Harviestoun Ola Dubh (16 Year Old)

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

I decided to get the middle of the three bottles. 11.2oz. Pours dark brown/black with a nice foamy compact tan head. I can smell whisky when I pour it. Good sign. Aroma is complex and rounded with everything working together. Smooth, creamy chocolate, malted milk balls, and a whisky component that is not as intense when my nose is in the glass compared to when it was being poured. Odd. The whisky is well-integrated in the aroma - not overpowering or standing out, just a nice phenolic note buried within and a bit of alcohol at the end of a sniff. Taste is rich, roasty, creamy, a tiny bit watery with a somewhat dry and smoky finish. The whisky is evident but only when I search for it. Seems to be one of the lighter-infused beers compared to some of its peers. I’ve had the regular version of this beer but don’t remember it well enough to compare. As it is this is a pretty good and interesting experiment. I might have to suck it up and spend the bucks on the 30 year old version.

Excellent beer. Its a combination of two of my very best delights an excellent beer and an excellent whisky. Old engine oil and Highland park. Super rich in aroma and flavor. Strong, warming and full.

Dark black body and a foamy head formed after a cascade of bubbles made for a very Porter like appearance. A shade more brown than the 30 year cask version. The smell was mild at first but started to grow on me with the mix of roasted grains, black coffee, and tobacco. The taste was little more roasty and tannin laced than the older casked beer, and there wasn’t as much of a vanilla bean character. Alcohol was warming and and soothing. Mouthfeel was quite astringent. Very well crafter beer, but the special 30 is better.

12 oz bottle - Opaque black color with small medium tan head. Aroma is full of molasses, dark caramel, ash, raisens, subtle smoke. Flavor is full of roasted caramel, bitter malts, dates, oak, faint roastyness. Finish is fairly bitter for the style. Overall it’s good, but doesn’t quite live up to the hype or the price. I don’t get much scotch out of it.

Dark brown, oily, small dark tan head. Reminds of Goose Island BCS with a little larger head. Strong but classy nose of whisky, chocolate, and wood depths. Taste is delicious: chocolate, alcohol, malt, dry wood, and a nice smoky peat touch. Medium bodied, super rich, long in peat, and ultra smooth, this is one hell of a beer for whisky heads, stout heads, dessert-beer heads, fireside-winter-beer heads...

This beer pours solid black with a thick tan head. Aroma of roast and sweet chocolate malt. Taste is oak and dark chocolate along with a creamy smooth texture.

[Bottle] Pours a deep black with a smallish tan head. Aroma is some boozy scotch, vanilla, oak, and roasted malts. Flavor matches well, with a really nice rich mouthfeel. Plenty of vanilla from the oak and bourbon, a touch of coconut, and a roasty finish.

side by side with 12, 16, and 30.  12 poured a black with mild flat head, mild strong scotch aroma, full flat smooth palate with scotch mocha finish, sticky aftertaste. 16 had a longer head, milder aroma, smoother balanced and whiskier milkier palate. 30 had same head as 16, smooth scotch aroma, lot smoother palate and more vanilla leading in to a well balanced mild finish, the best was 30,.