Oort Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout
Ecliptic Brewing

 

L: nearly black with brown highlights and beige foam.
S: the first thing that comes to mind is licorice. Vanilla, roast malt, wood.
T: taste is malty—too malty, in fact. Bourbon wood and vanilla, char, chocolate malts.
F: medium body, dry.
O: it’s good, but ultimately leaves me with a hallow feel and unpleasant aftertaste.

really excellent, these guys always hit, but i think these strong ales dont get enough love in their range, this is higher quality than so many others, and its lack of frills is off the charts appealing to me in this adjuncty dessert stout world we all unfortunately live in now. its so creamy headed, matte black, and full looking, stoked to have found this on draft! the beer presents to me almost irish style, i taste some bready old world ale yeast, but its more the lack of middle malt richness and the extent to which this is dried out in the ferment, not commonly found in barrel aged stouts, where barrel sweetness brings up the final sugar count more often than not. this is dry as a bone, nice and roasty without having chocolate and caramel and raisin layers, it doesnt need them, instead it has almost chalky earthy dark cocoa, ash, and soil notes to me, all low end, so the barrel fills in the center, light vanilla and charcoal and warming wood with the booze, smooth as can be too. this has to have a whole heap of oats in it right? like its not just a texture thing, i mean it certainly is creamy and full and all, but there is an earthy grain character that isnt the roast, seems oaty to me, i dig it. lots of bitterness with the alcohol at the end which is cool, and just so unique in its simplicity if that makes sense. defiantly against what is trendy in these styles right now, and i love that too. approaching world class here...

16.9oz bottle, batch 4 from 1/2021. Pours dark brown black with a medium creamy light tan head that retains fairly well and laces the glass some.

The aroma is fudgy malt and figgy dark fruit and some bourbon.

The flavor is sweet fudgy malt and figgy fruitcake with a boozy bourbon finish with some heavy roast. The mouthfeel is medium to full bodied with smooth carbonation.

Overall, an interesting barrel imperial stout.

malty strong stout-great malt flavor all thru the drink

 

 

 

 

 

22oz bottle thanks to Douglas88. Near black pour, small ring of beige head. Big sweet, boozy aroma, wooden barrel. Taste brings some roast rains, vanilla, mildly sweet and very warm. All r around great. would drink this again.

Bottle Date: early 2016
Palate Contaminants: other beer

Appearance is one of those super-dark brown hues, with no light coming through. Virtually no head.

Smell is clover honey, caramel, cola, and a little bourbon. It will volatilize, but not a whole lot. I do really like the combination of what's there.

First taste is one of those chocolate squares with caramel in the middle. The only other obvious thing to me is cola; not a lot of sweetness carries over. Toward the back end, there's more charred barrel, but it's not overwhelming. The flavors present are good, but the whole thing doesn't mesh together particularly well in the taste.

The aftertaste is a pleasant roasted malt. It's probably a bit on the thin side for type, but the alcohol is well hidden.