Black Bombs Over Barley
Barreled Souls Brewing Company

Poured at fridge temp. Pours a nice dark brown - almost black. The nose is insane. Huge notes of gooey toffee, vanilla, light rum, raisins, dark cherries, and brown sugar. Damn this is nice.

The taste is really interesting. The sweet bourbon is strong here. Graham cracker, toffee, light chocolate, sweet red grapes, strawberry jam, and a bit of honey. I can detect the rum barrel on the aftertaste - like a solid 10 seconds after it's gone down. Super smooth and mildly sweet barleywine. Although I can taste the bourbon, it doesn't overpower in a boozy way. Really nice.

The mouthfeel is medium bodied with a sweet rum and bourbon aftertaste. Great beer overall.

Sampling a cellar temp bottle poured into my snifter. Picked up at the brewery last August and has been in my cellar since then. Bottled on 6/30/2025.
The beer pours a dark black coffee color with no light passing through my glass. Much darker pour than I expected to be honest.
A dense creamy head of 1.5 cm foams up and gradually fades to a sturdy edging layer , I get dense clingy lattice when I swirl the glass or take a sip. Sort of sticky legs like a merlot slide down the glass behind the lattice.
Aroma is a mix of malt character with dark chocolate and fudge mixing with raisins and some sweet bourbon. I do get a little bit of rum note and some brown sugar. Nose tends to be sweeter side, but isnt cloying or candylike. No hop character here and its not particularly boozy on the nose either.
First sip reveals a medium body with very fine and tingly carbonation, only lightly sticky texture and the beer drinks pretty easy. A little coating on my palate after each sip and hints of warming on the swallow too. So definitely some warnings of the higher octane of this beer!
FLavor is what the nose advertised, again malt forward with some chocolate covered raisin and toffee notes mixing with a little bourbon and some sweeter rum, and hints of charred wood and a little roast too. No fusol bitey flavor and no hop character here either. Are there any hops in this beer?
This is quite tasty , I am glad the rum isnt overpowering, as its not my favorite booze. This has a prett complex and well working flavor profile, and Im sure the ABV is going to sneak up on me by the end of the bottle. Id drink this one again.

Dark molasses, a hint of roasty chocolate malts, dried prunes and raisins, and a bourbon barrel and a spiced rum barrel nose on this one! Taste follows with some chocolate cake drizzled in caramel, dark fruits, and a bourbon/rum barrel boozy finish...pretty balanced between the bwizzle notes and the stout vibes. This is good!

Pours an oily-looking very dark cola color that looks black in the glass. About 3/4 inch of tan foam at its peak. Short-lived and it vanishes fast. There's a weak ring of microbubbles at the edge.

The smell is luscious but not heavy. The combo of the rum and bourbon is smooth and well integrated. Plenty of the dark fruit cast is in play - fig, dates, prune, cherry. Sugary sweetness from the rum. A very faint vanilla and a little milk chocolate.

The taste is silky smooth but it comes in little waves. The base beer is very apparent - never fully overshadowed by the other players. Bourbon speaks up first - a little sharp hit that rises above for a microsecond - slightly smokey and woody. Just a tad of vanilla. Then Jamaica rolls in with a velvety sweet rum flavor. The malts come back with a nice milk chocolate and just a little bit of sweet coffee. While all that's going on, there's plenty of dark fruit and a bit of toffee flavor. Very late in the taste there's a spice hit - something like clove and anisette and a bit of white pepper. As it warms some woodiness emerges.

It's surprisingly light feeling - while slightly sweet it's not syrupy. It's really pushing the salivary response.

The rum barrel really adds a new dimension and smooths the sharper taste of the Bourbon. The specialty malts add subtleties of milk chocolate and coffee. I think as it warms more there's a bit of a wheaty almost rye-like tang as well.