Harviestoun Ola Dubh (30 Year Old)

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

Pours an opaque black with just a little lacing on top. Not much carbonation overall. Aroma of berries, brown sugar, rum cake. Ooh, the whiskey is very evident in this one. The flavor is slightly sweet, but also quite leathery and smoky. Smoky in that scotch way. Body is medium. A little chocolate comes around near the end. I was expecting a little thicker body. Tastes a little bigger than 8%. Tastes like 10 or so, but that may be the whisky essence. Very tasty and satisfying. Overpriced a little though. Overall, very good.

Cask at Deep Ellum. I really really enjoyed this one. For someone who’s used to a lot of bourbon-barrel aged beers, this was an interesting change of pace. I think beers aged in emptied barrels from distilleries fall into one of four categories: 1) The flavors from the liquor overwhelm the beer. 2) The flavors from the liquor are too subtle. 3) The flavors from the liquor clash with the underlying beer. 4) The flavors from the liquor complement the beer very nicely. This one is definitely the last. The peaty, earthy tones from the scotch lent a great flavor to the beer, and it was really very enjoyable. A sipper to be sure, but just delicious.

On Cask at Deep Ellum, body is a dark brown with caramel notes at the edges with literally no visible head, even when provoked. The nose is strong with notes of scotch, licorice, tobacco and peat. Flavors are fairly mild with a strong presence of a smoothed out scotch. Notes of tobacco head the malt profile with some sweet bread, brown sugar, and maple sryup. The pallate was so tame being on cask that it was kinda a downer. No life at all, and drank more like a 20 proof liquer. The alcohol burn was really strong, and the malts were very soft. I look forward to trying this in a bottle.

Bottle 03622 / Sept 2007. Served cold. The aroma contains strong notes of vanilla and wood with some roasted malts and a hint of scotch. Some claim a whiff of tobacco is present, but my nose isn’t that refined. It poured oil black with a very thin, tan head. Very light carbonation. The flavor is smokey and sweet. It seems to embody all those elements of the aroma plus a few more. I’ve tasted many, many beers aged in oak or bourbon barrels, but this is by far the strongest wood taste I have experienced. Full bodied. Long, smooth finish with a hint of bintterness.

Johnny Walker Black is pretty much the only liquor I drink. This has similar woody and vanilla notes and is insanely smooth. It roasted, peat, and licorice flavors, with some alcohol that adds to the scotchlike appeal. Thank you blind tiger for having this on tap.

Bottled 6/21/2007. Body poured a dark chocolatey black almost completely opaque - almost matte black - with a thin chocolate head that left beautiful lacing. Redolent of peat, earth, oak, vanilla, roast barley, dark chocolate, caramel, toffee, dates, port, and scotch. Flavor was equally complex: earth, peat, roast barley, oak, vanilla, dark chocolate, subdued caramel and toffee, raisin and dates, port, licorice, and phenolic scotch. Palate was sweet up front, smokey around the sides, phenolic up top, and heartily warming as it went down. Real good but Old Viscosity was better.

In short: An unclassifiable moderately roasted black beer with a 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 small tan head
In long: Nose takes the elements of its 16 year old little sisters with peat, dirty wood, earth, date and a little smoky touch and ands vanilla and some roastiness. Medium carbonation. Compared to the 12 and 16 this one has the most satisfying full body. Smooth but tasty chocolate that you buy from a specialized shop, unlighted charcoal for your bbq, a little soy sauce (but not unpleasant), tobacco leaves, some caramel, dirty wood. An unexpected astringency coming from the roastiness, peat an freshly cut grass. Moderate sweetness. That’s the best of the Old Dubh series so far. I really preferred the 30 over the 12 and 16 and I’m really surprised to go with the flow with this one, not my style usually. Last time I remember going with the flow I was screaming for help cause I can’t swim.

Very smooth. Full body. Thick hocky puck like head. Scotch finish. holds like bread in the mouth and very filling. Oak, smoke, coffee and malt 100% balance.