Ithaca Excelsior! Eleven

Formerly brewed at Ithaca Beer Company
Style: Stout
Ithaca, New York USA

Serve in English pint, Shaker, Snifter

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Bottle opened at RBSG. Pours a dark brown color with a hazy medium head. Decent head retention and lacing. Dark roasty coffee aroma with chocolate and a smoky note, as well as something a bit tart and off. The taste is chocolate, cherries, coffee and a smoky note. Definitely past its prime now and a little bit off.

This Stout pours a brownish-black color with a medium beige head that diminishes to an outer ring eventually. Stringy lacing on the glass. Aroma of roasted coffee and grainy malt plus a bit of chocolate. Medium, somewhat creamy body with a roasted character and flavors of coffee, chocolate malt and mild hops. The finish is semi-sweet chocolate and coffee with a lingering roasty aftertaste. Pretty good overall.

Tasted at the big “SeaBass has got to go” tasting courtesy of SeaBass. Pours mahogany with just about no head. The aroma is chocolate, dark roasted malts, a bit earthy, spicy, a touch vanilla, faint wood, black strap molasses and a sense of dark roasted coffee. The taste is a bit bright and has tartness from dark roasted malt astringency as well as some black strap molasses, spicy black licorice, a touch of dark roasted coffee and dark roasted to burnt malts. Pretty darn tasty, this.

From DC Local tasting. Pours a deep muddy brown with a wispy off-white head. Lots of coffee grinds in the aroma and flavor- but excellent artisanal coffee. Pretty good. Yum.

Bottle. Pours pitfch black with a medium tan head. The aroma is loaded with coffee. Not much else. Some sweet caramel. The flavour is milk chocolate covered by loads of coffee. For coffee lovers and Im one of them.

Growler (brought I think by Chris…?) at the Cuvee de Castleton release at Captain Lawrence. Pours a clear blackish brown with a thin tan head. Coffee and jalapeno on the nose, with a bit of smoke. More smoke and stale ashtray flavors. Finishes with a little dry wood and roast. Somewhat underwhelming.

In short: A cold cup of black coffee with bubbles. Thin. Boring.
How: Tap at Sunset Grill, Boston
The look: Very dark brown body topped by a little beige ring of foam
In long: Nose of a cold cup of black coffee. Taste is a cold cup of black coffee, bunt malts with nutty chocolaty fudge in the back. Body was very much on the thin side of felt a bit lifeless. Strong black coffee bitterness in the back. I can enjoy simple coffee stouts when they have body, roastiness and a roasted coffee beans flavour but this beer just tasted like a cold cup of black coffee. Very basic and bland. I was really bored at the end of my glass. I’ll try it again because I usually like that brewery. I’m working through my backlog, I had that beer on tap late july 2009 when it was just released. Maybe it needs a little time to develop and I had it too fresh, or to quote my girlfriend in bed: “… too soon ...”.

Bottle @ Seabass going away party, Jan15th ’11 Décidément, après la bière au café de Funky Buddha, je continue dans cette lancée avec cette excellent bière au café venant de Ithaca. De couleur brune foncée, mousse de teinte beige. Café est bien présent tant au nez que au palais. Le tut prend une superbe dimension en bouche ou je note de très bonnes notes de café au lait avec des teintes de chocolat. Mon seul point négatif est que la bière peut être du à son age est un peu trop amer et effervescente.

UPDATED: FEB 3, 2010 500th Stouties Rating. Draft. Talk about being against the grain, however this beer is dominated my my favorite adjunct to beer, coffee! Pours a black brune body with an off white head. Aroma is divine, overwhelming chilled just pulled out of the freezer and buried my face in the can coffee at its absolute freshest, reminds me of some serious breakfast stout on draft. Delicious fresh roast y coffee its all you taste, creamy coffee body and more coffee. Great.

7-11 coffee sweet vanilla. Dark brown pour thin head. Flavors of coffee vanilla caramel burnt sugar roast and espresso light sweet underneath. Dry sweet finish w good carb.