Harviestoun Old Engine Oil (Bottle)

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

Black colour with chocolate aroma and flavour mixed with smooth finish. Pours like a stout, looks like a stout but isn’t a stout. Instead it’s better.

Bottle L8074A. Smells like a stout. Dark beer, tan head. Nice smooth texture. Bittersweet, with the bitter coming more from roasted grains than from hops. Slight fruitiness as well. Good beer, but I don’t detect all the complexity that others seem to.

Is there a better feeling than walking into a crappy liquor outlet expecting to grab a dull local six-pack and instead finding a beer you have wanted to try for years? There was a time not so long ago when this ranked amongst the most highly regarded ales in Scotland. The bar has been raised since then but this is still a fine old ale. Normally I like to drink strong dark ales at room temperature but this one is astringent enough to be worth chilling. Impenetrable teak colour with a dollop of beige shaving foam. Excellent head retention. Sweet aroma of cocoa powder, figs, caramelised sugars and licorice, plus nose-prickling white pepper. Medium bodied and creamy in the swallow. Some Milo chocolate malts and blackcurrant fruitiness before a hot finish with some licorice root astringency. Tarry malts and bitumen. Tastes like a bigger beer. A very satisfying nightcap. (330ml bottle from Vintage Cellars, Clovelly. BB Sep 09)

Pretty darn good, very crisp for such a deep array of flavors. Pitch black with no head on a very aggresive pour into a Chimay glass. Smells of malts and coffee, tastes of malts coffee, prunes, maybe grapes add the crispness. Great if you want a porter that is not too filling. Would go very well Peking Duck. Only 1.99 per bottle at Gulf Liquors in Miami Beach.

Dark black pour with a thin head. I actually found this a little boring. Roasted malt, nuts. and some chocolate on the nose. A bit of coffee roast and light chocolate along with a mild bitterness.

Sampled during Cellar’s Wine & Spirits weekly beer tasting in St Paul, MN. Pours an opaque nearly black brew with a thin tan head that has some nice retention. Aroma of dark chocolate, toasted dark malt with a hint of vanilla and oak. Taste is full bodied, with flavors of toasted dark malt, chocolate, a hint of plum and vanilla. Finish has a nice toasted dark malt and some light vanilla aftertaste.

Pitch black in colour, completely opaque - a bit hazy with a small light brown head - hardly anything. Aroma of whiskey, vanilla, peanuts, caramel, roasted malt & some light chocolate. Light to Medium-bodied; Strong oak, whiskey & malt flavours fading to a light tannic bitterness. An odd beer-not too complex, but decent. Overall, good to try, but not my favourite of the style. I sampled this 33 cL bottle purchased at Whole Foods in Vienna, Virginia on 27 May 2005 on the Eastern Shore of Virginia.

An appropriately named beer, this baby is motor-oil black as advertised. Aroma is subdued but chocolate and roasted malts come through with a vinous quality. Some toasted bread and coffee are present as well. Bittersweet and roasty with more hop flavor than I was expecting. A light fruitiness swims beside caramel, baker’s cocoa and burnt coffee. Full-bodied and chewy with little carbonation. Much like a sweet stout or porter. A delight to drink.