Dark Days (Rum Barrel)
Iron Fist Brewing Company

October 13th, 2015 - Dark Days a comic', with stormcouds of flavor. A potent potable, this brew looks like a stout but brings a cacophony of aromas: barrel aging sharpness is the first sensation on the nose, followed by the deep juiciness of prune juice, and then a dash of black pepper, followed by a small slip of blueberry to cool that pepper note. Given all these heavy flavors, the body is a little thin and has a hard time supporting the flavor palate, and feels more rough around the edge. Prune juice and blueberry dominate the taste, losing some of the complexity of the aroma, but it still satisfies, even if the palate does not.

 

 

This poured a dark (go figure) black and in my glass had virtually no head/lacing/carbonation at all. Smells good but already I could sense it was a little lacking. Taste is fine, nothing really remarkable, balanced well with beer and rum, but it feels rather thin. You think a beer this big would have some weight to it as you drink but it's just not there. Rum warmth does come through in, again, a nicely balanced weigh and finishes alright if not a little roasted. Not one to shy away from but at the price I've seen it, bit of a let down and not worth buying separately.

Poured into a snifter. Enjoyed. Got better as the beer warmed. Not an overpowering rum taste, but the 14.3% came forward as it warmed.

 

 

We really liked this. Very smooth. Strong raisin, plum, malt and mild rum. Similar to lost abbey angel share. Very drinkable. Wouldn't know it was 14%!

 

Pours a brown color with minimal carbonation. Smells of strong rum with not much other than that. Tastes like it smells with very little stout taste. Thin mouth feel. I was expecting a little more.

 

super aromatic! nice and rum-my! pours thick, appears thick, but feels thinner on the palate. some 'dirt' in the flavor and lots of alcohol. a genuine sipper. very smooth, silky....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Poured into a Fremont small snifter. Pours pitch black with very little signs of carbonation, but a full pour shows tiny patches and a thin ring of brown foam around the glass. Intense aroma of rum infused alcohol, light toasted malt and molasses, a hint of solvent when opened, but more pleasant and boozy when poured. Flavor is molasses, toasted malt, rum, licorice, overipe dark fruit, finishing with rum soaked plums and mild dark toasted malt. Medium bodied with light, but sufficient carbonation. Quite boozy and the strong alcohol and rum is not quite supported by the malt body, which is mild, but tastes pretty good, leaving me wishing for more. Lots of rum, licorice and molasses, this really does make me think of a strong Caribbean drink with pirates, probably out of a axe opened keg. The individual components seem like they would be off-putting, but (perhaps because of the powerful ABV), I really enjoyed this after the first few sips. Interesting. I was ready for modest scores on this one after the first sip, but this really grew on me and I started appreciating the rich rum flavors. Tasty, but odd imperial stout. Flavor works; needs to work on look and feel.