FiftyFifty Imperial Eclipse Stout - Brewmaster's Grand Cru Blend 2011
2011 Imperial Eclipse Stout (Brewmaster’s Grand Cru Blend) = Copper Wax
Each Brewers Grand Cru Blend is a unique yearly blend from the best barrels for blending from the year. Each is a unique entity different from year’s past and present as they utilize a wide range of different spirit barrels each and every year.
Each Brewers Grand Cru Blend is a unique yearly blend from the best barrels for blending from the year. Each is a unique entity different from year’s past and present as they utilize a wide range of different spirit barrels each and every year.
4
162 reviews
Truckee, United States
Community reviews
Bottle shared during a tasting with friends. Great deal of roasted malts, chocolate and coffee.
Tasted on 1/7//12 from a waxed and capped 22oz bottle. Pours completely black oil black with thin bubbly tan lace, but no head. The nose is super darkly roasted coffee, dark chocolate, buttery milk chocolate, caramel and vanilla oak, and some nutty coconut. The flavor is the same, nicely balanced sweetness along with dark chocolate and coffee bitterness. The body is full and creamy with very light carbonation and a long bitter coffee and milk chocolate, vanilla, maple, caramel finish.
Schnikeys, how hadn’t I uploaded an official tick of this beast yet? This beast pours black from the bottle with a small brown head that fades to swirls. Big rich aroma, lots of different spirit notes - whiskey, rye, and brandy. Roast and dark chocolate. The flavor has the typical Eclipse base, roasty and chocolaty with molasses and a touch of soy sauce. Rich as hell, big whiskey and oak. The mouthfeel is smooth and silky with soft carbonation. Another great Eclipse varietal.
Dark brown/reddish/blackish with a minimal head.
Aroma has mostly bourbon, dark chocolate, slightly vinous.
Taste has bourbon, cherries, dark chocolate, marzipan, liquorice and dark chocolate.
Medium body, almost flat, smooth.
Short after taste.
A bit to thin in my opinion and the minimal carbonation did it no good either. Perhaps over the hill? Tastewise, really good though!
Pours thick unclear pitch black with a small dark beige ring head. Aroma is big clean but pure bourbon barrel with no harsh spice or booze, but smooth and non wood oaky bourbon. The flavor brings the spicy bourbon without vanilla but clean boozy wood over subtle coffee and roasted malts.
22 oz. bottle shared with the group in November 2012. Pours black with a small beige head that was gone in 5 seconds. The aroma definitely showed the bourbon, hints of brandy, molasses, moderately sweet malt, dark fruits, and alcohol were also present. I enjoyed the flavor more than the nose. This beer was big with flavor: bourbon, brandy sweetness, roasted malt, caramel, chocolate, molasses, licorice, woody, vanilla and some alcohol presence. Medium plus bodied and complex.
Pours a jet black from the bottle with thin milky tan head that leaves good lace. Aroma is barrel on barrel, nice oak and vanilla sweetness, chocolate and slight slight roast. Taste is milk chocolate followed by vanilla and barrel. Wow, amazing, nice thick mouth that sticks on the way down.
"Another one out of the park in the Eclipse line. Ridiculous complexity! Very nearly as good as the best I’ve ever had in this line, and that’s saying a lot. Waffling between 4.4 and 4.5. The blend has to have brandy in there somewhere, cause there is more going on than in any previous batch. Dark fruit, chocolate, cofee, vanilla, honey, obvious and various barrel influences. So stinkin smooth. Great beer!"
Bottle shared thanks to beerman6686. Nutty and oaky barrel aroma. More oak than nut. Dark brown to black pour with a slight tan head. Slight booziness in the taste. Some heat and some dark chocolate flavors in the aftertaste. Medium thick mouthfeel.
Brown bottle, 1 pint 6 ounces, bottle 2139, from Stephen Morris (merci!), savoured on December 13 2013; eye: black, opaque, no effervescence, no head no lacing; nose: roasted malt, coffee, chocolate, light woody, ink, light soy sauce, bourbon, intense, light alcohol; mouth: roasted barley, coffee, chocolate, light woody, ink, light soy sauce, bourbon, intense, light alcohol, alcohol warmth, finale in roasted barley with presence of bourbon, full body, below-average carbonation, mildly sweet, silky and alcoholic texture; overall: quite fine
FRANÇAIS
Bouteille brune, 1 pinte 6 onces, bouteille 2139, de Stephen Morris (merci!), savourée le 13 décembre 2013; œil : noire, opaque, pas d’effervescence, pas de mousse, pas de dentelle; nez : orge torréfiée, café, chocolat, léger boisé, encre, léger sauce soya, bourbon, intense, léger alcool; bouche : orge torréfiée, café, chocolat, léger boisé, encre, léger sauce soya, bourbon, intense, léger alcool, chaleur d’alcool, finale en orge torréfiée avec présence de bourbon, corsée, carbonatation sous la moyenne, moyennement sucrée, texture soyeuse et alcoolique; en résumé : bien bon
From the March 2014 Pittsburgh Ratebeer gathering. +++ Sampled from a 22 oz brown bottle this beer poured a black color with a small foamy tan head that left decent lacing. The aroma was chocolate, vanilla, toasty malts, a bit of alcohol and bread dough. The flavor was bourbon, port wine, chocolate syrup, vanilla and anise with a very hot boozy presence that worked well. Long finish of bourbon, chocolate syrup, vanilla and anise. Full bodied and silky. Outstanding.
This one poured a dark brown to black with a tan head. Aroma was of vanilla, dark chocolate, oak, booze, and roasted malts. Flvavor was very soft, velvety chocolate, medium barrel, not very boozy at all with well balanced abrasiveness. Definitely my favorite of the series i’ve had so far.
Bottle: Poured a pitch-black color stout with a large dark brown foamy head with good retention. Aroma of black chocolates notes with some rye whiskey notes also clearly identifiable. Taste is a very enjoyable mix of rye whiskey notes with light woody features with some rich black chocolate notes and some warming alcohol notes. Body is quite full with an oily creamy texture. Very nice barrel-aged stout with a good balance between the different flavours.
Bottle. Opaque black liquid with medium tan head. Aroma of wood, vanilla, bourbon, licorice, coffee, chocolate and raw sugar. Taste is medium sweet and light bitter with notes of vanilla, chocolate, bourbon, vanilla and licorice. Full bodied with low to medium carbonation. Really nice.
Opened at the end of year Ottawa tasting via Capones. Black with a wisp of beige head. Whiskey with some hints of bourbon warmth from the start, chocolately, oak, coffee, leather, mild carbonation, full body, very easy to drink and enjoyable.
A deep dark stout with no head. In aroma, smooth bourbon barrel chocolate malt with good alcohol warmth, wood extract, complex and smooth. In mouth, a sweet fruity chocolate malt, espresso coffee, smooth booze, very nice. Xmas Ottawa gathering Dec 13 2013.
Blindprovad.
Brunsvart-svart. Doft av jordnöt, bourbon, champinjon, jord och dill.
Smaken är len. Låg beska. Bourbon i balans. Mjölkchoklad (inte mörk choklad för en gångs skull). Förhållandevis lättdrucken. Imp-stout i absolut världsklass. Fantastiskt häftigt när det avslöjas vad som är i glaset. Kul blindprovning och tungt avslut på en trevlig raritetsprovning.
22, capped and waxed. Pours jet black and still with no head or lace. Rich earthy peaty roasty dark woody nose. Sticky thick body with minimal carb. Earthy roasty mid palate with tons.of peat, caramel, chocolate, and prunes. Long earthy mid palate.
bottle #1130, 2011 edition. pours a deep, cola-brown and sits black in the glass capped by a thin head of beige. aroma is excellent, very barrel forward with notes of wet oak, coconut, char, malt, and whiskey. flavor is delicious as well with big notes of vanilla, coconut, brownie batter, dark fruits, and spent coffee grinds backed by smooth, woody bourbon. palate is akin to the other Eclipse brews with a smooth, velvety texture that sits on the lighter side of the big imperial stouts. overall, another excellent variation.
Des notes d’alcool, chocolat, café, coconut et je sens déjà que cette version est vraiment pas à son sommet comme les autres que j’ai bus. En bouche c’est presqu’inerte et moins riche que les autres mais tout de même solide avec les notes du baril assez complexes et peu envahissantes.
Bottle shared by a friend for his birthday. Darkest brown pour with a medium tan head. Chocolate malt and vanilla nose with bourbon notes. Malt and whiskey flavor with vanilla and big chocolate before a bitter coffee and dark chocolate finish. Nice, and a little better than the 2012 Grand Cru.
Thanks to Beer Savant for sharing 2011 vintage bottle during his 50th birthday bash. The beer is a brownish-black color with a medium thin foamy tan head that recedes gradually. Short strings of lacing. The aroma consists of bourbon, vanilla and oak. Full-bodied with flavors of chocolate, black cherry and bourbon. The finish is roasty with a dark chocolate and bourbon aftertaste. Enjoyable beer overall.
Bomber poured a clear dark reddish brown with a small lasting brown head. Aromas of dark chocolate, roasted malt, fruittiness, light whiskey, light vanilla and light oak. Palate was medium to full bodied and smooth. Flavors of dark chocolate, roasted malt, whiskey, dark fruit, light oak and light vanilla with a smooth lingering whiskey finish.
22oz bottle pours an oily, opaque black with some spitty, beige head. Nose is all over the place, malt, brown sugar, caramel, wood, berry. Flavors of chocolate milk, malt, caramel, white corn whiskey, sharp, boozy rum. Full, sticky finish.
Pour opaque black, with a very small tan head.
Aroma of booze, bourbon, vanilla, wood, coffee, chocolate, brown sugar, dark fruits. A whole lot of stuff going on, really nice indeed.
The taste is quite sweet up front, with a slightly coffee-like bitterness towards the end. Semi-full bodied, with a somewhat subdued fizzy carbonation. A Big thanks to Tom for sending me this. (A really nice barrel/wood feeling to it)
Pours pretty clear Black, with a not so Heavy light brown head. Smell is vanilla, oak, burned sugar. Lovely smell! Tastes alot of oak and vinous goodies. Very exclusive! A little spicy, vanilla, gun powder, licorice, chocolate and perhaps some cinamon. Really Nice!
Dark brown with tan head. Bourbon barrel character very evident, deep malt character of toffee, burnt sugar, toasty malts, chocolate, vanilla, dark fruit, a little maple, vanilla, tobacco, leather, warming alcohol, all in good proportion.
22 oz bottle, number 1674. Pours dark brown black with a thin bubbly tan head that quickly goes to a thin collar that leaves a little lacing.
The aroma is roasted fudgy chocolate malts, black licorice and a little bourbon.
The flavor is huge - lots of roast chocolate malts, black licorice, some sweet honey and quite a bit of booze with a bitter alcohol finish. The mouthfeel is medium bodied with low carbonation.
Overall, it’s a huge flavorful beer. It’s quite bit over the top especially in the alcohol, but I enjoyed drinking it.
A - Dark black with a touch of brown and a finger of frothy khaki-chocolate head. Fades normal.
S - Chocolate and dark caramel malts, molasses, Bourbon, vanilla, oak, spicy rye, brandy, black licorice, dark cocoa, raisin, coffee, booze.
T - Sweet chocolate and bit of caramel malts, smooth Bourbon, vanilla, oak, spicy rye, Brandy. molasses, coffee, black licorice, bitter dark cocoa, raisin, grapes, and other dark fruits, and some booze.
M - Full bodied with moderate carbonation. Smooth and a bit syrupy with a warming and sweet.
D - Great barrel aged stout. The complexity of the different barrels comes through nicely.
Taken from notes - 660 ml bottle shared by Jeffo and Erik at Sloshfest 2012 - 6 in a row... This one is sweeter than all the rest, a bit more chocolate and gentle coffee notes. Some plums as well.