Valhalla Auld Rock

Brewed by Valhalla
Style: Old Ale
Unst, Shetland, Scotland

Serve in English pint, Snifter

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50cl bottle. Pours a kind of toffee colour with a thin head. The taste and aromas here are very sweet and malty. It might work at a much higher alcohol level but not as a session beer. There’s a lack of balance but perhaps this is close to the style that this traditional ale was trying to achieve.

12.02.2013. On tap at Henrik øl og vin, Bergen. Brown colour with off-white head. Smoked aroma with dark malts. Strong sharp bitterness. Sharp aftertaste with flavors, not notes of campfire and whiskey dried pete. This beer is both strong in flavours and aromas, but it is not that rich. Aftertaste is pete and dry smoked malts.

On tap @ Henrik. This is a clear caramel-brown one with a nice medium sized off-white lasting and quite lacing top. It has a present sweet aroma with some smoky nuances, and it’s quite fruity. A really nice non extreme aroma. It’s spot on average on the carbonation and a soft gentle oily mouthfeel. Yeah, the smoke is definitely present. Wet campfire, traces of chocolate paper, small ripe berries and a really present almost grassy-stingy bitterness. Nice smoky and beefy in the aftertaste. I’m not really a smoked-man, but I really like this kind of smokiness. Loaded with flavors for being such a "little" beer. Quite sessionable and really tasty. 25.01.2013

On tap @ Henrik, Bergen. Pours a deep bronze body with a small off-white head. Nose is mild biscuits and caramel tones, grains, hints of almonds. Taste is caramel, peat, nuts, hints of pears, straw and grains. Full body, soft to medium carbonation. Ok, but perhaps a tad bit weak for an old ale? ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone

Had this ruby ale style beer at the Paisley Beer Festival in April 2001. Casak, handpump dispense. Ruby red in colour with a white creamy head. Slight malt in the aroma with a surprisingly thin mouth feel and good lacing. Dark malt complexes giving a rather thin bodied ale considering the ABV? Almost smokey like malt flavour with a boiled bramble jelly fruit notes in the mouth. Dry hop resin noted in the balanced aftertaste. Finish is malty with wood smoke in the palate. A decent session Old Ale.

Extremely malty. Not interesting at all. I would prefer watching paint dry than drink this beer again.

Bottle from Conwy Fine Wines, Conwy. Burgundy edged with ruby under a thin cappuccino head. Bramble, burnt toast and cocoa dappled with seafret aroma; at once lush, fruity, burnt and bristling with clifftop ozone. Some soapy and discreetly citrus-accented-hop upfront, giving way to a seamless blur of blackcurrant, smoked almond and cocoa flavours, with a parting sprinkle of seaweed for interest. Slippery and satisfyingly malty in that layered, faintly briny Scottish way. Lingers with soy and finely sieved ash. Lipsmacking stuff indeed from north of north of the border.

Tasted @ Cardinal, Stavanger. Pours dark amber with a small off-white head. Weak malty aroma, chocolate and toffee. Taste is more coffee like with dark chocolate as a companion. Watery mouthfeel. Minimal bitterness at end.

hazy brown, smooth light brown head, lacings. aroma is well blended, slightly smoked, peaty. subtle aroma, well blended. flavor is old beer (the good way) nice hoppy bitterness, burnt plastic. very hard rate, this bottle 6 months after best before, but it seems it is okay.

500 ml bottle, courtesy of Cardinal Pub & Bar, Stavanger. Like all bottled beers from this brewery, it is filtered to remove all remaining yeast (but possibly not pasteurised?). ABV is 4.5%. Dark brown colour, low head. Nice aroma of chocolate, mild coffee and lightly roasted malts. The flavour is moderately fruity (dark fruits) and roasty, fairly dry, notes of mild coffee, hints of dark chocolate and resin. Pleasant to drink. More of a porter than an old ale in my book.