FiftyFifty Tasting at the City Beer Store.

You know it's not a bad Saturday when you are sipping 3 different barrel aged Eclipse from FiftyFifty Brewing at the City Beer Store. Eclipse is an Imperial Stout and barrel aging always gets us out of bed to go try them. Plus any event at the City Beer Store always puts a smile on our face. Everyone is just so nice and welcoming there.

In order of my favorite:

Eclipse- Heaven Hill Rye- 9.5%, $4 for 4oz taster. It smelled like: light roast, malty and a light bourbon. It tasted not too bitter, smokey, a hint of caramel, and toffee. It is very smooth and light at first, then with a big oomph of a flavor punch left in your mouth.

Eclipse- Elijah Craig- 9.5%, $4 for a 4oz taster. It smelled pretty similar to the Heaven Hill Rye with a little bit more roasted flavors and a light bourbon nose. It tasted a bit more roasted, more bitter with  espresso & toffee notes. It has a nice carbonation to it- stronger than the heaven Hill but you can taste and feel the alcohol more in this one.

Eclipse- Jack Daniels- 9.5%, $4 for a 4oz taster. On the nose, you get a bit more caramel and sweet flavors coming out, along with the roasted and alcohol notes. It tasted the most bitter out of all of the 3. You get the roasted espresso flavors, caramel & toasted malts. You definitely feel the alcohol the most in this one. It seems like it should be 12% for the flavor of the alcohol, not 9.5%. It's a little rough around the edges still, which is probably why you couldn't buy this bottle to go- you could only buy the other 2. This one just needs some time to mellow out a bit.

Craig and Beth (the owners at City Beer) had a special where you could buy the Heaven Hill Rye or Elijah Craig any day before the tasting, starting January 2nd, for $19.99. The day of the tasting and afterwards, it went back up to $21.99, so if you pre-bought, then you would have saved 10%, which is a decent deal.