Ithaca Excelsior! Twelve
Our Anniversary Ale, Twelve is reverently brewed with French malts and German hops then piously fermented with a special blend of Trappist yeast strains. Enjoy the burnished chestnut color, remarkable balance of fruity and spicy aromas, rich but dry flavor and long contemplative finish.
3.6
160 reviews
Ithaca, United States
Community reviews
Sample from 75 cl. bottle. Dark, muddy amber colour with a tanned head. Aroma is dark fruits, Belgian yeasts, some caramel and licorice. Taste is sweet with spices and licorice. Medium to full body, long sweet finish.
Bottle at pinball.
Hazy red-broown coloured with a medium sized off-white head.
Sweet and fruity aroma of caramel, dried fruits and burnt sugar with notes of liquorice.
Sweet and fruity flavour of caramel, dried fruits, alcohol and liquorice with notes of burnt sugar.
Sweet finish.
bottled. thx dennis for sharing. dark amber coloured. murky. sweetness, prunes, plums and other ripe fruits, spice and ilght liqourice. flavour of sweetness, ripe fruits, spice, caramel. medium to full bodied. ends on a fruity and sweet note with ligth alcoholbite. nice.
Bottled. An unclear brown beer with a brown head. The aroma has notes of alcohol, fruits, yeast, brettanomyces, and caramel. The flavor is sweet with notes of brettanomyces, alcohol, malt, fruits, candy sugar, and yeast, leading to a dry finish.
75 cL bottle. Pours hazy deep amber with a small tan head. Aroma is dark malty and overripe fruity. Fruity, sweet, caramelish and toasted malty. Mild and smooth fruity. Lingering overripe fruity finish.
Bottle 75 cl. Courtesy of Pinball. Pours a clear reddish brown with a creamy and lacing beige head. Lovely pruney nose, lots of overripe fruits, syrup and oxidization. Solid body, syrupy, figs and dates with a chocolatey edge. A little yeast and friendly phenols. Warming alcohol in the finish. 161211
Bottle, pours out a moderate brown color with a tiny whispy head. Aroma is of alcohol, sherry, dried fruits, plum, port wine and perfumy floral notes, complex aroma. Taste is of dried plum, raisin, light cocoa, yeast, plumy sweetness, light earthy notes, alcohol and a dry, lingering finish. Tasty.
Bottle pour thanks to to SourNotes! Thanks! Pour is hazy light brown, with some red highlights. Aroma is grainy malts, light dark fruits, slightly boozy. Tastes is dark fruit, very grainy. Thin. Not terrible, but not what I have come to expect from this brewery.
Bottle thanks to Sournotes! Medium brown our, small ring of carbonation and a nice aroma of cherries, brown sugar, herbs and a little spicy. Flavor has a big solid malt backbone, sweet dark sugar, walnuts and finished slightly warming. Really enjoyable, thanks for bringing this Andrew!
750 ml bottle via trade. Pours a hazy copper brown color with a huge beige head and some floaties. The aroma has mildly toasted bread, caramel, some berry fruitiness and a tart, spicy finish. The flavor is toffee, caramel, bread, spices, cinnamon and a medley of fruits. Medium plus bodied. This was good, but I think I was looking for a little more.
Gusher warning! I lost about a sixth of the bottle in a few seconds. I aged this more than a year. Dark caramel colour, rich aroma of yeast and caramel and candi, and booze. Above average mouthfeel, rich, right on the style. Good spiciness. A sipper, still good drinkability.
a slightly above average quad. I would like to see how this beer develops in another year or two. I found it to be a bit over carbonated and a bit of a palate confuser fresh. I suspect it will grow into a better beer, maybe not a 5 but I do think some time in the cellar is what this beer needs.
(750ml bottle in trade). Pours a cloudy caramel color with a thin off-white head. Aroma is caramel, light citrusy hops and some chocolate. Taste is sweet with tootsie roll. Medium bodied with an oily texture. Smooth finish. Nice quad.
A dark reddish copper ale with a thick moka head. In aroma, a sweet candy sugar with caramel, vailla, light Belgian hops. In mouth, a sweet burned sugar with curacao, coffee, molasses, tingling oily mouthfeel alcojol warmth, rich and sweet. Tasted August 6 2011.
Tasted on 8/23/11 from a 750mL bottle shared by ryan585, thanks to Ryan, Batch# E!023. Pours cloudy, opaque, dark brown with an average tan head that slowly recedes to some very thin spots of lace with a thin collar. The nose has some spicy yeast with a bunch of roasted malt, chocolate, and caramel, some alcoholic heat, and a bit of alcoholic heat. The flavor is lightly sweet with a good amount of caramel, and brown sugar malt with underlying spicy yeast, and a hint of burnt and hops bitterness. The body is full with light carbonation and a medium malty and alcoholic heat finish.
Aroma of apple cider, sour dough and slight clove. Pours dark hazy brown with a white film. Tastes sweet with cranberry, sour dough, and a delicious dark fruit aftertaste. A bit overwhelming but no lack of taste here.
750mL bottle, and a slow gusher that proved a problem because I wasn’t paying attention.. poured deep chestnut with a sticky khaki head.. loved the color. The aroma picked up figs, nutty notes, and vinous fruits propped up by a little honey.. dry, spicy Belgian yeast and graham cracker sweetness laced throughout.. lots of candi sugar on the back of the nose.. a lot of fairly heavy sweetness, but everything worked together. The flavor followed suit, with honey, raisins, and bready notes on the heavy, sweet core.. dry cloves and peppery notes cut through nicely.. floral and earthy bitterness played a minor role.. finished thick and sweet, with rolling carbonation and belly warmth. Heavier-bodied and well-carbonated on the palate.. smooth feel across the middle, but it got caught up at times elsewhere.. overall a solid brew, but a tad heavy-handed with the sweetness.
750 ml bottle into goblet, batch E!020. Pours deep dark brown color with 1.5 fingers of light tan head with fantastic retention that reduces to a nice lacing cap. Some decent lacing clings to the glass as well. Aromas of strong nutmeg, chocolate, caramel, toffee, and dark fruits. Big on the nutty aromas here, pretty interesting. Taste of huge caramel, toffee, chocolate, and nuttiness. Big sweetness in the taste with lingering notes of caramel, chocolate, and nuttiness with a bit of spiciness on the finish. Medium-high carbonation and medium-full bodied. Alcohol is well hidden, none in the taste and a small warming on the finish. Nicely smooth drinking despite the level of carbonation and alcohol level. Overall, a very nice quadrupel from Ithaca!
Sampled from a 750 ml brown bottle this beer poured a very dark brown color with a large foamy tan head that lingered and left good lacing. The aroma was sweetish red wine, cherries, wood and brown sugar. The flavor was brown sugar, cherry, plum, molasses, bread and wood with a strong boozy undertone. The finish was long with wood, whiskey, plum, anise and brown sugar elements. Thick and full body. Excellent.
0.75l - Yeasty nose, cherries and cane sugar on palate. A wonderful take on the Belgian style. Cellared this one for a little over a year first.
750mL bottle, pours an opaque orangey brown with a beige head. Aroma of caramel malts, candied sugar and brown sugar. Flavour is quite sweet and complex - candied sugar, maple syrup, toffee, slight dark fruits and slight espresso. Robust and complex flavour profile. Delicious.
Bottle. Pours cloudy brown/dark blond with a bubbly white head. Aroma of dark fruits, syrup, molasses. Flavour of dark fruits, syrup, candied sugar and coffee. Full bodied. Lots of layers. Quite complex with a lasting warming feel.
Pours a deep shade of ruby with a frothy off white head that slowly recedes but never dissipates. Smells of spicy Belgian esters, lots of dark fruit and caramel in there. Sweet tasting with load of caramel and melanoids, spicy yeast and hints of dark fruit and alcohol. I was hoping there would be more dark fruit in the taste but as I expected from the aroma it seems lacking. Sweet sticky mouthfeel, thick body, moderate level of carbonation. Nice sipper, but seems to be missing that indescribable something that makes it world class.
A - Pours a rich dark brown color with a bit of red mixed in and a finger of tanish head atop. The head fades fairly quickly down to a thin layer leaving behind some nice lacing.
S - Aroma is mix of sweet dark fruit (plum and raisin) and some sweet malt. There is also some earthiness and a bit of booze as well.
T - Starts off with a lot of dark fruit flavors and some earthy malt flavor and a bit of caramel malt. Through the middle some brown sugar, a bit of smoke, and some spiciness. The finish is a mix of dark fruit flavor and some booze that lingers nicely.
M - Medium-full bodied with moderate carbonation. Fairly smooth and a touch think and syrupy. The finish is fairly sweet with some booze warming as well.
D - Very drinkable. A nice American take on the Quad style. The addition of the smoky flavor in the beer is really nice and everything feel well balanced.
Anniversary ales are pretty big these days, although I guess they always have been. As a craft beer enthusiast I’m always excited by these beers since breweries tend to go all-out and brew beers of epic proportions. The problem is these beers tend to be difficult to drink, appeal to a limited beer drinking audience, extremely expensive, and trying to find the perfect occasion to bring them out of the cellar is tricky. That wouldn’t seem to be the case with Ithaca Beer Company’s 12th Anniversary Ale - part of their "Excelsior!" series of big, limited brews. It’s brewed in the traditional Belgian quadruple style and even uses a Trappist yeast strain. The result should be an American version of Chimay Blue or Westvleteren 12, right?
I split a 750ml bottle with two friends and poured it into a tulip glass.
Appearance: Dark maroon/chestnut color with a mostly opaque appearance. Forms a small, off-white, foamy head which dissipates and doesn’t leave much lacing.
Aroma: dark fruits all around including plum, fig, red apple, plus some malty, almost syrupy sweetness.
Taste: While Ithaca 12 may have the superficial resemblance to Belgian strong dark ales, the major difference lies in the taste. Whereas the Trappist beers tend to be peppery and spicy, this brew is all about the sweetness. The first sensation of the first sip was like drinking slightly carbonated maple or toffee syrup. The palate does have a strong flavor of dark fruits, but unlike a Belgian quad, it’s difficult to identify any individual flavors.
The beer is extremely energetic, which is ironic because the alcohol it well masked with no rubbing alcohol taste or burning or warming sensation. The only problem is the palate here isn’t entirely appealing, due to the massive sweetness. The palate doesn’t open up much as it warms, and becomes markedly more bitter if the yeast is added.
Mouthfeel: Soft, thick, syrup-like with a lingering, sugary aftertaste. Thins out as it warms.
Drinkability: A sipper, even at fridge temp. The 12% ABV gives the palate a lot of chutzpah, and the alcohol does catch up with you after one serving.
Overall, a good beer to be sure but a little disappointing considering the $15 pricetag. A beer like this should be at least an A-, but it’s only a B and while satisfying, there are plenty of other beers of the caliber that are much cheaper and more drinkable and sociable.
750ml bottle in a Trappist glass. Pours reddish/brown with a lacy, beige head. Aroma of caramel malts, light chocolate, dark fruits, Belgian spicy yeast, and some floral hops. Flavor about the same, and very complex. Smooth texture. A really good beer.
ugly copper body with way too much carbonation, at least ten fingers of head prevent a decent pour, decent fluffy cap and lacing though... nose is pretty nice spicy dark fruits, raisins, a little lighter and not as deep as a great quad but not generic like most American quads... taste is a bit too spicy and alcoholic, dark fruits show nicely but the finish is too carbonated and chalky... mouthfeel is over carbonated yet thin... one of the better American quads but nothing worth trading for
As stated, deep amber/copper color, creamy head, and a delicious Belgian flavoring. I’ve come to love the deep fruity Belgian ales, and this reminds me of those a lot, even more than Ommegang. Lovely beer.
Reviewed from notes.
Poured into a chalice. The nose is some pretty dark brown with a nice tan and creamy head. The nose brings forward some really nice dark fruits with some fig and dates being the most prominent. The taste is more dark fruits with a bit of booze and quite a bit of complexity. The mouthfeel is a bit creamy with a really nice body. Drinks quite well and I’d love to see how this ages.
Serving type: bottle
Reviewed on: 11-12-2010
Pours a dark brown with red highlights. Tall head-slightly off-white. Aroma of dark fruit, spice, yeast, and alcohol. Thick and creamy. Great beer!