Harviestoun Ola Dubh (40 Year Old)

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

Serve in English pint, Snifter

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Bottle 330ml. @ home.
[ Trade by cgarvieuk ]. Clear dark black color with a average, frothy to creamy, good lacing, fully lasting, beige head. Aroma is moderate to heavy malty, wood, oak, smoke - peat, vanilla, alcohol - whisky, moderate roasted and chocolate. Flavor is moderate to heavy sweet and moderate bitter with a long duration. Body is medium, texture is oily - creamy, carbonation is soft. [20100130]

Bottled. A pitch black beer with a thin off-white head. The aroma has strong notes of peated malt, smoke, roasted malt, and alcohol. The flavor is sweet with notes of caramel, roasted malt, nuts, peated smoke, leading to a dry smokey finish with a light alco burn. Huge thanks to yespr for sharing.

Bottle 33 cl. Courtesy of yespr. Pours an opaque dark brown with a small, rough beige head. Massive whisky aroma - amazing. Solid body, roasted malts, lots of sweet and oaky accents. Low in carbonation. Warming alcohol finish. 161209

27.5 cL bottle. Pours pitch black with a small tan head. Aroma is solid wooden and vanilla, dark roasted malty. Thick malty and smoked flavoured, dark roasted and vanilla. Smooth wooden and dry. Lingering smoked and malty into the far finish. Nice one.

Bottled@Tuulensuu. Pitch black colour, small brown head. Aroma is oak, vanilla, roasted malts, mild peat and smoke and also some alcohol Funny thing, this one burns a lot more in the flavour than the 18, even though I had them side by side. Usually whiskies melloww out by the tiime... 40 might be a lot fuller, the 18 is much more in balance.

Bottle at home. Black coloured with a medium sized beige head. Fruity aroma of caramel, dark chocolate and whisky with notes of alcohol. Fruity and light roasted flavour of caramel, whisky and alcohol. Roasted and warming alcoholic finish of whisky. The whisky is too dominating.

Bottle, 8.0%. Distinct roasted aroma, old smoke and vanilla. Black colour. Big unstable brown head. The flavour is equally distinct, powerful roasted note, some smoke, hint of vanilla. There is some alcohol in the finish, rather rough, a little burning, but also warming.

Bottle from New Beer Distributors, New York; bottled Jan 2009, 1 year old
parallel tasting with Ola Dubh 30 years old
Black color; beige creamy head. In this version the whisky aroma is more prominent, followed by roasted malt, cream and alcohol; good but less interesting than in the other version.
It has a lean body, not as structured as I would expect; good chocolate flavor, with late caramel and low but present sugars; less liquorice than the other version, cleaner whisky touch.
The final is balanced, roasted malt and chocolate, a bit drier and more alcoholic than the 30 years old. After some time in the glass, it still keeps sharp and it slowly becomes more interesting than the 30 years.

Name: Old Dubh 40
Date: March 07, 2009
Mode: Firkin
Source: Brick Store Pub
Appearance: black, scant head
Aroma: big roasted and scotch aroma, touch of sweetness offset by an earthyness
Flavor: big scotch flavor, lots of complementary roasted malt, plenty of alcohol adds a spicy peppery character that melds well with the scotch, enough sweetness from the alcohol and dark caramel to keep it balanced, finishes hot and roasty with the scotch and roast in perfect harmony
Overall: pick of the litter, has the big scotch character and enough sweetness to keep it balanced and balanced
Aroma: 8/10; Appearance: 6/10; Flavor: 8/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 17/20
Rating: 3.9/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: ***+/4

Near black with a large beige head. Sweet aroma with roasted malt, dark chocolate ad coffee notes. Flavour was sweet with whiskey, burned malt, dark chocolate, vanilla, smoke and peated malt. Finished smoked.