Beer Name: Rum Cask

Brewery: Innis & Gunn
Beer style: English Strong Ale
ABV: 7.4%
IBU: Unknown
Size: 11.2 oz bottle
Beer Advocate Score: 83
Rate Beer Score: 81

Barrel-aged beers are becoming more and more popular, you see them everywhere now; most bars I go to have at least one available to purchase in one way or another, and it seems that just about everybody is trying to do new and exciting things with their aging. You see whiskey barrels, and chardonnay barrels, and pinot noir barrels, and plain oak barrels, and charred oak barrels, and french oak, and american oak, and … well you get the picture. I will admit, the first barrel-aged beer I had I hated (hint it comes from Kentucky) and I shied away from them for some time there after; but, after tasting some different things that barrel aging can do for a beer (mellowing, adding vanilla notes, souring), I was caught – hook, line, and sinker. So when I saw a beer that was aged in rum barrels, I picked it up without even thinking.

Innis and Gunn is a Scottish brewery that apparently ages every beer they make in some sort of oak; the beer I am drinking, their Rum Cask beer, was aged 57 days in rum-infused oak barrels. The beer pours a dark brown with a tinge of red, with very little head that dissipates very quickly. It smells sweet with a hit of spices, kinda what you would expect from a rum-aged beer. It as a watery mouthfeel that holds onto the side of your mouth very lightly. It tastes sweet upfront and then follows with some very slight bitterness and finishes very rum spicy. It is not the most exciting thing in the world; however, it is very easy to drink.

Ratings:

Sessionability: I give it a 3-pack. It is a smooth drink but by the end of the beer the spiciness had started to wear on me, I could have drunk a couple more but that would be the end of it for sure.

Overall: I give it a 3-pack. It was okay. I wouldn’t turn it down if it was offered to me, and I will drink the rest that came in the 4-pack, just not today.

Would be best consumed: This beer might be really good with some Caribbean dishes like conch fritters.