Smoke From The Oak (Rum Barrel Imperial Version)
Captain Lawrence Brewing Co.

Smoke From The Oak (Rum Barrel Imperial Version)Smoke From The Oak (Rum Barrel Imperial Version)
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From:
Captain Lawrence Brewing Co.
 
New York, United States
Style:
Imperial Porter
ABV:
12%
Score:
86
Avg:
3.82 | pDev: 14.4%
Reviews:
54
Ratings:
157
Status:
Retired
Rated:
Jun 02, 2016
Added:
Dec 19, 2010
Wants:
  46
Gots:
  38
No description / notes.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by Pahn:
Photo of Pahn
Reviewed by Pahn from New York

4.6/5  rDev +20.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 5 | feel: 4 | overall: 5
750ml bottle into an oversized wine glass. '10 handwritten under the "bottled in" section.

Appearance: Free pour leaves a two inch, fizzy tan head that dissipates steadily with big legs but no lacing. Pours black with red brown highlights and leaves a few swatches of lacing.

Smell: From the bottle: rum and smoke. From the glass: Smoke, roasted malt, with a small hint of sweetness. Potent. Some booze and cake. Rum gradually comes out, mainly as an accent as in the taste.

Taste: First sip: I read on the bottle that the brewer had never tasted a rum barrel aged beer before making this one... My first impression is that this was a good idea. The sweet rum blends perfectly with the smoke and porter flavors, deeply altering and elevating them both. It's like CL Imperial Smoked Porter, only more complex and more enjoyable; like the rum note was what was missing from the base beer. The finish has a pleasant heat, with a mild aftertaste. My first thought is that this is a home run.

The second sip brings a much stronger note of vanilla from the oak, with a lot more prominent smoke in the finish. The third sip brings lots of rum up front, segueing into various characteristic rum flavors in the middle (bringing me back to years ago when I used to drink a lot of rum), smoothed out by smoke and then leading to a boozy, roasted finish. Each sip is different but excellent--the hallmark (for me) of a truly great beer, and the point of doing seemingly gimmicky things like aging beer in barrels.

Honestly, I can't think of how this beer could taste better. It nails the smoke, nails the imperial porter, and justifies the rum barrel aging as convincingly as is possible. The 12% ABV never gets in the way, rather it delivers all the deep flavor of using so much malt in a beer and converts the high alcohol into a pleasant heat at the end. Every flavor is good, and compliments and augments every other flavor.

I'm trying to nitpick and find flaws (maybe the aftertaste could be longer? maybe there could be deeper complexity?) but really the flavor is flawless. More complexity would just make it taste busy, and the aftertaste *does* continue to develop and satisfy after a nice big sip. This beer has to get a 5.0 for flavor, it's a masterpiece.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied, very carbonated. Mild dryness in the finish along with heat and some roasty bitterness. Not as smooth as the wine barrel aged version.

Drinkability: I love this beer and want more. I drank this bottle over the course of 3 hours, and I was sad when it was gone. I hope to get a chance to drink it again.

Rum Barrel Aged Smoke From the Oak is a truly great beer. In my opinion, the only way you could be unsatisfied with a beer of this quality is if you don't like beers anywhere near the style of this one. As with the wine barrel aged version, I'll note that I was a bit ambivalent when I found the Smoke From the Oak gift pack and paid $60 for, basically, 3 bottles of beer (the tulip glass it comes with is great, but I already have tulip glasses). After drinking the beer, I'd pay that much (or more) again without a second thought.
Feb 28, 2011
More User Ratings:
 
Rated: 3.75 by krome from Illinois

Jun 02, 2016
 
Rated: 3.75 by jgunther71 from Illinois

Jun 02, 2016
 
Rated: 3.5 by bkwhoppa66 from New Jersey

Mar 31, 2016
Photo of GreesyFizeek
Reviewed by GreesyFizeek from New York

2.81/5  rDev -26.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 2.75
Bottle shared by Curran last night.

This one pours a fairly dark black, with no head or lacing, really.

Smells like bandaidy and medicinal smoke, with very light rum, and maybe a little bit of chocolate.

I'm not sure if this didn't age well (it's '13) or the flavors just never really melded really well together, but it really didn't work at all. The smoke character is not really all that pleasant, it's got the dreaded bandaidy, sort of medicinal quality to it. There's a very slight rum character, and no oak or vanilla or any barrel presence of that sort.

This is medium bodied, slightly creamy, but pretty hard to drink due to the unpleasant clash of flavors.

Not good, really at all. Would not recommend.
Jan 16, 2016
 
Rated: 3.75 by Cpmitchno1 from Virginia

Aug 07, 2015
Photo of mabermud
Rated by mabermud from Washington

3.51/5  rDev -8.1%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.5
This one was a disappointment for me. Barrel was apparent, the rum was noticeable, but this was not put together correctly.
Jul 21, 2015
 
Rated: 4.02 by trxxpaxxs from New York

Apr 01, 2015
 
Rated: 4.31 by SadMachine from New Jersey

Jan 08, 2015
 
Rated: 3 by BlackHawk89 from New York

Dec 15, 2014
 
Rated: 4.02 by Poupae from Thailand

Dec 07, 2014
 
Rated: 4.5 by nathanmiller from New York

Dec 04, 2014
 
Rated: 3.75 by Fox82791 from New York

Nov 13, 2014
 
Rated: 3 by mrn1ceguy from Illinois

Nov 10, 2014
 
Rated: 4.2 by kkazemi from North Carolina

Oct 05, 2014
 
Rated: 3.75 by billab914 from Virginia

Sep 28, 2014
 
Rated: 3.75 by Satchboogie from Belgium

Aug 26, 2014
 
Rated: 4 by tikk from Canada (YT)

Aug 02, 2014
 
Rated: 3.75 by Dicers from California

Jul 04, 2014
 
Rated: 3.75 by Mersh from Connecticut

Jul 04, 2014
Smoke From The Oak (Rum Barrel Imperial Version) from Captain Lawrence Brewing Co.
Beer rating: 86 out of 100 with 157 ratings