Capital Eisphyre

Bottle shared by badbeer. Thanks. Poured a clear medium orange color. So so mixture of smells including the likes of cheap toffee, alcohol, plum, and raisin. Medium to full bodied and delicately sweet with mild bitterness and a warming alcohol effect. Boozy and fruity flavors with a grain steeping barley note. So so. Past it’s prime perhaps.

Sampled courtesy of badbeer. I’ve been wanting to try this for a few years now so it was awesome to try it out. The beer pours a good red color. The aroma is slightly spicy with plenty of booze apples and cherry. The flavor is very brandy like with notes of alcohol and liquorish. For all the booziness it has a wonderful silky texture. Very enjoyable.

Bottle courtesy Hopdog - huge thanks! Was holding onto this for a while to crack open with a friend who really wanted to try it, and we weren’t disappointed. Pour is a relatively clear brown color with an orangey tint, and a very thin head that dissipated into a thin film. Aroma is sweet and malty with some hints of spice...nothing remarkable, but very pleasant. Flavor is much less sweet than the flavor would suggest, but is chock full of caramel malts, some dark fruit, and some toasty notes as well...maybe even a slight note of hop flavors in there too, but I might be dreaming here. Very smooth and not much of an alcohol flavor for an Eisbock. I don’t feel this was past its prime by any means...plenty of carbonation and the flavors seemed true...wish I had another to crack open in another year or so!

12oz from the cellar. Pours orange with a tan head. Nose is sweet. Taste is very medicinal, did i open robitusen or beer. blech. probably past its prime

Medium statured tan head, good retention and nice lacing. Clear Amber/brown color. Nose is moderately sweet, caramel malts and bready notes with some light spiceyness. Body is full, lightly oily, chewy. Lotta malts here, caramelly, grainy and somewhat worty, fruity and a little toasty too.fairly sweet but finishes relatively dry considering. Lightly fruity and earthy. 10%? Did,nt even notice it. Props to eaglefan for sharing, thanks Brian!!

Bottle from Styles, shared at State Line by me. The pour was full darker amber, comparable to a darker blonde doppelbock. The head was surprisingly decent for the ABV, good off-gas on bottle opening. The aroma was sweet bubblegum and really rich caramel. The flavor followed suit, slight toasty notes, strong doughy and candy notes also present with a slightly resinous finish. This was a malt bomb, as would be expected, but it was a bit too cloying. The most impressive aspect of this beer was its hiding of the heat, as I was really questioning while drinking weather it was really an eisbock as the title led me to believe: 10pct ABV? Wow, hard to believe, pretty smooth. The mouthfeel wasn’t sticky given the flavor, medium body. Thanks, Chris, this was indeed a fun one!

My 30th Birthday!

8/28/2008: I’ve held on to this bottle for long enough and think that my 30th birthday is just as good of time as any to finally drink it. Happy Birthday to me! ... Eisphyre has a really deep and intense aroma of rich caramel, golden raisins, subtle dried apple fruit leather, and a touch of sweet alcohol. It appears to be pretty thick judged by judging the pour and there is a pretty low level or carbonation. The beer has a color that I can only describe as dirty golden (my wife says it is "peach-colored") and is hazy with hardly any veil on the surface. The flavor is toward the sweeter end of the spectrum but it’s kept in check by a pronounced earthy/lightly floral bitterness in the semi-dry finish. The prevailing flavor is the caramel and toffee maltiness which is followed by some dark fruity notes and warming alcohol (dry sherry-like). This beer has a medium to medium-full body and is quite smooth and easy to drink considering the alcohol content. Overall this is a pretty solid Eisbock, but to be honest, I was actually expecting more based on many of the previous ratings and other discussions that I have heard about this beer... UPDATE (later this evening): After letting the this beer sit and warm up a bit, it has definitely started to open up. The malt seems to deepen with a roasty edge to it and even a hint of smoke/char and the body seems to thicken and stick to the palate more. It also seems to be stronger, yet the expected alcohol bite/burn is still held well in check. I am amazed by how smooth this beer is. It’s almost too smooth...

12 fluid ounce bottle from iowaherkeye via trade in May 2007. Thank you very much! Rating #142 for this beer...

12oz Bottle. Crazy, rich dense alcohol raisin spice. Wicked nice. Prunes, plums and fruitcake. Bits of spice. Pours a vivid, red orange, with silky white head. Flavor is generally sweet, but develops nice well-incorporated alcohol complexity. Lots and lots of delicious raisin character, brought forward with cinnamon toast. Chewy. But the alcohol and malt texture leaves the tongue not cloying. Nice!