Bos Solar Eclipse Imperial Stout

Formerly brewed at Bos Brewery and Bistro
Style: Imperial Stout
Pontiac, Michigan USA

Draught sample at MBG 2006 Summer Festival. Pitch black with a tan head - more head than I expected from a (supposedly) 22.5% beer. Aroma is luscious - sweet and smoky, coffee with cream, molasses, vanilla - yum! Flavour is really nice as well - roasted coffee & nuts, bourbon, wood, sweet malt. Like my compatriots, I find it hard to believe that it’s as strong as they claim, but it’s it’s even half that, it still hides the booze really, really well. This is just fantastic!

Another of the must have beers at the MiBG Fest of 2005:

Pitch black, an Eclipse indeed, topped by a small frothy tan head and an oily film with some additional lacing. The aroma has huge malt notes, smoky and coffee character, blueberry and sugar cane, mint, earthy yeast ester, and a bit phenolic. The taste rocks! Big sweet mocha and burnt malts upfront followed by a equal heavy dose of bitterness and espresso. Moderate plum and berry influence support towards the woody and black pepper finish. 22.5% ABV you say, no way I say! Masked so well I would not have guess higher than 9 or 10%. The feel is oily and lush, sticks to my palate and will not let go. I love it, perhaps it has aged a bit since some earlier ratings and mellowed. Unlike the other big beers I have had from Bo’s, this doesn’t come off as over-the-top. Would love to have a handbottle ot three of this.

Tap @ MBG, darkest oily black with only film for head. Initial aroma is nice mellowed out bourbon, followed by sweet chocolate malt, grapes, and subdued coffee. Flavor is very sweet malt, mollasses, dark grains and slight coffee finish. Very well done, could be a little less sweet, and score even higher.

Draught at 2006 MBG Summer Festival. Pours a very dark brown/black with an average size diminishing creamy tan head. Awesome sweet aroma of dark malt, dark fruit, molasses, coffee, oak, hops and more -- smells fantastic. I didn’t think the flavour could live up to that aroma and to my pleasant surprise it did! Sweet malty flavour follows the aroma and is incredibly easy to drink for such a strong beer (hell, it’s easy to drink for a 9% beer!). Medium to full bodied. What a great Impy Stout, I absolutely loved it and it was my favourite beer of the day.

Draught. At 2006 Michigan Brewers’ Guild Festival. * Rating #1500 in less than 14 months on Ratebeer, and one of the highlights of the festival for me * Deep impenetrable brown-black with a decent creamy dark brown head. Deep, rich, creamy roasty aroma - malt, coffee, chocolate, sweet table cream, alcohol, bitter hops, oak - just lovely. Taste - alcohol, bitter woody, leafy hops - and tons and tons of roast, ending in a long, lingering dark roast finish. Beautifful oily, complex mouthfeel, thick, alcoholic, bitter, nicely carbonated - good lord, this is one of the best impy stouts I’ve had - 3.64 score? WTF?!!! - and while this is strong and definitely high ABV, no way it’s 22% - maybe 12. Maybe.

On tap at the brewpub on 4/27/06, 2005 vintage: Pours a viscous opaque black with a dense dark tan head. Very sweet, caramely, big dark fruity complex dark chocolate and alcoholic aroma. Body starts with a viscous full-bodied sweet dark caramel maltiness, some molasses, raisins and plums with a very warming finish. Good complexity throughout and should age very well. This is a malty alcohol monster to be enjoyed in moderation.

Michigan Brewers Festival 2006. Black body with a nice long lasting chocolate coloured head. Lightly boozey aroma, with a sweet dark malt. Alcohol is surprisingly restrained in a pleasantly sweet malt flavour, very light subtle threads of chocolate and roast. Medium to full bodied palate. Very nice. I have my doubts about the abv claims (20.5% according to the sign) but if it is anywhere close to that it is ridiculously well hidden. Very nice beer, probably my highest rated of the fest. 8/4/8-9/4/17-18

On tap: Nice malty aroma with chocolate and Bourbon. Dark brown, virtually black with a nice dark tan head that fades to ring within a minute. Real sweet. Behind the sweetness is a nice chocolate presence with lots of bourbon. Don’t see where it says Bourbon Barrell, but it has to be. Coffee all comes in the finish with a strong chocolate presence as well. Normally I would say a beer like this is too sweet, but I really like the way the sweetness blends with the other flavors. No real alcohol flavor but definite warming affect.