Bottle: Pours a dark brown with a smaller tan head and spotty lacing. Aroma is smoky and retains a detectable amount of bourbon. Hints of vanilla. The flavor is smoky, woody, sour, and tart. Chocolatey presence too. Lively and slightly acidic. This was delicious - thanks Jordan!

Boy how time flies, I have been holding on to this since the release (about 6 months) in my bar (room temperature), I was advised to not let this sit too much longer. There is an interesting story behind this beer. The Rum barrels must have been pretty old and they had something growing in it and it must of been strong if it survived the rum. I had this early on, a non-blended cask at Barcade, which was all freaking alcohol. This bottle pours with a strong infection-looking fizzy dark tan head and the darkest brown, almost black body. The head never fades, always a centimeter high and very sticky on the sides of the glass. Aroma is strong and starts with light sour strawberry, not brett-like at all. There is some paint thinner in there , seems to be coming off the sourness/bacteria/infection and alcohol. Basically, its a beautiful mess of bacteria, fruits, rum-alcohol, and some sweet brown sugar. Taste is also alcohol heavy, a bit too much for me. There is a bit of sweet molasses like roast and some plastic. Mouthfeel is slick yet still has an above average carbonation. Just a medium body and easy drinking despite the long burn in the throat and chest. Its rough around the edges but settles a bit once you let it breath in the glass for a little bit. I would love to see it the second time around on these barrels with the sourness and less alcohol.
750mL capped bottle, St Paul snifter/tulip glass.

Draft. Hoppy, crisp and drinkable APA. Golden body with a slight off-white head. The aroma is not in your face, but does give you citrus, pine and more than a hint of flowers. Some caramel in the background. The flavor is lightly to moderately bitter and lightly to moderately sweet. The medium body has a watery texture. Bitter, floral aftertaste. Very drinkable.

Bottle. Batch 1. The best thing about this concoction was that the bourbon was nicely integrated into the porter. The worst thing was that the overpowering oakiness made you work to get at all the other nice things about the beer. Slight tan head atop dark brown-black body. The aroma, which is better than the flavor, is full of tart cherry, dark chocolate, caramel, bourbon and slight smoke. The flavor is moderately sweet, moderately bitter and moderately to heavily acidic. The beer has a distinct tartness to the flavor and finish. Dry and sour at times, too. The light to medium body has a thin texture. Fizzy carbonation contributes to a champagne-like mouthfeel. The beer was served too cold and improved quite a bit as it warmed. A lot going on in this beer. Still, I had a hard time getting around the sensation of licking a cedar plank every time I took a sip.

Draft at Ginger Man, NYC. This struck me as the stereotype of a double IPA — big citrus flavor and lots of bitterness. Dark orange body with little head, but what is there is off-white. The aroma is filled with grapefruit, resin, pine and orange peel. There is a slight hint of grain, perhaps warm bread, in the background. The flavor is moderately to heavily bitter and lightly sweet. Alcoholic warmth starts to creep in after two or three sips. Medium body and watery texture with average carbonation. Nice sensation of smoothness followed by raspy bitterness.

Draft at Ginger Man, NYC. No one aroma or flavor dominates this beer, though its sweetness comes close. There is a blend of smokiness, which is slight, roasted malts, slight bitterness and sweetness. If it wasn’t labeled a smoked porter, you could mistake it for a sweet stout. Dark, dark brown-black body below a tan head. The nose presents roasted malts, caramel, chocolate. The flavor is moderately sweet, lightly bitter and moderately acidic. Very little smoke shows up in the flavor — with only a hint of burnt wood in the finish. Medium body with a dry finish. Low carbonation. Nicely done.

The beer pours brown with ruby highlights and a strong medium head. Aroma is empty macro-corn, lager like with a faint toastiness behind that, the only redeeming part of the aroma. The taste is water-y weird grainy and light dark biscuit beneath that. I see an underlying layer that may be a good beer but it surrounded by empty, bad beer.
Growler from Bowery Whole Foods, St Paul snifter/tulip glass.