Harviestoun Ola Dubh (12 Year Old)

Brewed by Harviestoun
Style: Old Ale
Alva, Central, Scotland

33cl, bottle no 11322, Sept 07. Opaque black with the creamiest, lasting inch of non-nitro head you’ll ever see. Smoky-sweet aroma of chocolate, molasses, and hickory-smoked pork. Flavor is a superb blend of the same with some dark fruit, vanilla, charred oak barre, caramel and whiskey. Heavy body is smoooooth and lightly oily, with just enough warming and drying on the finish. Brilliant sipper that could be a gulper. I didn’t give this one a 5.0 because Nirvana is the only place for that, but oh my Buddha....

Here we go folks. This one pour blackish with a modest spattered head that reduces slowly leaving behind textbook lacework. The aroma is delicious to say the least with an aroma I remember from childhood. It was a smoky marinade recipe for pork chops that my grandfather held close to his vest. It was an aroma that made my mouth water. Smoky Worcestershire, leather, iodine, grilled steak, and dough. Medium nectar and low carbonation with soft and creamy effers. Mildly sweet and smoky with a moderate roast. A defined and penetrating bittering component adds to this complex brew a worthy drinkability. Flavors of smoky sweet malts, roasted peat and coffee bean, leather, iodine, Worcestershire sauce, cocoa, aspirin. The finish is bittered well and a smoky lingering like a fire put out stains my palate. Overall: this is a rather exotic brew with defined barrel influence although mild. It’s refined rather than over the top and very delicious indeed.

a wonderful beer, although i have never had the base ale. poured DARK with a quickly dissapating head of oak brown color.served in a snifter, it brought images of huge casks, warm forests and a cigar by the hearth when smelt. the first taste brought oily smoke, peat, and WHISKEY!. after letting sit and warm, molasses and pronounced smoke malts shone thru.all in all, wonderful beer, and by far the best barrel aged ale ever tasted by me.bought at windmill farms in san diego. now,THANK YOU TO THE IRS FOR PROVIDING ME WITH THIS AND MANY OTHER BEERS DUE TO REFUND, CHEERS!

courtesy of Laurent Mousson - dark black colour with a little dark beige head; roasted aroma of dark chocolate and cocoa, rich and robust; a touch of vanilla and highland whisky; oily and full-bodied, very bitter; long bitter chocolatey, roasted aftertaste - what a beer!

What an aroma! should get a 12! Flavor doesn’t start with ehaviness but it grows into an intense finish. Sweet and intense, yet it doesn’t seem to strong. Best aroma of the bunch.

11.2 oz. brown, longneck bottle. Number 19403/Sept 2007 date code on front label. Poured out an inky black, viscous and almost still. Aromas are definite whiskey barrel, oak, vanilla, and barrel house funk. Flavors are of vanilla, oak wood, burnt sugars, honey coated espresso beans, strong roasted malts. Wildflower honey in the finish. Not your typical Old Ale by any means. Finished like a Turkish coffee spiked with a shot of Scotch Whisky. Damn tasty ale overall.

Got this at Sam’s in Chicago last week. Poured with a tan head and some lace. Has very pleasing color highlights. Looking straight through it’s about opaque. Nice roasty, whiskey, malt, chocolate, ripe dark fruit nose. Flavor’s the same but much more full. Really pick up the whisky and a bit of oak. Little sweet on tongue sides and tip. Great body and carbonation. Boozy. Nice long rich finish. No way a session. Great for after dinner or on a dreary day.

Una buena old ale, hay que probar las otras. Black. Long tan creamy head. Aroma: Smokey chocolate malt. Flavor: Smokey chocolate malt, scotch. Bitter-sweet finish.