Rhythm Of The NIght (Batch 4)
River Roost Brewery

 

Picked this up at the brewery in September while on vacation and stored @ 50 degrees. Bottled on 9/4/19 in 375 ml bottle poured into a DFH tulip. Slight foamy tan head which faded rapidly into a ring over a dark inky body. Could smell the boozy sweetness as soon as I popped the cap. Brown sugar, dark fruit, molasses and rye whisky aromas. Can't really detect the stout presence in the smell or taste; definitely more of an old ale/barleywine feel. Taste is superb with the smell components plus a leather presence. Mouthfeel is suitably chewy with still a slight carbonation lightness. I'm really glad I picked this up. I'm not sure what further aging would have accomplished because this tastes wonderfully balanced with no hop presence to fade.

L - 1-finger foamy hazelnut head atop a cola-black body.

S - whiskey, caramel, vanilla, molasses.

T - caramel at first, then slight chocolate, toffee, vanilla, fig, oak, rye, molasses, leather, dark fruits. Low bitterness. Moderate sweetness. Moderate-low booziness.

F - medium body with average carb.

O - an unusual blend, but it ends up being successful. The barleywine component stands out a lot more than the stout, but there is a layer of chocolate coating the dark fruit and caramel tastes from the barleywine. I really dig the novelty.

Sampling a cellar temp 375 ml bottle poured into my snifter. Courtesy of a trade with @jhavs, thank you!
Bottled 9-4-2019. Sampled 1-3-2020.
The beer pours a deep coffee brown to black color with almost no light passing through my glass. A thin beige head foams up .3 cm and fades to the thinnest of edge layers soon after the pour.
The aroma is pretty bold with a good hit of booze and rye whiskey notes with some brown sugar and dark fruit and a bit of molassess. No real roast or chocolate notes, which steer my head away from the imperial stout side of this blend and more to the barleywine and strong ale side.
The first sip reveals a thick body with sticky texture and very fine and tingly carbonation. Feels like a sipping beer in physical traits. Flavor is fairly sweet, with caramel and brown sugar mixing with some dark fruit (plums and raisins). I also get a bit of rye whiskey sweetness and dont find any hop character to speak of here. I also dont get dark chocolate or any roasted character, again highlighting that the imperial stout has been buried by the strong ale in this blend. The ABV is hidden in terms of no heat or peppery bitterness and the beer coats my palate after each swallow.
A nice robust brew on the sweeter side of things and perfect for a cold evening, even better if I was in front of a fire. I enjoy this and am glad Ive got a second in the cellar, although I wont wait long as I dont suspect aging will do anything to enhance this one.
Very nice malty brew!