Imperial Eclipse Stout - Old Trestle
FiftyFifty Brewing Co.

2023 vintage, it pours very dark brown color with a tan foamy head that dissipates on the average side, leaving minimal lacing. Smells of caramel, dark chocolate, vanilla, bourbon, molasses, chocolate covered raisins, fudge, piney notes and milk chocolate. Flavor is a mix of whiskey, vanilla, rye, dark chocolate, hot fudge, bourbon, charred oak, dark fruit, brown sugar, milk chocolate, cocoa powder, chocolate covered cherries, honey, burnt coffee grinds and rich malty notes. This was incredibly smooth with no alcohol burn and a really nice feel and balance. Overall this was a terrific beer. Not familiar with Old Trestle, but it helped create quite the stout.

500ml bottle, green wax over cap. Label has ABV% marked as 12.0%. Marked for 2023 vintage.
Black colored body, with a red garnet back lit edge. Two fingers of light tan colored head, and this becomes a creamy cap and higher ring. Leaves behind a partial lacing wall on the non-drinking side of the glass and other scattered lacing spots.
Aroma of roasted malts, dark chocolate, with hints of black licorice, bourbon barrel, vanilla, dates, and cinnamon.
Taste has a long lived profile and a cascade of varying flavor expressions. Roasty, a little sweet, and somewhat boozy. Flavors are led by dark chocolate, and then bourbon barrel, oak, and vanilla, and later some coffee, black licorice, dates, and honey/molasses. Some bitterness from the dark roast coffee and slight char. Aftertaste ends with a more woody flavor.
More than medium mouthfeel. Creamy and smooth texture, as if some oat malt is involved. Very warming from the higher ABV%, but no burn. Very good carbonation.
Solid base stout with good use of barrel aging to impart additional expressions; really enjoyed the vanilla and oak from this.

 

a nice edition of this special base stout, which seems have fallen off a cliff in terms of distribution in the west and general consumer knowledge and stoke, like this series was such a hot thing back when the wax guides were required to know what each variant was. 2023 vintage here, and while i dont know this whiskey specifically, it does wonderful things to an already exceptional beer, this base is a classic and ive loved tracking the different ones down when possible, this is smooth and rich, with a saturated honey richness to it, notes of espresso and good vanilla beans, woody and roasty in aroma and flavor, not as alcoholic as it seems like it would have to be at this strength, smooth and layered, really impressive, been too long since ive engaged with one of these. there are notes of licorice and smoke here, raisin and dried fig, smooth and luxurious feeling too, bitter more than sweet, that organic dark chocolate and espresso character, as much oak as bourbon to me, really high end the way it shows here, velvety and maybe oaty, loing and silky and only a little bit sweet in places, molasses and acorn and date at the end, warm and cozy but not boozy at all, insanely well refined, even softly floral and summery for something like this, not sure if the base beer is still made with honey but i swear i can get some of that here, maybe a mind trick, but this remains a special series and this is a great one, wish i had better access to these, truly exceptional overall, texture is epic.

The beer pours an off white and creamy head that dissipates quickly but leaves some. The beeer itself is a dark chocolate dark brown bordering on black. There is a melted chocolate syrup texture to it.

The smell is delicious and sweet. The bourbon notes dominate with vanilla and dark chocolate notes. Fruits like dates.

The taste is roughly the same. Sweet dark chocolate in the finish. Has bourbon with vanilla notes. Very sweet finish.

Feel is good. Medium body. Very smooth. Silky feel. Very little carbonation.

Freaking delicious. Fairly sweet.

 

2023 vintage, drank 10/13/24.
Pour is black/deep brown with a dense cap of khaki foam with good retention.
Nose is bourbon, fudgey chocolate, vanilla, oaky bourbon
Taste follows. Bourbon soaked fudge, maple(?), vanilla, oak, chocolate, roasted malt provides nice balancing bitterness.
Smooth, full, creamy body. Moderate low carbonation. Easy to drink. Not overly sweet.
Definitely the best of the 2023 vintages that I tried.

On tap at Churchkey in Washington, DC.

This one pours a very dark black color, with a small head, and not much lacing.

This smells like milk chocolate, maple, caramel, vanilla, some oak, and tobacco.

This has a really distinct barrel character to it – I’m getting maple and caramel sweetness, plus a lot of warming oak, and some tobacco like flavors. The Eclipse base itself provides the requisite pleasant milk chocolate fudginess.

This is medium bodied, not all that boozy, and a little bit more full on the finish than Eclipse can sometimes be.

This has a really dynamite barrel character, and is one of the best Eclipse variants I’ve had in a while.

2021 vintage
Pours a solid brown black with a half finger of foamy head that quickly dissipates to nothing with no lacing. Aroma of molasses and whiskey. Taste follows nose. Excellent

Outstanding Old school American with hops, with bourbon. In a word, Balance. Rich mouthfeel and experience. Dangerously drinkable. On tap at the source.

 

 

Look - Really dark brown with really nice rimming
Smell and taste - malty chocolate sweet caramel with light barrel
Feel - Medium full body lighter carb
Overall - pretty basic

 

Another year, another Eclipse party. This review is based on the 2022 version. Two local barrels for this party, this was one of them. While good, I thought it was the lesser of the two. Let's bang this review out seeing as how someone else did very recently (sometimes I just peruse the recently reviewed and will jump into a beer review that is in my queue.

Barrel aged imperial stout pours black. Brown head 1/3". The aroma is bourbon. Was a lighter influence on average of Eclipse. Ha you'd think the like 2 mile journey you might have had a wetter barrel (more wet?). I agree, this had a light nutty presence compared to the other barrels that evening. This is on draft btw. Goes with an additional light earthiness to it. Something going on that is more 'brown' if you will. Whose that, brown? is a cool song. There is that camp smoke residual to it. Roasted malt showing more than in the wetter barrels.

I enjoyed it but did not pick any bottles of this one up.

2022 Vintage, deep-blue colored wax-tipped bottle, into a snifter

Lighter bodied than other variants (not sure why that would be). Oaky, nutty bouquet, strong suggestions of dried fruit. Nutty aspects continue on the palate…Trestle barrels give the brew this, carob-hazelnut thing, which cuts through the richness and makes it relatively easy to throw back. Finishes a little sooner than expected, but drier.

A really quaffable, distinct variant. I would say it’s a bit less decadent than you’d expect from an Eclipse, but with its nutty nuances, just as compelling.

 

 

 

2021 Vintage

Appearance: Black with a generous sized, thick, beige head that quickly faded. Other than having the head stick around a bit longer I'd change nothing here.

Smell: Moderate Whiskey aromas and moderate brown sugar aromas. I also picked up some mild vanilla notes.

Taste: Whiskey notes, moderate roasted malt notes, moderate brown sugar and some tannic oak notes. The Whiskey notes come off as a bit less sweet than some of the other variants. The beer has a bit of initial sweetness, but the roasted malts and tannic oak notes dry the beer out resulting in just a hint of lingering sweetness.

Mouth-feel: on the light side of medium bodied with a moderate level of carbonation. Not a thick bodied stout but the beer doesn't have a thin mouthfeel.

Overall: Second 2021Eclipse variant for the year for me and I liked this one. I love tasting the influence of the different barrels used to age the same base stout.