Baby Jesus (Rhum Dada Chapel)

One of now several barrel aged Baby Jesus variants (imperial porter by Verzet) but a special one perhaps, inasmuch as this time, barrels were used that previously contained rum produced by Dada Chapel, a distillery installed by Moortgat in a beautiful historical site (the 18th-century Vanden Meersche hotel, former mansion, later monastery) in one of Ghent's oldest streets. This brings the whole Baby Jesus project 'back home', in a sense... Fizzy and bubbly, loudly crackling, 'papery' lacing, irregular, pale greyish beige head, slowly diminishing (eventually completely gone) over a very dark chocolate brown robe with misty burgundy-reddish edges. Strong aroma of dry caramel, walnut bread, indeed brown rum (albeit less 'coconutty' than usual), fried porcini, kahlua, wet dark chocolate bars, damp autumn leaves, wild elderberries, hints of leather, chewing tobacco, decayed tree stump, Pumpernickel, clove, Oxo beef stock, mud, old damp cloth, wet earth, overripe plum, coffee grounds, dry bayleaf, minerals. Sweetish, 'full' onset, dried fig, dates, currants and raisins, ripe pear in the background, vague sourish accents enhanced by quite lively, even prickly carbonation - quite much for this style in fact and in any case more than I was expecting. This creates a minerally effect which refreshingly runs through it all, but I do wonder what it would have been like if this effect would be a bit less pronounced - as it ought to be in this style. Layers of Pumpernickel bread, toffee, walnut paste and caramel sauce constitute a full and hefty middle phase, though that slight sourishness and that unusually active carbonation work together to keep things deceptively 'light'. Alcohol is very noticeable early on, with a slight astringency from the middle, only getting stronger towards the root of the tongue; there a deep earthy hop bitterness and of course an equally earthy coffee grounds-like roastiness play the main roles, still sweetened by not just this residual dark sugariness but also the nature of the liquor, bringing a molasses-like dimension to it all. Brown rum is very recognisable (more molasses- than coconut-like here which to me is a good thing), even inviting to go to that Dada Chapel and sample the original - but my old friend Baby Jesus, of which I fondly remember the very first (unbarreled) batch, can handle it, even if these rum flavours penetrate deeply into the beer. Boozy for sure, but perhaps in a good way here, in that the alcohol actually highlights certain features of the beer rather than working against them; for a beer of this caliber, to be sipped slowly over an extended period of time, it manages to remain interesting throughout and hold one's attention. I should have kept this for a chilly winter evening instead of a warm summer night, damn.