8.4

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

22 ounce bottle into signature tulip glass, bottled on 3/4/2019. Pours opaque dark brown/black color with a 2 finger fairly dense and rocky khaki head with great retention, that reduces to a small cap that lingers. Nice dense foamy lacing clings on the glass, with a good amount of streaming carbonation retaining the cap. Aromas of big lightly tart/tangy black cherries, fruit skin/pits, milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, brown sugar, roasted nuts, vanilla, toffee, bourbon, coconut, toasted oak, spicy rye, biscuit, and dark bread/crust; with lighter notes of licorice, molasses, raisin, prune, fig, date, smoke, charcoal, herbal, grass, pepper, and yeast/roast/toast/oak earthiness. Damn nice aromas with great balance and complexity of dark/roast/bready/rye malt, molasses, bourbon barrels, light-moderate earthy hops/cherries, and light fruity yeast notes; with great strength. Taste of big lightly tart/tangy black cherries, fruit skin/pits, milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, brown sugar, roasted nuts, vanilla, toffee, bourbon, coconut, toasted oak, spicy rye, biscuit, and dark bread/crust; with lighter notes of licorice, molasses, raisin, prune, fig, date, smoke, charcoal, herbal, grass, pepper, and yeast/roast/toast/oak earthiness. Light-moderate herbal, grassy, peppery, roast, char bitterness; and rye, bourbon, oak tannin spiciness on the finish. Lingering notes of Lingering notes of black cherry, milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, brown sugar, roasted nuts, vanilla, toffee, bourbon, coconut, toasted oak, spicy rye, biscuit, dark bread/crust, licorice, molasses, dark fruit, smoke, charcoal, herbal, grass, pepper, and yeast/roast/toast/oak earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Fantastic complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/roast/bready/rye malt, molasses, bourbon barrels, light-moderate earthy hops/cherries, and light fruity yeast flavors; with a roast/hop bitter/sweet, and bourbon/oak/rye spiciness balance; with no cloying, acrid, astringent flavors after the finish. Light-moderate increasing dryness from lingering hop/char bitterness, rye/bourbon/oak spiciness, and carbonation. Medium-high carbonation and medium-plus body; with a very smooth, creamy/silky/bready, and fairly sticky/chalky/tannic balanced mouthfeel that is great. Zero warming alcohol or barrel booze for 6.7%. Overall this is a fantastic export stout! All around outstanding complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/roast/bready/rye malt, molasses, bourbon barrels, light-moderate earthy hops/cherries, and light fruity yeast flavors; very smooth and easy to drink with the modestly bitter/spicy/tannic/drying finish. Nicely soft and not overly bitter/charred. Quite over carbonated, but this was pretty much just as good as the base BBA version. A bit more barrel presence than I remember. Balanced rich malts, and barrel presence/integration; with nice cherry/earthy hop presence, and restrained fruity yeast. Mildly sweet with lingering crisp dryness. Not overwhelming on any aspect. A highly enjoyable offering, and spot on English style example as expected. Feels like these recent variants were packaged prematurely from the carbonation.