8.5

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

16 ounce can into chalice, canned on 11/26/2018. Pours fairly crystal clear medium orange/amber/light copper color with a small fairly dense and rocky off white head with good retention, that reduces to a thin lace cap that lingers. Nice spotty soapy lacing clings on the glass, with a light amount of streaming carbonation. Aromas of big raisin, plum, fig, cherry, date, peach, pear, apricot, red apple, caramel, brown sugar, toffee, vanilla, rum, coconut, toasted oak, and brown bread/crust; with lighter notes of peppercorn, clove, herbal, grass, and yeast/oak/toasted earthiness. Slight rum booze as it warms, but not overwhelming. Damn nice aromas with great balance and complexity of bready malts, dark sugars, fruity/light spicy yeast, and rum barrel notes; with great strength. Taste of huge raisin, plum, fig, cherry, date, peach, pear, apricot, red apple, caramel, brown sugar, toffee, vanilla, rum, coconut, toasted oak, and brown bread/crust; with lighter notes of peppercorn, clove, herbal, grass, and yeast/oak/toasted earthiness. Very mild pepper/clove yeast and rum/oak tannin spiciness on the finish. Lingering notes of dark fruit, cherry, peach, pear, apricot, red apple, caramel, brown sugar, toffee, vanilla, rum, coconut, toasted oak, brown bread/crust, peppercorn, clove, herbal, grass, and yeast/oak/toasted earthiness on the finish for a while. Amazing complexity, robustness, and balance of bready malts, dark sugars, fruity/light spicy yeast, and rum barrel flavors; with a solid malt and yeast/oak spiciness balance; with no cloying sweetness after the finish. Lightly increasing dryness from lingering yeast/rum/oak spiciness after the finish. Light-medium carbonation and medium-full body; with a very smooth, creamy/silky/bready, and lightly slick/sticky/tannic mouthfeel that is fantastic. Mild increasing warmth of 10%, with minimal lingering barrel booze after the finish. Overall this is an amazing rum barrel aged quadrupel! All around incredible complexity, robustness, and balance of bready malts, dark sugars, fruity/light spicy yeast, and rum barrel flavors; very smooth and dangerously easy to sip on for the big ABV, with the mildly spicy/tannic/drying finish. Perfectly balanced rich malts/sugars, Belgian yeast, and Rum barrel presence/integration. Never boozy, tannic, or overly drying on the barrel. Not overly sweet/heavy from dryness. A highly enjoyable offering, and top tier style example as expected. Did not really prefer it over the base beer overall; but this is one of the best Rum barrel beers I've had, because the rum booziness is near none.