Imperial Eclipse Stout - Maple Vanilla
FiftyFifty Brewing Co.

 

2019 vintage, 500ml bottle

Appearance: Very dark brown bordering on black with a generous sized, thick, dark beige head that gradually subsided. A very nice looking Imperial Stout.

Smell: Moderate maple aromas, mild Bourbon, mild brown sugar, mild coffee/roasted malt aromas, and mild vanilla notes. Not a bad nose but fairly subdued.

Taste: While I felt the nose was subdued, the taste profile, while sweet, nicely balanced the moderate Bourbon, maple/brown sugar notes, roast malts, mild vanilla, and faint oak notes. The beer is fairly sweet but the maple and Bourbon sweetness is mildly countered by the roast malt notes and mild oak notes. This variant is probably the sweetest Eclipse one I've had but the taste profile has all the elements working in harmony.

Mouth-feel: Medium bodied with a moderate level of carbonation. This variant comes across a bit thicker many of the other Eclipse variants I've had.

Overall: A good beer.The maple and vanilla work well with the Bourbon barrel aging and roasted malts notes. the beer comes across fairly sweet at first swallow enough to where it may turn off some people.

Quarantine day thirty: felt the wind on my face as the four day Arctic outbreak finally passed. My tenuous sanity needed that. 2019 500ML orange-yellow waxed bottle split with my wife. OK, I did have an extra swallow. Don’t tell her.

The wax is 8.2/10 on the Max12 Fucking Annoying Scale. I’ll never understand why some breweries feel the need to drown the cap in two inches of concrete-inspired wax. Once conquered (by my wife – I gave up) out comes the black stout with, honestly, about as much aroma as the wax. Almost imperceptible. Hope I’m not losing my sense of smell…

Eclipse Imperial Stout – Maple Vanilla bursts its aroma-less bonds to soak the mouth in flavor. Vanilla stabs out of the gate, with a depth that is likely the maple, which cannot be sensed individually. Too bad. I like sensing maple in all its forms. Mid-palate brings a smooth, silky tie down of bourbon, sliding into a touch of chocolate in the finish. Very sweet. Nothing remarkable about the mouthfeel, but I could’ve happily taken this mini-bottle alone.

The Eclipse series has always been priced at an, ah, premium, & this bottle was no exception. Which is forgivable for the many times they’ve launched one into the upper deck. This? This is a double down the line. Good beer, but nothing that can't be had for much less.

 

 

Alright, good to see this is already listed, but somehow over a year later, there are still zero reviews for it. Let's fix this.

Pours black, 1/3" brown head. Maple stands the strongest aroma wise, leaves bourbon and oak underneath, then the vanilla and roasted malt.

Taste is a bit sweet. Sure, the maple and vanilla by themselves are both really good. Together, they're still really good, but just a tad sweeter than desired. Still makes the abv really easy to pound down, and it definitely tempers the bitterness and strength of the beer.

Again, we're talking about a beer that was sold for $28 at the brewery (no distributor or retail markup to get to that $28!). I guess since even Total Wine charged out the ass for Vanilla Bourbon County ($25) this isn't all that out of line. In fact its right on par with it. Nonetheless, when KBS is $20 a 4 pack, and Central Waters is even less than that, this is tough to turn into any kind of beer you have other than upon the most special of occasions.