Olvalde Ode to a Russian Shipwright

Brewed by Olvalde Farm and Brewing Company
Style: Imperial/Strong Porter
Rollingstone, Minnesota USA

Serve in Shaker, Snifter

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(750ml flip-top bottle, courtesy of blutt59) Pours a murky amber-brown body with a medium dense tan head. Aroma of roasted malt, sulfur, caramel, light charred grains, and spruce. Flavor of spruce, coffee, raisins,roasted malt, sulfur, earth, vanilla, and toffee with a dry finish.

Super unique. Large amount of spruce and some chocolate in nose. Taste follows suit. Really interesting. Some malty sweetness and a little sourness on the finish

At Stillwater Brewers Bazaar 7, Dark brown pour, fizzy tan head. Aroma of malt and lots of spruce, taste is sweet malt and spruce

Flip top, thanks to khoffman, dark brown color with some tan foam, aroma is malty chocolate, spruce , gingerbread comes through in the flavor, aromatic woody chocolate finish

Really like the spruce elements to this porter - gives it uniqueness. I actually had this beer mulled, but still like it. Side Note: I’m going to try mulling other beers...

Lots of head, big fluff on dark brown body (too much head?). Noticeable spruce nose. But the flavor--wow, it hit me hard. Pine and hops, to be sure, but the spruce was really dramatic. I got used to it, especially as it warmed, and my wife and sister were o.k. with it, but my brother-in-law and I were really put off initially by the bathroom freshener quality of the spruce. Bottle.

Bottle. Pours black with nice, dense head. Aroma is piney spruce with nice roasted malts. Flavor is malts, resiny malts with a nutty aftertaste. Very unique, loving this brewery

In short: A creamy and slightly chocolaty porter with weird spruce character. Meh.
How: Bottle 750ml, flip-top. Consumed approximately 8 months of age its initial release. Bottle sent to me by oakbluff, thanks Scott.
The look: Black body topped by a medium tan head leaving an enormous amount of lacings on the glass.
In long: Nose is roasted with upfront spruce branches and notes of chocolate, smelling a chocolate muffin next to a Christmas tree. However as the beer warmed up the aromatic spruce started to come through as more and more artificial, like perfumy little tree car air freshener. Taste is a bit weird. The malt backbone is pleasant with creamy chocolaty cake malts backed up by molasses and roast. Very full body with many soft bubbles. But the expected spruce flavor turns out tasting like Irish Spring™ soap, green jelly beans and then spruce tree branches. The good equals the bad in this beer and the end-result is just an ok beer at best. I feel like I always find something to complain about in a beer, I feel like I’m becoming a grumpy old man and ratebeer is the front porch I sit on.

This is unlike any Porter I have ever had before....and it tastes awesome! The flavor consists of Spruce, Piney Hops, Oak, Chocolate and Burnt Malts. The taste reminds me of my family’s cabin in Northern Minnesota. It’s unique, flavorful and worth picking up. Note: This was bottled in 2011, I have yet to try out the 2012 edition

750 ml swingtop bottle, 2012 vintage. Served in a snifter, the beer pours dark brown/black with a couple inch frothy tan head that stays around for a while. There’s also a good amount of lacing. Aroma is nice, the brew smells like molasses, spruce, dark fruit, roasted malt, and a bit of smoke. It tastes like dark fruit, molasses, spruce, roasted malt, and some spice and chocolate. Mouthfeel/body is medium/full, it’s coating and creamy with high but soft carbonation. I think it’s a good brew, I know I’d like to have this again. Definitely worth trying.