“Eclipse: a world-wide phenomenon straight from our brewery in small town Truckee. It starts with our award winning Totality Imperial Stout, and then spends 6 months in a variety of barrels specially curated by our talented brew team, often finished with some specialty flare that will knock your socks off.”

Glassware: Snifter.
Appearance: Pours as expected – black as midnight with a rapidly vanishing head. It forms a very fine ring with almost zero lacing left behind.
Aroma: Smells incredible. There isn’t a whole lot of deviation from last years vintage. The base stout is once again monstrous and provides uber rich molasses, licorice, dark chocolate, cigar box and black coffee while the bourbon/barrels go to work providing five spice, toasted coconut and brown sugar. Lovely addition of saturated oak for more depth and complexity.
Flavour: Huuuge. Very rich and aggressive but then again it’s the ’24 release so it could do with a couple of years in the cellar. Some minor differences from last years vintage here – we’re getting less smokiness and sweet spice and more in your face aggression and richness from the base stout. Lots of burnt brown sugar, tobacco, toasted coconut, damp oak and toffee into a long and drawn out finish.
Mouthfeel: Thick and viscous as opposed to last year’s dense yet inoffensive texture. Low-ish Co2 and a warming 12.4% ABV.
Overall: Definitely some minor variations in flavour. The other (more irritating) variation is the drop from 500ml bottles to 375ml. No drop in the price though, of course. Still a bloody delicious BA stout.