Harviestoun Old Engine Oil Special Reserve

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

Cellars Wine & Spirits in Minnetonka, MN apparently has a hard time keeping this in stock because they have a customer who loves it and keeps buying them out of it. I'm not sure exactly why, but to each his own. Relatively high alcohol aroma with whisky barrel notes evident. Rich, brown sugar. Resembles engine oil in appearance. No head, no lace. Almost fully opaque. Mouthfeel is sour, but still pretty decent. Some coffee notes. A little tough to drink initially. Improves at mid-bottle. Unique. No glaring flaws. At over $3 a bottle, it is overpriced, however.

Bottle: Aroma is coffee, whiskey, and light chocolate. Pours a dark brown, virtually black, with a decent tan head with fair retention. Flavor is salty chocolate, coffee, and fruit. Whiskey flavor and a sourness become noticeable in the finish. Sourness comes on rather strong. Could do with out it. Very little aftertaste.

Pours deep ruby/mahogony with a lacey rocky brown head. Alcohol nose. Big mouthfeel. Toasted malts, raisin, wine, grape wood and leather. Candy sugar. Some chocolate a bit of fennel. Sour citric finish.

Dark black color, dark as the naked November sky, with a thick, creamy toasted cocoa-tan head, that softly simmers down. Aroma: sharp and whiskeyish at first, quite outstanding, thick and syrupy, dark and twisted, with hints of anise and spice, dark rum, and the darker, stickier fruits (rasins, dates, etc). I like it! Taste: treacly sweet at first, thick and fruity, with very little hops involved, but solid, tremendous malt. Reminds me some of Samuel Adams Triple Bock. Halfway through, the taste is smoother, easier to take, yet still resounds with dark, whiskeyish sensations. The a potent bite at the end, a profoundly prunish character that clings to the tongue and plays awhile in the mouth. I, for one, liked it. Quite a unique little brew, a nice change-up for now and then.

11.13.04 11.2oz bottle. Black pour with medium, creamy, lasting head. Aromas of the obvious (chocolate, peat, dirt) and the fantastic (barrel pitch, vanilla, black olive brine, whiskey) engulf my head. Not all of them pleasant, but all fascinating, it’s a sniffer that begs NOT to be sniffed. The first sip is boggling...it’s as if a whiskey barrel aged stout has been stripped of its stoutities and laid bare before me. You want barrel aged, well here it is. Wild stuff, really, again, not entirely pleasant. A fitting acidic tartness/sourness smacks the palate towards the finish and that olive brine comes back with a vengance. A truly unctuous beer, the coating palate persists. Other flavors of note include some prune/plum, tar, vanilla bean, cognac. An experience indeed.

A pitch black beer with a fine brown head. The aroma is roasted with notes of chocolate. The flavor is smooth with notes of roasted malt and bread as well ad chocolate.

Bottle. Pours deep black. Very minimal head. Moderate to sparse lacing. Very definate aroma of barrel aging. Hints of oak and whiskey, fruit aromas also. Body is medium-full. Very smooth. Rich malt with whiskey twinges in the taste. Hops are fairly mellow, earthy. Pretty tasty.

Dark brown/black; after I poured it, the head rose up light bown and an inch high; left a thin veil of lace on the way down the glass. Aroma is dark fruits, hops, roast and sweetness. Flavor is a thick and smooth palate of plum, smokey malts and an oaky slightly bitter finish. I was amazed at the burst of flavors that overtook me AFTER I swallowed the beer - "what the....??" - unexpected and fantastic!