Harviestoun Old Engine Oil Special Reserve

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

poured black just like a stout with not much head at all.smells like a porter mixed with a bit of fruit and whiskey.flavor is a mix of chocolate,fruit,and sourness.honestly i could have done without the sourness.

I usually don’t like beers aged in Whisky barrels, but I have an open mind...2002 vintage. 11.2oz bottle. Served at 56.5° in my NB worthy glass. Pours black with a hazy khaki head. Aroma is dark malt, vanilla, oak, and dark, rich fruit. Smells great. The initial taste dark malt, vanilla, oak, with a nice sweetness that gives away to some sourness/acidity? later that washes away the sweetness and provides some nice, subtle whiskey flavors and well as some bittersweet chocolate. Soft carbonation. Pretty tasty and a beer that seems bigger than 6%. This tastes, to me, almost like an imperial stout and a tasty one at that. Now if we could just lose the pasteurisation...

Pours a deep dark mahagany red almost brown with wierd hazelnut highlights as it pours into the glass. Almost no head or carbonation. Aroma is wine like with hints of oak, wood, acetic bacteria, malt vinegar, calvados, apple, and a bit of whiskey. Flavor is slightly sour from the cask aging, and has some hints of the chocolate and toffee from the original beer, although this one is completely different. Slightly acidic aftertaste. Reminded me of a lot of the belgian tripels which are now being aged in barrels like dulle teve.

Bottle into tulip glass. Sometime in 2004. First wine-smelling beer I’d ever had: just like J. Lohr cabernet with the delicate alcohol, musky chocolate, and plum plus cherry in the aroma. Black in the glass, with a light brown head and no retention. Tastes like a cordial, dark chocolate over a cherry; hops flow underneath, very subtle. Alcohol flavor blends with an acidic tang that waters the mouth, biting but not too acidic at all, just a touch to add another dimension. Perfect soft carbonation. Salty. Inky and thick, it makes my spit congeal in the finish, which retains the cordial flavor. Overall, like a combo of a weak Flemish sour with an imperial stout. So much better than the normal Old Engine Oil.

You can really pick out the wood and scoth aromas, along with some chocolate/caramel notes. Very complex. Poured with zero head. Dark brown to black. A tad of the scotch whiskey and wood come through in the flavor. Some chocolate. Something about it rubs me wrong. It actually has a bit of sourness to it. Worth a try. Interesting to say the least.

A vigorous pour produced only a tiny head atop an excruciatingly dark body, fading to a small, tan film in a short time. Powerful aromas were Concord Grape Manischewitz and oil paint, while the flavor was thick, bitter and vinous. Some burnt toast and sourness to finish. This beer was full bodied and lingering, making it a slow-drinker. It was OK, but it was more winy than I’d liked.

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As the name implies, this pours out thick and oily. It has a minimal brown head that is soon reduced to a halo, although it does do some lacing as you drink. The aroma is of chocolate covered toffee with some oaken woodiness and definite whiskey overtones. Roasted barley presents itself in the flavor that is still dominated by chocolate, sweet malt, wood, whiskey, and alcohol. It finishes on a sweet-yet-dry alcoholic note. A nice warmer any time of the year.

This beer is indeed aged in some kind of charred wooden casks. It is apparent in the Aroma and Flavor. Very little head if any when poured. Aroma is of coffee either the charred oak or the dark roasted grains. The flavor is similar to the aroma. Roasted barley and/or black patent malt. "TheDean" said "whiskey, sour and flat coke". This is a BIG stout and the faint of heart should take that into consideration. With that said, this is a decent example of what BIG stouts are.