Taster at KEG. Jet black pour with a beige head. Nose is intense rum spices and oak, vanilla, milk chocolate, nougat and booze with a touch of mezcal notes. Taste is rather sweet, borderline too much so but manages to avoid turning cloying. There are notes of milk chocolate, light molasses, caramel and dark sugar, rum, vanilla, nuts and in the finish there's a hint of scotch that goes pretty well with the chocolate character. Closes with a long lasting, sweet and boozy (as in showing barrel character) finish, has a big body and soft carbonation. I dig the barrel use here a lot.

Bottle at Estonian Tallinn Friends tasting. Full body, rather low carbonation. Shitloads of chocolatey maltiness, also assertive caramel, med-light coffee. Lots of dried fruits. Very good.

Bottle from Deconinck (presumably). Cloudy black, small, foamy, beige head. Strong aroma of molasses, brown sugar, dark fudge, mocha, chocolate sauce, almond, brown rum, vague marshmallow (by association?). Taste has very sweet date & raisin in a thick malt profile of dark fudge, molasses and brown sugar; somewhat toasty & herbal (tobacco) too. Soft earthy hops in the finish, offering a very light toasted edge but mostly an ongoing molasses sweetness and warming rum-like alcohol. Full body, oily texture, soft carbonation. Very sweet, obviously, and rum remains dominant after ageing (could well be +1 years). Quite delicious.

Des éléments de chocolat au lait nous introduisent un olfactif complexe, malté, alcoolisé, laissant découvrir des notes de fruits noirs, de brownies, de biscuit ainsi que rhum et de scotch. Le liquide est d'un noir opaque et se couvre d'une mousse moka assez crémeuse et persistante. En bouche, c'est extrêmement chocolaté, accompagné de notes de biscuits, de fruits noirs, tels les raisins secs, dattes et pruneaux et d'alcool très peu perceptible, très bien intégré, mais donnant un peu plus d'espace au rhum. La finale combine alcool et houblons subtilement terreux dans une amertume très douce. Le corps est rond et puissant et la carbonatation plutôt faible. Complexe et réconfortante, cette stout satisfait tout ce qu'on peut demander d'une bière réchauffante et sucrée. O:8.01 V:4.75 G:7.51 C:5.0 G:17.3

Bottle to finish my birthday on a high note. Pours black with a fine sheen of tan head. Aroma is sweet, dark malts, chocolate, caramel, molasses, cacao, fig, prune, berries, booze. Full body with a pleasant, but not velvety mouthfeel. Flavour is sweet, rich and complex, with caramel and chocolate being the most forward flavours. Getting all sorts of caramel variations here and a lovely chocolate fudge note to go with it. Slowly barrel notes emerge, mostly wood, some vanilla and some spicy notes which are imho from the Mezcal, but the rum just adds a lot of round sweetness. Long sweet and complex finish. As expected from the cellar series (and a Collab with Lervig) a beautiful BA imperial stout, sweet, complex and very interesting barrel notes on top of that.

Sample (thanks fonefan!). Black colour, small off-white head. Aroma is liquorice, toffee, some alcohol with vanilla and mild toasted tones. Flavour is sweet malts, liquorice, some rum like sweetness with vanilla and some syrup.