Big Bang Russel's Reserve Rye and Roaming Road Rum
Barreled Souls Brewing Company

Drop dead beautiful pour. It's a deep coppery/garnet red color with the right light. Spritely, lively, short-lived khaki bubbles. Vanishes without a trace. The liquid appears still.

When it's cold, it's a boozy onslaught on the nose. Spicy rye, sweet rum, a little woody. As it warms, Big Bang OG (which I've tasted at the tasting room plenty, but not reviewed) speaks up - caramel, toffee, dark fruit, even more brown sugar. I get a little honey or maple aroma as a side note. But no doubt - this is ALL about those barrels.

I don't know if I can do the taste justice here. There's a lot to unravel. The rye and rum barrels are both easily identifiable individually, but they combine to become something else entirely. They play off each other - one sip it's rye, next sip is rum and it all jumbles up together into a really happy place with the sweet rum mellowing the sharper, tangier whiskey. It is sweet but not too sweet - plenty of molasses/brown sugar flavor but not necessarily all the sweetness. There's dried dark fruit - not sure but I'll go dates and figs maybe a wee bit of dark sweet cherry. I still think I get some maple-like flavor. On the back end, the booziness kinda wins out. Rather hefty alcohol spiciness adds on the spiciness of the rye. A little aggressive sting carrys over.

Feel is a little sticky but it's fairly dry on the finish if thag makes sense. The body is medium, almost leaning to light, which makes it deadly drinkable at 17.2% despite the bite from the alcohol. Light feel for the style, to nitpick. It's not heavy enough to remind me to go slow is what I mean.

Very good combination of barrel treatments. This would age wonderfully.