Liquid Confidential - Rhum Barrel-Aged
To Øl

375 mL bottle. Black with a touch of transparency. Thin khaki head. Smells of licorice, chocolate, and a moderate pepper aroma. Tastes really sweet. Chocolate. Licorice. A bit of banana and bubble gum. Rum and oak in the back end. Moderate pepper flavor and a light spice to go with it. Heavy and sweet. Has a strong European stout character before the sweetness, barrel, and peppers take over. I prefer the European stout flavor over the adjuncts.

A: Poured into a snifter to a deep black topped by a finger of dense tan head that fades slowly to a collar around the edge of the glass with some lacing
S: Smells of chocolate covered espresso beans with some chili pepper heat along with some hints of rum barrels
T: Taste is dark chocolate and coffee with some nice roasted notes. Good peppery heat coming through as well along with some hints of those rum barrels. Slight smoke and char coming in as well. Swallow is cocoa powder, rum barrels, charred wood, and some lingering coffee.
M: This beer is fairly thick in body with a slightly silky mouthfeel. Carbonation is soft but adequate for the style and the beer has a drying finish
O: Overall this one is pretty solid. not a lot of heat but it builds slowly and you know it is there. Very nice flavors and complexity but I wish the barrels would have been a little more forward. Instead they play a backing role. Overall this one is worth a try if you can find it.

 

 

An excellent chili stout.

Poured from a 12.7 oz bottle (further aged in my collection for at least 6 months) into a balloon glass, this beer has a thick head of rich tan foam.

The aroma is sweet with the presence of roasted malts and a hint of chili spice. The taste follows the aroma with a good balance of sweetness and roasted malts, but with a good assertive chili pepper heat that is well balanced within the other flavors. The high alcohol content is well masked by the collection of other flavors present in the beer.

Excellent feel to this beer as well, with a thick creamy mouthfeel that really completes the overall experience with a big beer like this one.

Overall: One of the best stouts I have had the pleasure of enjoying. Would definitely buy another bottle if I could find one, even at the steep price ($13.50 for 12.7 oz).

Sidebar - I definitely prefer this type of sweet/chili-peppered stouts that EXCLUDE any cinnamon found in many other stouts that feature the chili pepper heat. I find the cinnamon to be frequently overpowering and heavy-handed, overshadowing the other flavors.

 

 

The beer comes in a black color with a dark brown, fluffy head.

The aroma hits of licorice spice, huge brown sugary sweetness, toffee, cocoa, medium roast, umami, savory peppers, mole.

The flavor follows with big white sugar, sweet dark rum, onto cocoa, bit of umami and smoke, more savory dried peppers without much heat to speak of, with sweet rum barrel character finish. The beer is sweet, a touch thin at medium mouthfeel, but surely drives well on the palate for its ABV.

This immediately became a top 10 favorite beer and certainly in the top 5 for imperial stouts. A truly impressive effort by To 01 Brewery. Gonna try to get back to where I bought this and find another one or two.

Pours semi-thin for the style and high abv, but dark brown in appearance and surprisingly transparent with some frothy light brown foam that stays.

Dark chocolate, caramel, spiced rum, and a nicely subtle peppery spicy heat.

Fudge and dark chocolates, toffee, caramel, sugarcane sweetness, spiced rum, and a light dose of spicy peppers.

Medium-heavy bodied, low carbonation, subtle spiciness, and very warming.

Overall, I was truly astounded at how great this beer is. A spicy and warming sipper for a cold spring night.

 

From a 375 ml bottle (best by August 13, 2020) into a snifter.

A-An aggressive pour yields about a finger of foam. The head is dark-mocha brown in color and leaves spots of lace on the glass. Retention is pretty good too. The liquid underneath is pitch black and still. Nice looking beer.

S-The aroma is sweet, but somewhat vague. I am picking up some brownie batter, caramel, raisin, and toffee. Maybe some grape? It is pleasant smelling but I'm not picking up much in the way of chili or r(h)um barrel.

T-The taste is similar to the smell. I get some marshmallow creaminess, caramel, toffee, some fudge, and a very mild suggestion of coffee. I taste only the faintest wisp of chili heat on the finish. It is just a tickle on the palate that I might not even have noticed had I not been looking for it. Alcohol is well hidden.

M-The body is creamy with smooth carbonation and little bit of stickiness.

O-I think this is my first To Ol beer and it was suggested to me as a comparison to Pirate Bomb. I haven't had Pirate Bomb, but I have had a few other variants and I prefer them to this beer. Perhaps my palate was off tonight, but this beer was a little simple and I missed the chili and barrel notes.

 

 

Enjoyed on 1/15/16

This beer is exceptional. It starts as a solid imperial stout with numerous chiles/peppers and then they age it in rum barrels to almost sweeten it up some. I was super impressed with this one. The taste is great and the chiles are at the back end but not overpowering by any means. Just the right amount. Just how I like my stouts too. Oily, viscous with a lasting mouth feel. Get yourself one. I doubt you will be disappointed.

Bottle purchased at Brockport Beverage in Brockport, NY.

This one pours like many imperial stouts, really dark, with a small head, and a good amount of lacing.

Smells like chili peppers, fudgy chocolate, oak, vanilla, roasted malt, and earthy spiced rum.

This is an absolute delight. The peppers add a spiciness that lightly lingers, with some nice oak, a really nice down and dirty earthy spiced r(h)um flavor that's well integrated, and lots of deep dark chocolate. This is really stunning.

This is pretty rich and thick, with a creamy mouthfeel and a normal level of carbonation.

Probably the best beer I've had from To Ol. Unreal quality.

375ml bottle, poured into a To Øl teku glass. Enjoyed on 1.2.2016, reviewed from Tasting Journal.

The beer pours a lovely jet black color, thick and viscous with nice solid finger of foamy, khaki head, amazing retention yielding loads of spotted lace. The aroma is nice, plenty of rum barrel, a bit of spice as well which brings out the chili pepper blend, mild heat that is nicely layered into aromas of chocolate, oak and a bit of raisin and plum. The flavors are great, heaps of dark chocolate, smooth and rich, oak, spiced rum, raisin before a nice, warming pepper presence creeps out, bringing out some roast and char in the beer. The peppers never overwhelm and actually provide a really pleasant flavor that blends in very well with the rest of the components. The mouthfeel is great, thick body but soft and gentle, coating with low carbonation, but certainly enough to sustain the body. A smooth finish turns lightly dry from the chilis.

Verdict: A very nice chili stout from To Øl. Mild pepper and just the right amount of barrel character and wonderful balance. Not quite as delicious as the Cognac variant, but this is an excellent beer that anyone who likes a stout with chilis will enjoy.