Captain Lawrence Smoke from the Oak (Rum Barrel)

Sampled at the ’09 RBPTE, courtesy of MrChopin. Light rum aroma with notes of plum, date, wood, and toffee. Light yeasty character with molasses, caramel, and a toasted, nutty grain. Brown lightly murky body topped with light brown fair lacing head. Thin watery body with lively carbonation. Heavy sweetness to this with molasses, rum, and toffee. Sweetness lasts with just a bit of bitter finish.

Bottle. [thank you, madmitch76]
Pours clear dark ruby red with a big, pretty, fizzy, beige head. Settles as a thin film. Aroma is tart, light brett, some liqourice, plums, cherries, light smoke and a wonderful dark chocolate note. Medium carbonation, super impressive dry mouthfeel. Flavour is light oaky tart and bretty at first. Then oaky flavours abound, rum shines through. Then super dryness and that wonderful dark chocolate. Light bitterness, a tad vinious and very subdued smoke.

Slightly funky aroma of whiskey, sugars and a little roast. Flavors of roast, cherries, rum and a slight tartness. Excellent.

Pours a deep dark black that is all but completely opaque aside from very slight deep dark mahogany edges when held up to a light source. Two finger frothy dark beige head that slowly fades into a lasting ring and cap that leaves splotchy lacing in it’s path. Nice funky aroma with lots of oak and vanilla notes from the aging and a very prominent strong rum presence. Underneath there is a nice roasty maltiness with notes of chocolate, caramel, oatmeal, toffee and subtle hops. Very vinous and vinegary smelling as well. Funky tart mouthfeel that is very vinous up front with a sweet alcohol rum flavor and thick roasty maltiness underneath. Heavily carbonated with a slightly creamy body and a puckering dry finish. Lots of warmth from the alcohol. Lots of tart vinegary sour oak flavor up front that dominates throughout. Huge rum/spirit presence with a decent amount of alcohol heat. There is a bit of a vanilla characteristic from the oak aging but the flavor is dominated by the sweet alcohol/rum. Roasty maltiness underneath with hints of oatmeal, toffee, chocolate and bitter hops. Also hints of dark fruit notes; dark cherry, plum, raisin, etc. Sweet alcohol warmth in the dry finish. This is a complex beer with a lot of unique flavors that are overshadowed by the strong vinegary oak rum presence. Probably my least favorite of the three Smoke from the Oaks.

An extravagant thanks goes out to MrChopin for this special brew! Had the pleasure of sampling this at the 7/9/2009 Pittsburgh RB tasting extravaganza (PGHRBEXT) at the Sharp Edge Creekhouse. It will be a long time, if ever I see a spread of bottles like I did there. I am not good enough for the beers that were that we served! For example, how about this beer: cptn Lawrence rem barrel aged! Weird sour cola aroma. Big fizzy foamy head. Head fades rapidly. Looks like cola on the pour. Initial taste is spicy and sour, like a lambic porter if that was possible. Can’t really taste any opf the rum barrel effects in here. Overall good beer tasting experience, thanks Kev!

This one poured a dark brown color with a small off white head. Aroma was roasted, chocolate, sourness and hints of rum as well. Flavor was smooth silky chocolate, nice and toasted, and a residual sourness that im not sure is supposed to be there, but it seems to work and make this brew very unique. The rum catches the tip of the tongue right at the end of the swallow.

A very different kind of beer. Sampled from a 750 ml brown bottle this beer poured a black color with a medium sized tan head. The aroma was tangy, fruity, sour and tart. The flavor was a very intriguing mix of dryish, roasty and smoky malts mixed with a strong tart, sour and fruity undertone. The finish was long, tart, malty, sour and pleasantly unusual. Medium body. Very interesting.

Had this one at the RB Pittsburgh tasting. Smell has a hint of a sour, is that intentional? It works. Spicy, sour, a tad oxidized and smokey. Good, short of great.