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The second pint I had was the Cascazilla from the Ithaca brewery, presumably named for its Cascade hops. I'd tried this beer before, but I hadn't had it in a while. I guess you'd classify this beer as something like an ESB. It's brown in color, and strongly hopped. The hop flavor is excellent. It has the familiar citrus and flowers I very much enjoy in this style of beer. The thing I found odd about it was that it wasn't all that bitter. It had a lot of the best part of the hop flavor without the bitterness. I hadn't remembered this about the beer, but it was very pleasant to drink. It had good flavor without being as dry as an IPA or as overpowering as something like the DFH 90. This would be a great beer for someone who's curious about all the fuss over IPAs, but who is put off by the bitterness. The only problem with this beer is that it might be hard to find outside of NY. If you can get it, though, pick it up. I give this beer [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] and a half [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].


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I'm not a huge fan of the beers made by the hometown brewery, but Cascazilla is by far their best offering. (Though I think it's also worth tracking down their Double IPA -- very smooth for 9-10% ABV, and they use only NY-grown hops.)

You mention a very important point -- the dominance of hop flavor over bitterness. I used to be a crazy hophead who lived for bitter beers, but in the last few years I've come to appreciate the flavors of the various hops much more, and I find that I want the bitterness to get the hell out of the way and let the flavor shine through. That's pretty much my goal now with the pale ales and IPAs I brew, and I look for it in commercial versions as well. Cascazilla is a great example of this.

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My final beer was a beer I picked just because I knew I'd love it. I picked the Ommegang Rare Vos, a Belgian-style golden ale from the American-Belgian brewery this thread has come to love. It came in a bottle, and I poured it into a pint glass. Really, this is one of my favorite styles of beer, and this is a fine example of it. It's fairly sweet, it has great flavors of cloves, citrus, and a little extra, and it has a great feel with the carbonation.

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This is my favorite Ommegang brew as well. Most of their beers are very strong (7%+ ABV) and very powerful flavor-wise; Rare Vos is more modest in both alcoholic strength and flavor, yet retains plenty of complexity. I dig it.