Three Ryes Men: Rum Ball
Reuben's Brews

Poured into a Reuben's Brew small snifter. Pours a completely opaque milky brown, looking like cross between unfiltered apple cider and a caramel milkshake. No head and only a ring of bubbles around the glass. Aroma of caramel malt, toffee, vanilla, coconut and rum. Flavor is caramel malt, rum, milk chocolate, vanilla and coconut. Rum and coconut lingering in the finish. Medium bodied with light to moderate creaminess. Absolutely the oddest looking barleywine (or beer) I've seen. My heart sank when I opened and poured this because it looked so murky I thought something was off. Before I tasted it, I actually checked for photos on the web and sure enough my pour looked just like others. Tasted it cautiously and damn, it was very flavorful with no odd notes. I hadn't made a big mistake cellaring it for a year after all. It actually tastes exactly as described, with the stellar base Three Ryes Men profile, but clear rum barrel character and the flavors of the promised chocolate, vanilla and coconut. It also looks so dense that it could be a cloyingly sweet dessert brew, but although it has a moderate sweetness, it is in line with the base barleywine and not at pastry levels. The flavors are busy, but well integrated. What a pleasant surprise after the unusual pour. This may be one of my favorite tasting varieties of this and I wish I had tried it immediately and bought more bottles. It would have been fun to pour this for someone and see both their expression when it poured (What?) and then when they tasted it (Oh!). Very unusual and very enjoyable. Extra points for the entertainment. I honestly don't know what to score the appearance; could be either a 2 for 'nothing like a barleywine' or 5 for an 'amazing surprise'. I'll score it as 4 because it's cool, but a point off for no head or lacing.