Bottle shared by Brian - thanks! Pours opaque black, small brown head, dissipates fairly quickly, good lacing. Aroma is chocolate, rum, molasses, licorice. Flavor is medium sweet, medium bitter. Full body. Not as rummy as most Rum BA beers, and that is a good thing. Seems to tone down the licorice a bit as well, another winner in my book.

22 ounce bottle into snifter, bottled on 9/15/2017. Pours opaque dark brown/black color with a 1 finger dense tan head with great retention, that reduces to a thin cap that lingers. Nice spotty soapy lacing clings around the glass, with a fair amount of streaming carbonation. Fantastic appearance. Aromas of big milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, brown sugar, toffee, molasses, vanilla, cream, rum, toasted oak, dark bread, and wood smoke; with lighter notes of licorice, charcoal, cherry, raisin, prune, fig, date, red wine, leather, tobacco, nuttiness, and roast/toast/oaky earthiness. Damn nice aromas with great balance and complexity of dark/roast/bready malt, rum barrel, and molasses/spice notes; with great strength. Bit of booze in the aromas as it warms, but not overwhelming. Taste of huge milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, brown sugar, toffee, molasses, vanilla, cream, rum, toasted oak, dark bread, and wood smoke; with lighter notes of licorice, charcoal, cherry, raisin, prune, fig, date, red wine, leather, tobacco, nuttiness, and roast/toast/oaky earthiness. Light roast/char bitterness and rum/oak spiciness on the finish. Lingering notes of milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, brown sugar, toffee, molasses, vanilla, cream, rum, toasted oak, dark bread, wood smoke, charcoal, leather, tobacco, light licorice/dark fruit, and roast/smoke/oaky earthiness on the finish for a while. Amazing complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/roast/bready malt, rum barrel, and molasses/spice flavors; with an awesome roasted bitter/sweet and rum/oak spiciness balance. Zero cloying sweetness or acrid/astringent flavors lingering after the finish. Slightly increasing dryness from roast bitterness and rum/oak spiciness. Light-medium carbonation and very full body; with a smooth, rich, creamy/silky/velvety, and lightly slick/sticky/chalky/tannic balanced mouthfeel that is fantastic. Mildly increasing warmth of 13.9%, with no barrel booze lingering after the finish. Overall this is an amazing rum barrel aged imperial stout! All around incredible complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/roast/bready malt, rum barrel, and molasses/spice flavors; very smooth and dangerously easy to sip on for the huge ABV. Extremely rich and complex. Pretty much perfect integration and balance of the rum barrels. Great presence without being overwhelming, tannic, boozy, or drying. On the smokey side for whatever reason, almost peaty. Not quite matching last year's Brandy/Scotch versions, but nearly as impressive. A highly amazing offering.

22 oz bottle. Pours black with a brown head. Dark chocolate and molasses aroma, sweet rum creates a great aroma. Flavor has roasty dark cocoa, molasses, smoke, dark fruit, some coffee-ish flavor blending very nicely with the rum, vanilla, and oak. Rum can often be overbearing I find, but it certainly isn't here. Sweet but far from overly sweet; the sweetness is perfect, and the smokiness is a great counterpoint to it. This is fabulous.