Columbia, MD

On a pint night at Frisco Tap House, Keith, the manager, posed a question. He wondered if any of us would be interested in participating in a bottle night? Sort of like a tap takeover only using bottles instead of kegs. He suggested making some of the Eclipse bottles for this hypothetical night.

Well, the response from our table was underwhelming. None of us were acquainted with Eclipse. The discussion quickly fizzled out and turned to more important topics like “are there really aliens” and “have you heard about Jailbreak’s new distributor?”

I didn’t really think much about our Eclipse discussion until I happened to drop by The Perfect Pour. While browsing through the aisles of that exceptional liquor store, I whimsically asked if they had any Eclipse. I was promptly led to a locked wooden case. Through the glass, I could see a collection of FiftyFifty Imperial Eclipse Stout bombers, priced around $35 a bottle. Each high ABV stout was barrel-aged in a variety of different liquor barrels and flavors. Very intriguing for a lover of big stouts like me.

When I asked if these stouts were any good, my guide responded, “I’m not a fan of any stouts but my customers seem to them.” Not enough of an endorsement for me to shell our #35 but curiosity was peaked.

Spending a little time with Google was an eyeopener. FiftyFifty Brewing Company of Truckee, California is a award-winning brewery. In fact, in the 2018 Great American Beer Festival, they won 2 bronzes and a gold medal, plus were named the Brewery Group of the Year 2018. Beer Advocate rates all their Eclipse beers as World Class as does Rate Beer.

So, on our next Wednesday to Frisco, I asked about FiftyFifty Eclipse. They have quite a few bottles but buying from a bar is much more expensive than buying from a liquor store. However, splitting the cost 3 ways lessened my pain. We picked a 2018 Woodford Double Oak. FiftyFifty uses different wax tops to identify the variety. This wax top was “Blue Pearl with Gold Glitter”.

My tasting notes for the Woodford Double Oak are: “Boozy barrel-aged stout. Complex, rich, chocolately and delicious.” I agree with Beer Advocate, it is a world class beer.

So I put the question to you, my beer-loving readers. Would a bottle tasting of FiftyFifty Eclipse beers be intriguing? I’m imaging small pours from bottles into about 5-oz glasses. They would be expensive but like other pint nights, free glassware would be offered. It would be an opportunity to taste a variety of hard to find world class beers without having to buy the whole bottle.

I’m in. What say you, imperial stout fans?

Cheers!

Warren