Harviestoun Ola Dubh (30 Year Old)

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

Bottle at EBF: Pitch black with a off white creamy head. Roasted nose & taste. Vinous, smooth, oaky, matured, complex, vague smoke, vanilla & chocolate. Full bodied. Very nice!

Bottled at European Beer Festival, Copenhagen. Dark brown no head. Dalty fatty nose. Less peaty and with more evident alcohol than the 12 y/o. Very dry with cocoa powder and whisky. The compact malt seems to hold on to the flavour and not let it come out fully.

Bottled@EBF2008. Black colour, small head. Aroma is wood, vanilla, whisky and some chocolate, peat and roasted malts. Flavour is quite the same in an excellent mellow way. Alcohol shows a little bit in the finish. Pleasant and very driankable.

Black with medium beige head. Sweet aroma with smoke, whiskey and roasted malt. Sweet vinious flavour with roasted malt, chocolate, peat and whiskey notes. Ends sweet with warming alcohol.

Pour was very dark and rich with little head. Aroma was a little less potent with whiskey and oak. I think the 30 year barrel aged scotch took most of the oak character with it. Give this, the oak was much less in this brew but the chocolate and cocoanut characters were much more dominant. The scotch and whiskey characters were also more mellow and smooth. Another damn good brew but probably not worth twice the price of the 12 or 16. Would drink again but would not pay the price of $17 for a 12 oz. bottle.

side by side with the 12 yr. pours thick and syrupy. aroma is oak and whikey. much more whiskey than the 12 yr. very smooth, more like a sipping whiskey than a beer.

Whisky nose comes through but the old engine oil is there as well. A bit more of a sipper than than the 12 or 16 but very drinkable. The 30yo perhaps adds a bit more peat to the party. Very good.

A vigorous pour into my 25cl tulip creates a three finger thick, nicely browned, concentrated tan colored head. The beer is quite dark, in fact it is just about black in its opaqueness but does show a hint of ruby to it around the edges it held up directly to the light. The Whisky is noticeable in the aroma as I pour this (spicy and boozy), but really starts to shine once I focus on the nose. A rich, peat driven, salty, smokiness broods with deeply roasted malts that provide a burnt smokiness of their own as well as espresso like roast character. The peat-smoke combines with the sweeter side of the malt aromas to give this an intense, focused, rich, concentrated, dark malt aroma. The barrel is certainly the dominant note in the aroma, but I like the dimension that the peat-reek brings to this beer.

Sweet malt notes of burnt caramel up front meld into a smoky, salty peat character that continues to carry a bit of malt sweetness through to a finish that takes on a burnt grain note that seems to get just a touch of a burnt vegetal note. Dusty cocoa flavors play quite a prominent role up front, but then this morphs into a rich mix of concentrated dark malt and peat smoke. I like how the peat smoke mixes with the roasted grain character in the finish; flavors of smoky, roasted coffee beans, . By American Stout standards this has a very light roast character, this is definitely a good thing in my book as it allows for other complexities to come through. Underneath the peat there is some dark fruit notes that struggle to be noticed at times, but definitely contribute with flavors reminiscent dried prunes and dried figs that have been left under the broiler long enough to lightly char. The heft of this beer is not overly heavy, nor is it thin, but it might help if it had a touch more richness to it; it does have enough heft to allow this to coat the palate as it facilitates the sipping quality of this brew.

The flavor is much more balanced between Barrel influences and the base beer than the aroma is, though I would still say that the peat might be the most distinct part of this beer (though the dark grain is really right up there).

Purchased: Plaza Liquors, Tucson AZ