Ithaca Excelsior! Kaffinator Double Espresso Bock

Brewed by Ithaca Beer Company
Style: Doppelbock
Ithaca, New York USA

Bottle, 750ml. Dark brown pour with a tan head. Funky, slightly sour, and smoky aroma of light hops, chocolate and coffee. Smooth flavor, similar to the aroma, but with a kind of a weak, oily finish. Not bad, but I was expecting more.

750ml bottle via aug 2007 secret santa (thanks!). Pours a dark brown/black with an average beige head. Nose is roasted coffee. mmmm taste is roasted coffee, vanilla, plum, strawberries, almonds and more coffee. Body is medium, carbonation is too high. This is VERY yummy stuff. Almost world class in fact. Just cut down on the carbonation and i think it would be world class...I love love good coffee flavored beer, but this is the first time i have had it in a bock, and it works quite well in this case. Nice work Ithaca!******wow, i just nitroed this beer and the flavors REALLY come out from under all the carbonation this way.....i can’t change the rating, but it makes it about a 4.5 with nitro....

It’s not really a beer, more like a high alcohol coffee soda. Sweet nose, coffee and alcohol. Black pour, no head, surprising, because it wants to explode out of the bottle. Sweet taste, coffee, cocoa, caramel, and sugar. Is there any malt here? Without a strong, strong malt backbone this is a sweet soda, not a doppelbock. I liked it. But it’s not a doppel, it’s a soda. Would be great with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Bottle pours a very dark brown with a smal light tan head and spotty lacing. Aroma is strongly of coffee and some chocolate. Flavor is farily sweet and of chared wood, bitterswet chocolate again and coffee again. A bit thin but a tasty combination. Thanks to Jah Noth for this rare sample.

Another goodie from my Secret Santa - thanks!!! A deep dark pour, not particularly full-bodied and without significant lacing. The aroma is big and the flavor is absolutely huge - lovely espresso flavor - but it doesn’t actually taste at all like a doppelbock to me, with very little of the malts I come to recognize and enjoy. Basically it could be another coffee porter, albeit a good one. Happy to have it and would gladly quaff again.

Bottle #735. Pours a thick dark brown with a thin tan head. Slight roast coffee aroma nothing overwhelming. Tastes like a coffee drink you might get at Starbucks. Not too strong but nothing spectacular.

Well, I love espresso and I love bock beer...so let’s see about this: a murky dark brown-hued beer without a head at all. The aroma is very malty, roasty, woody and even some coffee there, but they are not well-integrated. The same is true for the flavor. The flavor also has a strong earthiness, like beets or something that tastes like soil. Sweet and malty finish.

Bottle #59 - dark brown/mahogany colored beer that stirs up a small tan head only after a vigorous pour - strong coffee aroma, with notes of charred wood, chocolate and black cherries - kind of thin-bodied - powerful, burnt coffee flavor, with a following artificial sweetness that tastes a lot like Sweet ’n Low - a touch of smoke and that charred character from the aroma - some cocoa and dried fruit try to show themselves late, but are overpowered by the other flavors - an interesting, albeit not completely successful experiment.