicottville Black Hops

On my way to Buffalo, I stopped in to Ellicottville Brewing Company and the first beer I ordered with lunch was the Black Hops. The beer pours a dark brown color with a frothy off-white colored head. The aroma consists of coffee, toasted malts, light chocolate, pine, lemon, and pepper. The taste is dry and bitter with a solid chocolate malt profile, dry roasted malts, coffee, oak, pine, and pepper. Light lemon flavor comes out in the finish. The alcohol content is 6.0% ABV. The Black Hops was an excellent dry and bitter beer with a hop balance that counteracts the toasted malt and chocolate base.

Ellicottville Winter Witte

I picked up a case of Ellicottville Winter Witte while at the brewery on my way to Niagara Falls. The beer pours pour a light gold color with a frothy white head. The aroma consists of sweet malts with fresh hops and a light lemon accent. The taste is smooth and malty with a faint hop undertone and a sour malt and light spiced finish. The alcohol content is 5.8% ABV. While this beer doesn’t pack the punch of most winter beers, it has a nice spice balance and is very refreshing.

Ellicottville Hey Guy Rye

My girlfriend and I were so impressed with Ellicottville Brewing Company (try the spicy peanut soup!) that we stopped in again on the way home from Niagara Falls. I ordered a Hey Guy Rye for my lunch-time beer. The beer pours a copper color with a frothy white head. The aroma consists of caramel, rye, fresh pine and lemon hops. The taste is smooth and sweet at first with caramel before the beer bites a little and dries out on the finish. The rye kicks in at this point and is a welcomed balancing ingredient. The alcohol content is 8.5% ABV. The hey Guy Rye is a great sweet beer with a wonderful hop balance.

Ellicottville Pantious Droppus

One of the other beers I tried at Ellicottville Brewing Company on the way to Niagara Falls was the Pantious Droppus (great name). The beer pours a red amber color with a thin foamy off-white head. The aroma consists of sweet malts, orange, and light pine hops. The taste is rounded and smooth with lots of malts up front and a good amount of caramel mixed in. The finish dries out with pine hops and an orange accent. The alcohol content is 10.6% ABV. The Pantious Droppus was really a delicious imperial pale ale with plenty of sweet and smooth flavors but dries out the mouth in the end.

Ellicottville Fifteen

Another of the beers I tried at the Ellicottville Brewing Company was the Fifteen, their fifteenth anniversary beer. The beer pours an amber color with a frothy off-white head. The aroma consists of caramel, malts, pear, and oak. The taste is malty with pear and banana, some oak accents on the finish, and the after taste leaves vanilla on the tongue. The alcohol content is 8.4% ABV. The entire time I was drinking the beer, I was thinking what a smooth and flavorful beer the Fifteen was. Lots of sweet tastes balanced with wood makes for a very enjoyable brew.

Ellicottville Chocolate Cherry Bomb

On the way Niagara Falls, I stopped in to Ellicottville Brewing Company in Ellicottville, NY and ordered a glass of the Chocolate Cherry Bomb. The beer pours a black color with a milkshake-like mocha colored head. The aroma consists of sweet dark chocolate and smells very similar to a cordial cherry. The taste is smooth and sweet with dark chocolate up front before the cherry flavor settles in. It is very light bodied but has lots of flavor including some toasted malts that dry out the mouth a little on the finish. The alcohol content is 8.2% ABV. This beer was so good that the girlfriend wanted to stop in to the brewery on the way home to have another one of the Chocolate Cherry Bombs. I highly recommend trying this if you get a chance.

Ellicottville Blue Berry

As part of the Fourth of July weekend festivities, I attended a cookout with a bunch of friends in New Jersey. The best part about the cookout was the selection of craft beers that my friends picked up for the holiday. The first beer I tried was the Blue Berry from Ellicottville Brewing Company. The beer is very light in color and had a slightly sweet aroma, but there was not too much to the aroma. The taste was very crisp and clean with a subtle hint of blueberry. The alcohol content is 4.2% ABV, which I feel is pretty low for a fruit beer. I don't think there are a lot of blueberries used in the brewing, which is why the beer only has a subtle hint of blueberries and does not have high alcohol content. However, it is a very refreshing beer and a great way to kick off a cookout.