Blue Ridge (SC) XXX Total Eclipse Stout

Brewed by Blue Ridge Brewing Co. (SC)
Style: Stout
Greenville, South Carolina USA

Date: December 23, 2006
Mode: Draft
Source: Brewpub
Appearance: black with ruby edges, wispy tan head
Aroma: light roasted aroma with a nice sweetness
Body: creamy body
Flavor: lots of roasted flavor, long bitter finish, a bit too much burnt roasted malt in the finish

Date: March 30, 2007
Mode: draft
Source: brewpub
Score: 3.2 to 3.4
picking up some sweet chocolate flavor to balance the roasted, the burnt malt astrigency has been cut back to acceptable levels and replaced with some nice hop flavor and bitterness

Date: April 13, 2008
Mode: draft
Source: brewpub
Score: 3.4 to 3.5
Aroma: dark chocolate aroma with a touch of sourdough
Flavor: the milk chocolate flavor continues to grow with this batch keeping the roasted and bitterness in control, dark chocolate showing up for balance this time rather than the roasted

Aroma: 6/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 7/10; Overall: 14/20
Rating: 3.5/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: **+/4

Black body with tan head. Aroma is medium sweet, roast, some coffee, light chocolate. Taste is mild sweet, roast, some coffee, light burnt. Light-medium body.

Totally diminishing fizzy head tops the coffee colored beer. Quite a beany bouquet, herbal and grainy, but not much else. It becomes more vinous in mouth, with grape undertones, but also the counterpart, namely a disturbing lactic character that slices through the thin body. Pretty poor stout.

Had on tap at the brewpub in downtown Greenville. Has somewhat of a a smoky, roasted aroma to it. Black as night appearance with a thin and quickly dissipating mocha colored head. Dry, roasted coffee flavor with very subtle bitter chocolate notes. Just a tad thin and watery for a stout. Pretty decent for a brewpub stout though. Good night cap.

Tap. Chocolate coffee malt aroma with light smokiness. Dark black-brown with slight film of a head. Light charcoal chocolate malt flavor. Light bodied. A light easy drinking stout.

This was a really tasty stout. Above average, but not a great stout in the sense of complexity and being unique. The flavors are very typical of a stout, and the aftertaste is lingering and sweet. It is very easy to drink and that is what I like about it. I would drink another glass. The process that they make there beer is quite unique. Another nice quality is the hoppiness this one has.

Appearance: Opaque black body with a small, thin khaki-colored head. Smell: Aroma of unsweetened chocolate and anise with just a dash of black coffee. Taste: Dark chocolate and spicy anise start the taste. Just when a mild sweetness begins to emerge the earthy, roasty bitterness kicks in and last into the finish. Mouthfeel: Medium-thin body. Mild carbonation. Drinkability: Solid for one of those less-than-sweet stouts.

Hoppy bitter for a stout. My guess is that it was also a bit light for a stout so there wasn’t an abundance of malt covering the hops. Good head.