8.4

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5

12 ounce bottle into snifter, bottled on 7/17/2019. Pours dense pitch black color with a small dense and rocky dark tan head with awesome retention, that reduces to a thin cap that lingers. Nice spotty soapy lacing clings on the glass, with a light amount of streaming carbonation. Fantastic appearance. Aromas of big dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, molasses, brown sugar, vanilla, toffee, rum, toasted oak, biscuit, and dark bread; with lighter notes of licorice, raisin, prune, cherry, fig, date, smoke, char, leather, tobacco, herbal, grass, pepper, and yeast/roast/toast/oaky earthiness. Light rum booze in the aromas as it warms, but not overwhelming. Damn nice aromas with great balance and complexity of dark/black/roast/bready malts, vanilla, rum barrels, and light fruity yeast/earthy hop notes; with big strength. Taste of huge dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, molasses, brown sugar, vanilla, toffee, rum, toasted oak, biscuit, and dark bread; with lighter notes of licorice, raisin, prune, cherry, fig, date, smoke, char, leather, tobacco, herbal, grass, pepper, and yeast/roast/toast/oaky earthiness. Mild herbal, grassy, roast, charred bitterness; and rum/oak tannin spiciness on the finish. Lingering notes of dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, molasses, brown sugar, vanilla, toffee, rum, toasted oak, biscuit, dark bread, licorice, dark fruit, smoke, char, leather, tobacco, herbal, grass, pepper, and yeast/roast/toast/oaky earthiness on the finish for a while. Fantastic complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/black/roast/bready malts, vanilla, rum barrels, and light fruity yeast/earthy hop flavors; with a great roasted bitter/sweet and rum/oak tannin spiciness balance; with no cloying/acrid flavors after the finish. Lightly increasing dryness from lingering hop/char bitterness and rum/oak/alcohol spiciness. Light-medium carbonation and very full body; with a very smooth, creamy/slick/silky/velvety, and lightly syrupy/sticky/chalky/tannic mouthfeel that is great. Light increasing warmth of 14%, with mild lingering rum barrel booze after the finish. Overall this is a fantastic rum barrel aged flavored imperial stout. All around fantastic complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/black/roast/bready malts, vanilla, rum barrels, and light fruity yeast/earthy hop flavors; dangerously smooth and easy to dip on for the huge ABV, with the mildly bitter/tannic/drying finish. Fantastic balance of super rich malts, vanilla, and rum barrel presence/integration. Mild earthy hops and restrained fruity yeast. Not overly sweet/heavy from lingering dryness. A highly enjoyable offering, and outstanding style example as expected. More of a straight up BA imperial stout, and not a pastry style like most of the series.