Innis & Gunn Oak Aged Beer (Bottle)

Brewed by Belhaven (Greene King)
Style: English Strong Ale
Dunbar, East Lothian, Scotland

Pours crystal clear copper with a small head. Aroma at first was skunk, but quickly changed to whiskey and port.Flavor is mostly sweet with nice oak and vanilla touches. Extremely easy to drink. I really really enjoyed this.

Bottle poured a clear amber with a large lasting amber head. Aromas of carmel, oak and vanilla. Palate was light bodied and smooth. Flavors of oak, carmel, vanilla, light whiskey and light toffee with a smooth lingering finish.

33cl bottle poured half filled into 33cl glass with stem, 07/06/07. Served at room temperature. Appearance: Golden brown, rich and clear. Large thick white head reduces to a small light white head after two minutes which then holds up for duration of tasting. Aroma: Noticed while pouring, vanilla, vanilla, vanilla! Toffee aslo noticed in the background. Taste: Oak is there but again vanilla rules over. Toffee noted again along with very slight citrus bite. Slight fizz but generally a very smooth beer. Verdict: A smooth, warm beer with lots of character.

Bottled, 330ml, pasteurised. Burnt orange with little lasting head. Strangely I had a light deposit with mine when I poured it. Mellow, smooth flavours synonimous with aged beers, though sweeter than most. There are woody, vanilla notes to the fore with a touch of whisky about it. Malty in a warming way, maybe a little cloying, but a decent enough beer.

A good one for the Summer. Burnt amber in appearance, with little head. The aroma didn’t hit me but the flavours did! A wonderful infusion of vanilla, malt and whiskey, with a hint of sweetness. It is a crisp, refreshing ale, with flavours bursting on the taste buds. The best thing about this ale is the warm glow left on the palate and its lingering flavours that stay with you for some time. Definately one to serve chilled.

A clear bottle always makes me nervous, and this beer was somewhat skunky. So this review might be considered atypical, but not unfair -- if you use a clear bottle, you take your chances. It had a golden pale caramel color, with some malty aroma finding its way through the skunkiness. There wasn’t a lot of flavor -- a little oak up front, but otherwise this struck me as a fairly standard Euro-lager. The finish was smooth and clean. Average at best.

Pours a dark orange, brown colour, with very little head which is odd. Smells strange, malts, alcohol, I guess the strange aspects come from the "oak-aging" in barrels used to make scotch. Taste is strong, very little hops or even malts, all I could taste at first was alcohol and whisky. It’s pretty alcoholic tasting for something that’s only 6.6%, which isn’t all THAT much. There’s some vanilla and caramel notes hidden amongst the woody-barrel and scotch tastes. Aftertaste is sweet and bordering on pleasant. The aroma is kind of getting on my nerves. Seems like they might have gone a little overboard on the whisky aspect, which kind of leaves me feeling like if you want to something that tastes like whisky then just drink whisky, and leave the poor vat of beer alone. This beer costs more and is not worth it in the end IMHO. I’m not proud, but this was my first serious DRAIN POUR.

Bottle. Pours a cream soda color with a sliver of a head and not a whole lot of carbonation. Nose is wood over a beery scent. Flavor is sweetened oak muting the underlying funk/beer notes. I enjoyed the flavors stemming from the time spent in the oak barrels, however, I was disappointed in the overall beery flavors. It was balanced but leaned to the caramel tones. This beer has potential and maybe if it is fresh, it is much better. Additionally, at $5 a bottle, I rather doubt I will be experimenting with this beer again in the future.