FiftyFifty Brewing Eclipse 2012

As was done last year, a group of friends and I went in on some FiftyFifty Brewing Eclipse barrel aged beers. This year, we tried the following:

Blue (Old Fitzgerald) - This version had light bourbon aroma fronted by a lot of chocolate. The taste was smooth and dry with a good bourbon flavor that actually thins out the thickness of the stout in the mouth.

Green (Rittenhouse Rye) - Just like in 2011, the Rye had a strong bourbon aroma with accents of rye, pepper, and oak. The taste was bold with the bourbon and very forward, bringing out the spicy rye flavor. Surprisingly, it has a smooth but dry finish.

Beige (Bernheim Wheat) - The aroma had a faint alcohol smell and was mostly dominated by chocolate. The Wheat also provided very faint accents to the taste from the aging. It was a little dry on the finish and almost sweet cherry and and vanilla accents. This beer mostly accented the honey, making it the sweetest of the bunch.

Black (Evan Williams) - The aroma had sweet and smooth bourbon accents, cherry, and vanilla. The taste brought out cherry, vanilla, chocolate, and toasted malts. A lightly dry finish with some alcohol burn arrived, but it was not overpowering and very complimentary.

Purple (Elijah Craig 12-yr) - There was a sweet cherry and vanilla bourbon aroma with a nice background of chocolate. The taste was smooth and sweet with bourbon and vanilla. Hints of cherry arrive with a lightly dry finish before caramel and honey surfaces.

Metallic Gold (Mellow Corn) - This one absolutely smelled like whiskey with some chocolate and alcohol burn. The taste was surprisingly smooth before a very dry alcohol burn that lingers for a good while. This one also brought out lots of honey and was sweet on the tongue.

I’d say it was a tie for Evan Williams and Rittenhouse Rye for me this year based on the ones that I tried in this sample. I know last year my favorite was the Elijah Craig 18-year, so it would have been interesting to see how it stood up against these two. While the Mellow Corn and the Bernheim Wheat version were sweeter and not as intense, there were no bad versions like the Red Roses from 2011.