Harviestoun Ola Dubh (16 Year Old)

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

Bottle #02075 from September 2007. Sampled on 09/20/2008. Dark black body with a medium frothy light brown head. Sweet scotch aroma, some light smoke and caramel. Sweet scotch flavor, some peat, caramel, and light smoke. Medium full body with low carbonation and a smooth finish.

[2062-20090402] 11.2floz bottle. Sweeter vanilla hints than the Reserve 12, aroma is lots of heavy roasted malt. Black body with a long-lasting creamy tan head. Heavy figgy fruit flavour with roasted malt and some grains. Full body. More impressive than the 12 but less enjoyable overall with it’s more noticeable alcohol. Still quite tasty.
(16 Reserve from Village Beer Merchant, Buffalo; Vintage 2007 #12496; w/ garthicus, HogTownHarry, jerc)

Bottled Sept. 2007 # 03738. Aroma was sweeter than the 12 with more of a malted caramel and the wood. Black body with normal head to this one campared to 12. Flavor was just average sweet caramel with some medium licorice molasas flavor. This one didn’t have the creamy texture the 12 had but a decent brew overall.

Aroma not as intense as the 12. Immediately thicker than the 12, this is the thickest of the bunch. Sweet and strong, it has a solid consistency from start to finish. Excellent.

330cL bottle, courtesy of wickedpete. Thanks, Pete! Pours a dark, murky chocolate color; light brown color with very patchy lacing. Olives, leather, and dark chocolate and coffee in the aroma; vaguely clearer expression of dark chocolate and moss than the 12 year old. Relaxed carbonation. Medium-to-full mouthfeel: this actually feels a little watery on the edges, like scotch on the rocks with the ice melted; some dark baker’s chocolate and nougat, but also a bit ashy and dry and chalky. About the same as the 12 year old, if a little less messy. Lengthy finish, showing nougat and dark bitter chocolate and ash.

Bottled September 2007; Sampled May 2008
A softly vigorous pour produces a two and a half finger thick, brown stained, tan colored head. The beer is quite black in color and is opaque even when held up directly to the light. The aroma is quite rich with concentrated notes of darkly caramelized malt, touches of teriyaki, iodine and a finish that smells of salt and light peat smoke. Hints of fruit aromatics provide notes of burnt prunes and light raisin. The smokiness really picks up after the first couple draughts of the aroma. Rich malt aromatics combine with the peat character to contribute aromas of salty toffee, savory umami malt, . This just has a hearty, quite satisfying aroma to it. In fact the aroma is just expressively intoxicating and almost exactly what I am looking for in a nightcap; rich, savory, complex and deeply satisfying.

Somehow this beer tastes quite a bit cooler than I was expecting; mainly I think it is not quite as rich as I was expecting, and a thinner beer always feels cooler than a thicker beer at the same temperature. The beer finishes with a deeply roasted, burnt espresso bitterness / astringency. The beer is fairly sweet and accentuates a burnt raisin fruitiness. This has a fairly light heft to it for a beer that smells this rich, though the viscosity is quite appropriate for a beer of this alcoholic strength. The beer finishes with a touch of burnt vegetal character; burnt broccoli and burnt cabbage flavors lightly intrude on the finish. As the beer warms up it picks up a bit more texture and richness in the flavor / mouthfeel, it still does not live up to the promise of the aroma though. The roast character plays a huge role towards the finish; burnt malt, sharp espresso notes, slight charcoal and the aforementioned burnt vegetal note.

The aroma of this beer kicks some serious ass; I could smell this forever and continuously find myself just enjoying the aroma between extended sips of this beer. The flavor, while it does not quite live up to the promise of the aroma, is still quite tasty in its own right, though it has some noticeable flaws. A tasty brew, that just might age quite nicely over the next couple years, despite no being bottle conditioned.

Purchased: <a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/Places/ShowPlace.asp? Liquors, Tucson AZ

Bottle... Pours a pitch black with a thin body and weak head. Aroma is plastic chocolate with thin smoke and 80s hairspray, probably Aqua Net. Flavor is peat smoke, roasted chocolate, and oak chip bbq wood. Average mouthfeel. Inconsistent and shallow.

Bottle 09265, 9/07 from Wine Warehouse Charlottesville. Pours a very, very, very dark brown with a small head. Little lacing or head retention. Notesof wood, vanilla and tobacco in the aroma. Taste is very strong wood, tobacco and smoke with a tinge of coffee and chocolate. Nice and complex.