Innis & Gunn Original Oak Aged Beer

Innis & Gunn
Brewed at Belhaven (Greene King)
Style: English Strong Ale
Edinburgh, Scotland

Serve in English pint, Trappist glass

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UPDATED: AUG 21, 2007 Oct, 2003Brewed under contract by Belhaven from an idea by Russel Sharp, ex head brewer at Caledonian. This is a well behaved beer with the dead palate you get from bottled beers. The vanilla notes are interesting, and the overall impression is of the caramelly, malt whiskey beers the French love. The aroma is more interesting than pleasant. It has the elements of a good aroma: vanilla, mould, damp freshly cut oak; but the whole thing, despite being painstakingly authentic, smells artificial, plastic, off-putting. The huge caramel flavours in the middle are over-powering, plastic and again very off-putting. As leaparsons says, this is like Desperado: a beer concept for those who don’t really love beer. The result is a rather unpleasant mess. The over-indulgent packaging, the signatures at the bottom approving the brew for bottling, the little booklet emphasising the special "hand cut oak", which reads like those adverts in the Sunday papers for special collectors editions of figurines of puppies eating slippers, should have warned that this is a beer more about the marketing than the beer. If they ship this to America they’ll end up millionaires. [2.3]
May, 2006Blind Tasting: Stinking rotting toffee. Pasteurised. Foul. Sweet. Marstons? [1.7]
Aug, 2007 This gets worse every time I drink it. I suppose it could be associational - though the last time was a blind tasting. This is nasty stuff. Sweet toffee and vanilla. Chemical. Off flavours. Forced carbonation. Pasteurised. A dreadful beer. This is like flavoured coffee. A daft idea for people who don’t like or understand beer. This is the pits. This is about as bad as a beer can get. I hate it. I can’t drink it. Drainpour. [0.5]

Vanilla, caramel, honey and a slight hint of whisky. Quite superb beer with a long aftertaste.

Heavy dose of vanilla, which reminds you right away that this is a beer from the land of whiskey. Light copper tone of an IPA. Woody, smokey and vanilla, reminiscent of spiced rum. Body is pretty light in spite of the syrupy feel of the beer. Heavier versions of this product are far better; this one’s body doesn’t balance with its bite.

12 ounce bottle that poured a light yellow color, aromas of oak, and rancid cream soda. Flavor is the same, slammed the beer so I wouldn’t have to drink it over time. This was mostly a horrible cream soda that went bad.

A really nice beer with a delicious taste of oak and a great golden color. Great bottle.

I must admit this is something different. That’s for sure. Still, I don’t find it very nice. If you like vanilla flavours in drinks with already a fruity character and if you enjoy whiskey.. Probably you’ll like this. Light/medium body, nice head that dissappears quickly. Not my kind of beer, yet I admit it’s different from others. Prost!

A pretty nice flavor of cask and well rounded. Light amber in color with a white head.

330ml bottle. Small head with low retention. Clear orange colour. Hopy-grassy-oak barrel nose. Sweet taste, very sweet, with vanilla, caramel and toffee. Doubt I’ll want to try it again.

clear bottle, so it comes autoskunked. stupid stupid stupid. coppery with no head. amazing mix of flavors. vanilla, toffee and rum are strong. slightly woody. mild carbonation. would love to have this on tap or in a brown bottle.

A clear golden colored beer, with a small foamy white head. The aroma of hops with fruits like citrus and orange. The taste of sweet fruits, bitter hops and some caramel.

On draft at the Morris Tap & Grill. Honey colored complexion. Very smooth and silky palate. On draft from a newly tapped fresh keg. Easy to session.