FiftyFifty Imperial Eclipse Stout - Elijah Craig 20 Year Barrel

Formerly brewed at FiftyFifty Brewing Co.
Style: Imperial Stout
Truckee, California USA

Serve in Snifter

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Bottle shared by GT2. Pours opaque with a small, fizzy light tan head, short retention with light lacing. Aroma is dark chocolate, nutty and roast malt, whiskey and oak with dark fruity esters and earthy notes. Flavor is malt dominant, whiskey barrel, dark fruity esters, light hops and medium bitterness with a sweet finish. Full body, medium warmth and carbonation.

Courtesy of northernbrews

Bottle: The aroma consists of sweet chocolate, vanilla, and the slightest hint of roast. It pours a dark brown with no transparency and small beige head that leaves behind lots of webbing. The flavor starts with some sugary sweet milk chocolate and a touch of molasses . The finish has light-moderate vanilla and light vanilla. It’s medium bodied with mild carbonation. Overall, it’s more sugary sweetness than bourbon barrel aged.

Bottle pours black hardly any head semi flat very stroung bourbon flavor chocolate vinillia dark fruit. Pretty good nice glacé fresh.

Surprisingly light, see-through red/black pour with a bit of a tan head. Big whiskey nose with notes of fruitiness. Flavor is booze, whiskey, oak, and a huge rush of vanilla in the end. Smooth and clean.

Bottle. Pours a very dark brown with a thin brown head that dissipates immediately to the edges. Aroma has sweet dark grains with notes of barrel, and vanilla. Flavor is is sweet with barrel and vanilla that is balanced by bitter dark chocolate.

22oz bottle purchased in 2012. Split a couple ways. Consumed 12-17, reviewed from notes. A: Pitch black with a very thin mocha lacing. Legs stick. N: Deep whiff of oak, caramel, and vanilla. Fudge is the backbone, and there is a pronounced brown sugar. The bourbon is the foreground, as it should be. T: Dominate marshmallows and vanilla. Oak is playing second fiddle. There are traces of coffee and fudge. There is a slight sourness I find distracting, but it’s not an infection. M: Very intense alcohol. Mouthfeel is much better than the 2010; it’s heavier and fluffier. O: A marked improvement over the previous year, but for the price, it really lacks the stand out qualities that bring it to the next tier of BA RISes. Good stuff, but I’d rather have Parabola for half the cost.

Taken from notes - 660 ml bottle shared by Jeffo and Erik at Sloshfest 2012 - 6 in a row... The mellowest of em all, despite clear and warm bourbon background.

Poured into a snifter from a 2011 650ml bottle.

A: Deep opaque brown, only seen through on the edges. Thin tan head quickly disappears leaving a small coating.

S: Mellow, but mostly bourbon and oak, slight sweetness comes through.

T: Same as the smell, huge alcohol bourbon sweetness with vanilla mixing in and out. Slight chocolate notes, but very subtle. Easy to sip.

M: Full bodied with light fizzy carb, syrupy.

O: The price of this is my biggest gripe, my second gripe is the price. I like this, but for $30.

From notes. Poured from a 22 oz. bottle into a tulip. The beer itself has a dark brown hue with lighter, transparent brown edges. A small tan head forms on the initial pour but fades away without really leaving any lace. The 18 year Elijah Craig comes through in the nose first, like my experience with the other barrel aged Eclipse beers. Molasses, vanilla, and oak are strong as well, with chocolate and coffee behind. The Elijah Craig is a little bit more nuanced in the flavor. Dark chocolate, roasted malt, and coffee start a fairly strong imperial stout flavor. As soon as it starts turning sweet with vanilla and molasses notes, the bourbon and oak dry the flavor out and prevent it from moving too far in that direction. The bourbon really carries through to the finish. Interestingly, when I first tasted the Eclipse beers, I thought the flavor of the beer was quite strong, with the barrel flavor adding further depth. Now I notice the barrel flavor and feel the underlying stout might leave a little bit on the table. For the style, the body feels to be in the middle of the spectrum. The carbonation is on the light side, trying to be creamy and smooth, but it could use some more carbonation. This is another solid Eclipse that I am glad to have tried. I am curious whether people who have given this beer such a great score have sampled it side by side with the Eclipse - Elijah Craig 12 year. There is not that big of a difference.

651mL white wax thanks to MrLo. Good, thicker tan head atop thicker brune head. Sweet strawberry nose with super sweet brandy and milk chocolate. Taste is sweet, hot, heavy dark chocolate ganache. Palate is drier, bitter, intense. Not bad. I enjoyed this.