Excelsior Rip Rap Peanut Butter Cup Stout

Excelsior Rip Rap Peanut Butter Cup Stout.
5.6 % ABV, 18 IBU. Excelsior Brewing, Excelsior, MN.

Thoroughly black, slim brown head on top. Looking good.

In the nose: Peanut butter is big here. Boom! It's a bomb. Quite nice. Rich malt below. Sweetness and lovely.

In the mouth: Mmm. Tasty stuff. Peanut butter flavor stays on top, stout body keeps it afloat. Medium bodied, easy drinking. Peanut butter isn't too anything in this, nicely balanced. Just enough flavor, never too much. Good drinkin' stout. And there ain't nothing wrong with that.

Riprap Peanut Butter Cup Stout is made with enough peanut butter cups to protect any shoreline. Each batch begins with our traditional stout recipe, then infused with milk chocolate peanut butter cups. The result is a familiar aroma and a touch of sweetness on the front end, finishing with the smoothness of a perfectly roasted stout

Excelsior Minnehahop IPA India Pale Ale

Excelsior Minnehahop IPA India Pale Ale. 5.9 % Alc/vol. 55 IBU. Excelsior Brewing, Excelsior, MN.

Hazy, dark, murky orange, prodigious creamy head drifts down to a slim ring.

In the nose: funky, dank, resinous. Fresh hoppiness.

In the mouth: More dank, more delicious. Medium bodied, long lasting hoppy flavor. Hits juicy once in a while, but sticks with the dry. Sticky-icky. I like this one. It's a bit of a mess, but I like it, all the same. I wouldn't drink it by the 6-er, but once in a while, sure.


A crisp dry IPA chock full of Citra, Amarillo and Sorachi Ace hops. 
Our newest IPA is named after The Minnehaha Steam Boat that was salvaged from the bottom of the lake in 1979 and restored in 1996. You can now cruise the lake on the Minnehaha all summer long with the help of 100's of volunteers that maintain the boat every year.

Excelsior Shattered Solstice Ale

Okay, this bottle has been sitting around far too long. We're well past the solstice. But, it's a beer, and we're going to drink it. And away we go.

Excelsior Shattered Solstice Ale. 6.9% ABV. Some gobbledygook on the side that I can't read. Okay, I'll try: "A worldly inspired, locally desired Amber Ale to celebrate the return of longer days. Ginger (India), Oranges (Spain), Coriander (Turkey), Egyptian Chamomile flower and Belgian candi sugar create a robust spiced ale that will warm you up. "Shatter" your expectations."

Hazy, clouded, amber hued, with a slim, off-white head.

Aroma: Spice.Ginger. Apple? Huh. Nice, but, huh..

In the mouth: Spice, Warmth, sweetness, malt, yum. Interesting stuff, here. Spicy, malty. Good beer, and I'm drinking it.

Minnesota Breweries One By One #43: Excelsior Brewing, Excelsior

Those of you who follow this blog with any regularity and retain in your memory some of the trivial details that I divulge herein may recall that there was a lull in activity earlier this summer. A solid six weeks of no posts at all, and a full month of no new breweries visited. I have made up for it on the latter side, having been to 16 breweries in just the past month, getting up to a grand total of 82 Minnesota breweries so far. My list shows that there are 26 (8 of those are in Minneapolis, 5 in St. Paul) more to get to in the next 14 weeks or so. Definitely doable. This does not count, of course, about ten breweries threatening to open before the year is up. Maybe more, that's just the ones I'm keeping an eye on. At some point, I'll have to call it quits. If that place in International Falls opens on the 30th of December, I may have to leave it till next year. But the goal will continue beyond 2016, for once I've made to as many as I can in this year, I'll still keep trying to visit the new ones as they pop up.

I've kept up the pace of the brewery visits, but not the writing of them. Since starting up after the stall, I've only written up 14 of the new visits, out of 33, and haven't touched on the ones from April, May and June. We'll make some headway into this by going back to May 22, when Jason and I took some trips around the breweries near Lake Minnetonka and it's environs, starting with Excelsior Brewing in Excelsior, at 4231 Excelsior Street, just a few blocks away from where Prince insisted to Appolonia that she purify herself, in that purple-tinged film of long ago.

Excelsior, population 2, 397, approximately 12 miles west of South Minneapolis. What else to say? They love their boats and docks, and that big ol' lake. And they got a brewery.

Yoga at the brewery? Sure, who doesn't do that, but a
release party for a bike jersey? Whatevs.

I've reviewed six of Excelsior's beers here in the Nib over the years, covering the core brands and a few others, and visited the brewery taproom once before, in 2014, also with Jason.There's a few out there that have slipped past me, including the cherry wheat ale, Sunburn, which I just finished a keg of at Acadia. For various reasons, I don't take notes at the bar that often.

 This time, I was impressed by the larger selection of beers and styles beyond the flagships. And what else did I see, hear and do? Well, I'll tell you, once I start a new paragraph.

Over-dressed in Excelsior.

It's a beautiful Sunday, one of the nicest days of the year so far, the sun shining and summer is beckoning. It's seems that all of Excelsior is out there enjoying the weather and in the taproom digging the wide range of ales and lagers. And I'm the only schmuck in the joint wearing long pants and a hoodie and no sunglasses. Everyone else is in shorts and t-shirts or biking gear. We stepped onto the patio area, where a folky combo was making music under a tent, but couldn't find anywhere to sit. Over on the stage, a trio of women are demonstrating their hula hooping prowess. It's all hustle bustle over here.

(Editor's note: Many months later, on Halloween, those same women came into Acadia Cafe, hula hoops and all, and I told them I remembered them from this Excelsior gig. Crazy, man.)

We checked out the choices and I made my first one a "hoppy wheat" made in collaboration with the Enki & Waconia breweries, called Triad #3. It had a cloudy amber appearance, a distinctive hop bite, with a slight tartness to the flavor. Ultimately, it was nice, smooth, drinkable. Jason, meanwhile, chose the Peach Sour, and after tasting his, I kind of wish I had, too.

Sipping on Jason's Peach Sour.

Just enough peach, just enough sour. Nice.

Did someone say "barrel-aged imperial
stout"?

And then I had to go and be the only person in the place to order the 10.6% Barrel-aged Russian Imperial Stout, because, you know, I had to. If anyone still suggests that this brewery makes tame or safe beers, well, let's let this post be a testament to the contrary. Roast-y, toasty, bittersweet, but just a bit more bitter than sweet. Notes of chocolate, cherry and espresso, getting bigger, richer and more intense as we get further in, picking up raisins, dates, vanilla and oak traces, too. This was one I really wanted to relax and luxuriate in. It's not the type of beer I'd have as my second beer of the day. Ideally, it's a nightcap, late-night chilly weather beer, but I had no choice. It was there and I had to drink it.

We couldn't luxuriate too long. There were two more stops to go in our drive along Lake Minnetonka and it's neighbors. Had to save rooms for more beers. And so we bid adieu to Excelsior Brewing, and it's boats and it's sports equipment and bikes hanging on the ceiling, and it's hulu hoopers and we're ready to visit another brewery obsessed with lakes and watercraft.

Hula hooping at the brewery on a Sunday afternoon. 

Every taproom has a growler collection, it seems, but
who else has waterskis on the ceiling?

This is the result of using the panorama feature on the iPhone camera
without knowing what you're doing. 

Excelsior Spresso Milk Stout

Excelsior Spresso Milk Stout. Excelsior Brewing Company, Excelsior, MN. 4.6% ABV.

Fully black, rich cocoa head that dissipates in a moment.

Roasted coffee bean nose, then comes silky smooth malt notes, a bit of cream. Espresso notes dominate.

In the mouth: sweet and smooth, with just enough roasted malt. Subtle stout flavors subsumed by coffee. Medium bodied, easy-drinking stout.  Definitely down-able. A sessionable coffee stout, to be sure.

Excelsior Big Island Blonde

Excelsior Big Island Blonde Ale. 5.5% ABV. 33 IBU.

Clear, bright yellow coloring, big, white head, long-lasting.

Sweetish, fruity/floral nose, lovely stuff. Quite nice.

In the mouth: Fresh, lively, hoppy and vibrant. Zesty stuff, with swiftly following dryness, cleanness, crispness. Light bodied, with just enough flavor to keep the palate happy. Light, bright and happy, that's this one in a nutshell. Highly likable.

It's a good one for the "light beer" drinkers out there, and perfect for the cabin, the dock, the beach. You
know, all those places we wish we were now.

Excelsior Bridge Jumper IPA

Excelsior Bridge Jumper India Pale Ale, Excelsior Brewing Company, Excelsior, MN. IBU 98. 7.5 % ABV.

Appearance: hazy, orange tinted, slim, but staying layer of milky white head.

Aroma: Popping with citrus fruit, orange, grapefruit, lemon, plus tropical tones, some pineapple, mango. touches of pine behind. Bursting with hoppiness. Loving it.

Taste: Hop attack on the tongue, coating the mouth and throat, as it goes down. Blitz of bitterness. Juicy malt bottom backs it up. Oily, resiny hop bitterness grabs the palate on every sip. Delicious and refreshing, but for the dedicated hop head only.

I'll let you in on a little secret: This is exactly how I like my IPAs. Good work, Excelsior, I'll be returning to this one again.

Hey, don't we want to find out more? Yeah, let's read the label. " "According to the Surgeon General, women should not drink alcoholic beverages during…" No, not that, other side…"A malty IPA brewed with a ship load of raw, whole hops. It's always been easier to stay in the boat, stand on the shore or wonder 'what if?' For all those who have allowed their toes to bend over the edge and made the leap, we celebrate you with our inaugural brew. Face life head on and jump in with both feet."

I have mixed feelings about that copy. It's always great to be celebrated, but I still hate it when people tell me what to do.

Excelsior XLCR American Pale Ale

Excelsior XLCR American Pale Ale, Excelsior Brewing Company, Excelsior, Minnesota. 5.8% ALC/VOL. IBU 50.

Dusky amber coloring, lightly hazed, with a slim, off-white layer of foam.

Aroma: grapefruit and pine, with a trace of caramel.

Taste: Nice hop bite up front, just a bit, then fading back, and letting the malt come through. Some tasty malt holding down the fort, toasty, caramel-y stuff. Maltier than I'd expect from a contemporary APA, but there's nothing wrong with that. It's a good drinker for sure, with citrus-y hops bouncing playfully on the palate, mixing with slightly sweet malt.

This is a really tasty one. Cheers to good beers, despite all the inevitable boat puns. Okay, I'm in for it, let's read the label: "An amber-colored ale, combining a pleasant floral hop aroma with a satisfying malt sweetness. Excelsior Amusement Park operated on the shores Lake Minnetonka from 1925 until 1973. With a rollercoaster, funhouse and carousel, the park offered a nice respite for Twin City residents who often arrived pale and slightly bitter but always left refreshed." Okay, some puns, but not that terrible. Guess they ran out of nautical themed nonsense.

Excelsior Oar Lock Oat Stout

Excelsior Oarlock Oat Stout. 6% alc. by Vol. Brewed and bottled in Excelsior, Minnesota, by Excelsior Brewing Company.

Solid blackness, rich , creamy brown head, looking good.

Aroma: sweet malt, ending dry. flaked oats. lightly bitter.

Taste: Smooth and creamy, mostly malty. Low bitterness on the palate. A little chocolatey, hints of espresso. Easy-drinking. Just misses the mark, though. Not quite oat-y enough. I keep thinking of the best oatmeal stouts I've ever had, stuff like Samuel Smith's …well, they can't all be that good. This one gets about half-way there. Perhaps they don't intend to go "there", and if so, it's fine as it is.

What does the label say? "A full-flavored, full-bodied oat stout sure to float your boat. Brewed with two "row" barley and a "boatload" of oats which make for a creamy wake, one pull after another. Oar Lock will steer you straight with balance on both sides of your craft. Enjoy!"

They love the boat puns, don't they?

Excelsior Bitteschlappe Brown Ale

What's a Bitteschlappe? I went to google.com on the internets and found that nine out of the first 10 links provided in a search related to this beer, and the tenth was in German. I had no time to search further, so I'll leave that quest for another time. The main thing we know for sure is that it is a brown ale from Excelsior Brewing, and here are my notes:


Excelsior Brewing Company Bitteschlappe Brown Ale, 6.5% ABV., 22 fluid ounces.

Is this my first Excelsior beer on here? I think so. Don't recall ever picking up one. If so, cheers to that, then!

Clear, caramel brown, slim, slightly tanned head.

Aroma: soft, nutty, creamy. Pleasant.

Taste: light bitter hop bite right off the bat, then malt takes command and all is smoothness. With a smack of sweetness, a lick of caramel, ending just this side of dry. Continues with sweetness in each continuing sip, that never quite quits, nor does it cloy.

I'm thinking this Excelsior Brewing Company is a bit boat obsessed. There appears to be one in their logo, the label illustration is a pier, and their motto seems to be "Choose Your Craft!" Underneath it we read this: "Bitteschlappe Brown Ale. A medium-bodied, smooth, dark ale. robustly malted with lots of Vienna malt, flavors of caramel, toffee, coco in the finish. this Munich inspired ale will slap you silly with malt flavor and aroma. You may call it what you will, but call on it you will. Brewed and bottled in Excelsior, Minnesota by Excelsior Brewing Company, LLC."

And I thought it was called Excelsior Brewing because they were members of the Merry Marvel Marching Society. Face front, true believers, as Stan Lee would say. Well, you can't win them all.

But you can't lose with this ale, though (how about that segue, huh?) …good beer and you can drink it! Excelsior!