(Ithaca, NY) – Ithaca Beer Co. celebrated its twelfth anniversary yesterday.

One of the big draws was the debut of Ithaca THIRTEEN which, according to this review on Beer Advocate, is (or is along the lines of) a Belgian-style IPA. The beer is now available at the brewery in 750s and will likely roll out to stores pretty soon. This appears to be the 30th batch in the Excelsior! Series.

Label copy: “Our anniversary ale, THIRTEEN, is carefully brewed with raw and malted wheat, flaked oats, assertively hopped with Citra and Sorachi Ace, spiked with an addition of orange and lemon peel and vigorously fermented with an American Ale yeast. Enjoy the incandescent appearance, immense citrus aromas and flavors, soft and fluffy mouthfeel and bitter zing.” ABV is unknown.

(Ithaca, NY) – I received some details this afternoon from Jeff O’Neil on what’s new at Ithaca Beer Co.:

Chief among them is the new batch of Ithaca Brute which will be released this Friday, July 30th. Doors open at 11am when the brewery will start pouring draft samples (no growlers) while the keg lasts. Ithaca made 250 cases, half of which will be for sale at the brewery retail store with a one case limit per customer. The other half is being allocated to Ithaca’s local market, NYC, Boston and Philadelphia. Brute should be hitting shelves within a couple of weeks depending upon when each wholesaler takes their next load.

Brute is one of a number of beers occasionally released as part of the Ithaca Excelsior! Series. This one is rated not only as the best of the lot but the best of the brewery at both RateBeer and Beer Advocate.

O’Neil also shared his lineup for this weekend’s big celebration, Belgium Comes to Cooperstown. Along with the just-announced Super Friends IPA Collaboration, O’Neil said that he will have the following beers on tap: “Brute 2010, LeBleu, White Gold, Ground Break, Ithaca 12, Partly Sunny and Cold Front. Tickets for that event have long been sold out.

(Ithaca, NY) – Ithaca Beer Co. is wasting no time in following up on its successful release of Ithaca ELEVEN this past summer with another anniversary beer.

Brewmaster, Jeff O’Neil, says that the brewery is planning for Ithaca 12 Anniversary Ale to first appear on draft for the anniversary party on Friday, December 4th. 250-300 cases of bottle-conditioned 750′s should then be ready around Christmas. More batches will be made throughout 2010 with some hitting draft like with Ithaca TEN. A small run of Ithaca LeBleu Blueberry Sour Ale should be ready to go by Chrismas as well though O’Neil notes that it will mostly be available only in the brewery store.

The label describes the beer as a “Monastery-style Quadrupel 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.”

The Excelsior! Series beers have earned straight A’s on Beer Advocate thus far so this is one for which to be on the lookout.

Here is a comprehensive update of what is going down at Ithaca Beer Co., courtesy of Executive Brewer, Jeff O’Neil:

“The 2nd annual release of Brute is next weekend here at the brewery, and we’ll be pouring it at Belgium Comes to Cooperstown as well. It will see some limited distribution (NY, MA, PA, OH) in the next month or so, and show up on draft at lots of events this summer and fall. 250 cases made total.

We’ll label Old Habit this week(a brand new labeler for the Excelsior! Series is on the way, and I’m looking at adding a back label with more specific info on each beer for the geekerie) and probably have it out in our shop the by the weekend of August 14th. We have label approval in several states for this beer as well, and a small number of cases will escape the brewery (175 cs total).

Eleven will get labeled in the next couple of weeks as well, and we’ll put it out for sale when we exhaust the last 10 cases of TEN, which is going fast (and still garnering great ratings)- it’s your last chance folks! Also will get out into your better retail shops where we are distributed.. We’ve previewed it a couple of times on draft, and it is an intense coffee experience for sure.

We’re going to waste no time getting to “12“, planning to release it early December on our 11th anniversary, and offer it for our entire 12th year. It’s all about looking forward and not back, right? More info to come on this beer.”

(Ithaca, NY) – First news of the week comes out of the great state of New York where Ithaca Beer Co. is releasing its latest in the Excelsior! Series today. Jeff O’Neil, Executive Brewmaster, calls

Ithaca alpHalpHa

a “double honey bitter.” According to the description, it’s brewed with organic barley, New York-grown Cascade hops, and local Alfalfa honey. And in typical Excelsior! fashion, it is a big beer at 8.5% ABV.

Read about the previous release in this series, a sour beer called Ithaca Brute.

Also, according to O’Neil, “We are knee-deep in a ‘mini-expansion,’ bringing in two new 100bbl fermenters, which requires that we take our brewery almost entirely apart. We should rise from the ashes at the end of January, by which time we’ll be so far behind on our regular beers that it will hard for me to justify focusing on my vanity projects until the ship has been ‘righted.’”

In other words, you probably won’t see another Excelsior! beer until spring at the earliest.

(Ithaca, NY) – Jeff O’Neil, Executive Brewmaster at Ithaca Beer Co., just confirmed on his brewer’s blog a quiet rumor that Ithaca Brute, the newest installment in the Excelsior! Series, will be released in stores this Friday. O’Neil reports that 250 cases of the sour ale will be available. Additionally, the brew will be featured at this weekend’s Belgium Comes to Cooperstown Festival along with a few other Ithaca “special treats.”

As we reported back in early June, Brute is the fourth rendition in the limited edition series of beers. For this one, Brettanomyces festered for nine months before a finish of three Champagne yeasts. The coin pictured is one in Rome to commemorate the death of Julius Caesar by Marcus Brutus. The name is also a play on “brut” champagne.

Though imperial porters looked strong early on, 2008 continues to be the year of the sour ale without a doubt. And for those unfamiliar with Ithaca Brewing, the brewery was crowned “Best Craft Beer Brewery in New York State” earlier this spring at the Tap New York Festival.

Courtesy of a tip from reader, BeerTruth, the Brewing News reported that Ithaca Beer Co.’s fourth beer in the Excelsior! Series will be called Brute, a sour ale aged in French oak barrels. The new beer will join Ithaca TEN, White Gold, and IPAbbey as the fourth installment in the set of special release beers, each of which are among the brewery’s highest rated beers to date. Ithaca Brute will be available for two summer events, American Craft Beer Fest and Belgium Comes to Coopertown, before being released in bottles in August.

Finally, Russian River Brewing appears to have brewed up a new beer though it appears as though it will only be available at the brewpub. Russian River Happy Hops Ale has an ABV of 5.46%. We’re presuming it is an IPA based on the name. If we find out it is going to be bottled, we’ll post an update.