Harviestoun Ola Dubh (16 Year Old)

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

Bottle. Nose is tootsie rolls, caramel and chocolate. Brown, clear where the color lets up, with a hazy brown head. Flavor opens sweet with a chewy texture, caramel and chocolate dominate. Smoke and oak are in the background. Dries out in the finish making for a highly drinkable and well-balanced beer.

In short: An unclassifiable moderately roasted black beer with a semi-complex flavour spectrum
How: Bottle 11.2oz. Drank about 1 year after the beer release. Side by side comparison of the Old Dubh 12, 16 and 30
The look: Black body topped by a very small tan head
In long: Nose has the similar elements of its little 12 year old sisters with peat, dirty wood, earth and date except everything is x 2. Also a little smoky note that isn’t there in the little sister. Soft carbonation. Taste of charcoal, burnt fresh wet wood, baker’s chocolate, a whole lot of peat and also a lot of freshly cut green grass, some black liquorice and tobacco leaves. Different but very cohesive. Coming back from a pub-crawl I thought it would be an interesting experience to open the 12, 16 and 30 all at the same while watching a movie. But drinking these three strong beers after an evening of pub crawling let me tell you that I was finding my movie really funny and was laughing hysterically. The problem is I was watching Saving Private Ryan.

Bottle at Old Bank. Near black, small mocha head. Smooth vanilla ice-cream aroma, mellow liquorice, hint of salmiak and whiskey. Nice liquorice, whiskey and grainy malts in the flavor, burned finish with mentholey notes. Medium bodid and lush palate. More refined than the 12-year old, not as attacking whiskey nor rye pudding.

330 ml bottle. Finland. Dark almost black colour with thin beige head. Thick. Flavour is quite complex with berries, cyrup, coffee and some alcohol in finish.

looks like a stout it’s so black. Like the 12, there is an aroma of soy sauce, and teriyaki beer jerky, but it’s not as prominent. There is much more oak, and smoke, and some charred wood in the aroma. The aroma in this one is much more complex. The flavor is also more complex. Lots of woody notes, some char, and smoke, and a touch of the beer jerky. The alcohol seems to be more upfront also, i’m getting some alcohol burn that i didnt get in the 12. I think i prefer this one, but not by much.

Pitch black pour with a thin tan head. Smoky earthy woody aroma. Taste is roast, chocolate, oak, whiskey, smoke.

Deep brown in color with a small tan head. Aroma is of oak, whiskey, chocolate, molasses, and toffee. Taste is of oak, molasses, vanilla and whiskey.

Pours dark brown with almost no head. Aroma is smoke or maybe peeted malt, oak, whiskey very pleasing. Flavor is smoke, oak, coffee, malt. Medium body with a great warming whisky finish. Very nice.