Fifteen
Ithaca Beer Company

FifteenFifteen
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From:
Ithaca Beer Company
 
New York, United States
Style:
Rye Beer
ABV:
8.4%
Score:
85
Avg:
3.76 | pDev: 10.9%
Reviews:
23
Ratings:
95
Status:
Retired
Rated:
Mar 07, 2020
Added:
May 22, 2013
Wants:
  0
Gots:
  5
Malt: 2-Row Pale, Flaked Rye, Crystal Rye, Caramunich, Black Wheat
Hops: Chinook, Centennial, Motueka
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by bros:

  None found.

Photo of Alieniloquium
Reviewed by Alieniloquium from Florida

3.01/5  rDev -19.9%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.75
750 mL bottle. Deep brown. Smells of cardboard, sherry, rye, and caramel malt. Tastes of rye still. Grainy brown bread once the oxidation subsides a little. But the oxidation lingers into the finish. Medium heavy. Way too old, but still decent.
Mar 07, 2020
More User Ratings:
Photo of NeroFiddled
Reviewed by NeroFiddled from Pennsylvania

4.19/5  rDev +11.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
Ithaca Beer Company "Anniversary Fifteen"
750 ml brown glass bottle, capped and sealed by a shrink-wrapped plastic capsule

Notes via stream of consciousness: So this is 5 years old? Let's see how it's held up. It's poured a slightly hazy dark chestnut brown body beneath a finger-thick head of dense tan foam. It was originally unfiltered but I'm sure it cleared by now, it's just that I disturbed the bottle. Held to the light there are some orange and golden highlights coming through. In the nose it's malty, darkly caramelish, and spicy from the rye. There's also an orange-like fruitiness in the background. I'll assume that's from hops, and that they're not as strong as they once were due to its age but I'm not sure, I never tried it fresh. On to the flavor... very nice. It's got a rich maltiness that reminds me of a bock, and there's plenty of dark caramel, but there's also plenty of rye. I'm surprised that it comes through so clearly in both the aroma and flavor. I'm not picking up any oxidation, at least not the papery/cardboard type, and if it's increased the perception of the maltiness I have no way to tell. A smooth but firm bitterness balances it and it doesn't seem sweet, and at the same time it's fairly spicy which I'm guessing is coming from both the rye and hops - it finishes with some residual caramelish malt, spiciness, orange-like fruitiness, and a little bit of pine and earthiness. At 8.4% I'd think that maybe some of that spiciness is coming from alcohol but to be honest I'm just not finding it anywhere other than that it gives the general impression of a strong beer - you know it's there but it doesn't stand out. In the mouth it's medium bodied and creamy smooth with a very fine-bubbled, natural carbonation that just lightly tingles on the tongue. Looking back, the head help up quite well and there was some nice lacing left behind. Given the amount of malt that's there though, and the fact that it's just 8.4% alcohol as opposed to 10 or 12 it should probably have left more lace. That's pretty much the only fault that I can find with it, and overall it's quite nice as it is. I'm really surprised it's held up as well as it has but I don't see it lasting much longer.
Review# 6,621
Sep 30, 2018
 
Rated: 4.06 by generallee from Virginia

Jan 16, 2017
 
Rated: 4 by calcnerd from Pennsylvania

Jun 03, 2016
 
Rated: 3.72 by rab53 from Washington

Jul 21, 2015
Photo of ClavisAurea
Reviewed by ClavisAurea from New York

3.64/5  rDev -3.2%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5
2 1/2 year old bottle served at cellar temps in a tulip glass.

Appearance: dark brown with hints of red. Nice head with some lace. Medium body.

Nose: malty sweet, grainy, old hops

Taste: a bit astringent and solventy. Malty sweet and one dimensional. No hop character left.

Overall: the bottle says that this beer can be cellared indefinitely. I think it is past its prime.
Jun 13, 2015
Photo of JMS1512
Reviewed by JMS1512 from New Jersey

3.68/5  rDev -2.1%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
Poured with energy into my pilsner glass, courtesy of my brother in Seattle, WA. He gave me three of them as a gift, each etched on the outside with the logo of the Naval Nuclear Power Training Command logo. Fun fact- he’s now a civilian. I raise this glass in his honor and honorable discharge.

Sight: Dark amber/brown with an SRM of maybe 24-26(?) body with tan head, fluffy and craggy. It looks like the inside of a volcano initially, but settles down. Small bubbles rise to the surface in a Sunday-driver like leisure. Lacing deposits thick rings around my glass.

Smell: Spicy phenols from either the yeast or the rye. Most of the aroma is subtle. This is a 2013 bottle, so maybe that explains it.

Taste: More tang and spice, with a good malt structure. Sweetness shows up too, and a small bitterness to the finish. Perhaps, since it’s an older bottle, it’s more balanced than Ithaca intended when fresh. One might also detect a little soy-sauce as stated by another reviewer.

Feel: Medium minus, with gentle carbonation. Good finish with the spice and tang.
Mar 08, 2015
 
Rated: 3.5 by trxxpaxxs from New York

Mar 03, 2015
 
Rated: 3.5 by mozim from Pennsylvania

Dec 13, 2014
 
Rated: 4.08 by Gwalchgwynn67 from New York

Oct 06, 2014
Photo of jlindros
Reviewed by jlindros from Massachusetts

2.59/5  rDev -31.1%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.75 | overall: 2
This looks like a really interesting beer, hopefully not too old, with no date, but I don't think it's too old as sixteen isn't out yet and I think I got this a couple months ago.

Pours a slightly darker tan colored fizzy head covering that fades at a med pace, decent lacing and some legs on the sides as well, very dark root beer brown colored beer.

Nose is actually pretty bad... ick, probably older than I thought but it shouldn't get this bad until like 4 years. BBQ sauce and ketchup at first, a big vegetal soy like not so nice aroma. that eventually gives way to caramel and brown sugar, candy like with age, as it starts to open up some mild rye components, amber toasted malts, brown malts, etc, with hints of herbal earthy hops big toasted malts and some estery booze.

Taste brings sweet candy smooth creamy malts, brown malts with a creamy feel, with some brown sugar, caramel, candy syrup, etc, and plenty of toasted brown almost biiscuit like notes. It again gets some of that vegetal BBQ sauce ketchup thing going for it, but not a ton. Some sweetness with candy tastes lead to a bit of warming booze, and some esters, which is probably what leads that BBQ sauce thing. Bitterness catches up eventually, a semi bitter spicy earthy hop thing, wih a mild kiwi like terroir note, but not really any fruits or tropical notes, and some fruity rye flavors, just a touch spicy. The weird yeast additions bring mild phenols with those previously mentioned esters, and touches of baking spices. The big spicy hops really come through on the finish with fair bitterness, bit more vegetal BBQ sauce and ketchup almost soy like thing lingering, sticky syrupy notes, and more phenols and booze.

Mouth is sticky syrupy, some warming booze, lighter carb even esp for a bottle conditioned beer.

Overall blech! really sad at this, drain pour I can't even finish my glass let alone the whole 750ml! This beer was a horrible mess, can't be that old, but seems like it's a 4 year old beer. Big sweet candy with that messy soy and icky BBQ ketchup sauce thing, even the hops were pretty meh that didn't jive well with the sweet candy mess, and weird yeast additions like spices, esters, and phenols. This beer really didn't have anything good going for it, heck even the rye was muted and a weird fruity rye note instead of a nice spicy out front rye. I really haven't been liking the last few Excelsior series beers, so not sure if they're really streching with them, or just went down hill. But ewwww!
Jul 20, 2014
 
Rated: 3 by kscaldef from Oregon

Jun 30, 2014
 
Rated: 3.5 by ViragS from California

Jun 10, 2014
 
Rated: 2.75 by XmnwildX12 from Minnesota

May 09, 2014
 
Rated: 3.25 by atrocity from Virginia

Apr 29, 2014
 
Rated: 3.75 by Betajeff from New York

Apr 28, 2014
Photo of jmdrpi
Reviewed by jmdrpi from Pennsylvania

3.78/5  rDev +0.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 3.75
750mL capped

appears a nice hazy chesnutt brown in color with rust color, off-white head. decent head retention. earthy, slightly herbal spice aroma, and a bit of estery yeast. malty, bready taste with some of that same earthy mild spice. medium mouthfeel, softer carbonation.
Apr 22, 2014
 
Rated: 3.75 by ACarp from New York

Apr 07, 2014
 
Rated: 3.5 by Iamstryker from New Jersey

Mar 28, 2014
Photo of SLeffler27
Reviewed by SLeffler27 from New York

4.23/5  rDev +12.5%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5
Fills a Stiegl stange clear, reddish copper (SRM 21). A huge, billowing, manila, rocky head develops from a sparkling golden cascade. The long-lasting head ultimately leaves patches of webbing on the glass.

Sweet pine and banana give way to light rye and rubber band. Earthy with cloves, this one is quite complex, albeit, confused and pleasant.

Caramel and caramelized sugar open with light bitterness. Rye bread develops with warmth as does a light sourness. Spice and smoldering smoke give way to raisin later in the session.

Fifteen has a full body and almost creamy texture with light carbonation. Alcohol is present but subdued. The finish is dry.

This one has an abundance of character and is quite interesting. One could easily finish a couple of glasses with lively conversation. Enjoy with good friends while eating a variety of sausage or pizza.
Mar 16, 2014
Fifteen from Ithaca Beer Company
Beer rating: 85 out of 100 with 95 ratings