Harviestoun Tryd & Tested

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

Bottle. Dark Brown with a full head.Malty with some bitterness and a trace of fruit. Full bodied and very refreshing. Another excellent bottled beer from this brewery.

Bottle from Sainsbury’s. I don’t get excited at seeing a new Harviestoun, yet I enjoy their beers when I have them. I think I associate the brewery too much with the lackluster and over-rated Schiehallion and Bitter & Twisted, and forget that they are capable of also making some dark and tasty beers with balls. Harviestoun call this a Dark Beer, and while it looks amber, it certainly has the roasted notes of a stout, making this a Red Ale (sometimes also called an Irish Ale as that’s where it was first identified). This is a spanking tasty beer with lots of roasted malts and a healthy dose of bittering hops. Satisfying and delicious. A good one.

Bottled. This is a fantastic beer, pasteurised or not. Earthy, sourish and uncompromisingly hopped. Slightly nutty caramel hints in the nose backed up with sourish citrussy hop. Loads of lemony hops in the mouth with fizzing red apple peel, offset with sneaking chocolatey malt. Unusually hoppy/citrussy character for a beer so dark and reddish- reminds me of Stary Krakow Dark. Quite possibly the same spiky Galena hoppiness as Tunnel Linda Lear. Leaning towards America. Yellowy froth clinging to the glass. Really, really impressed. One I couldn’t put down, and wouldn’t hesitate to resample.

500ml bottle from Sainsbury. Poured a deep brown chestnut colour with thick lwhite head. The beer had a malty hop aroma, nice hoppy taste in the taste. A very good beer to me,wish i had some more.

Nice to see a special edition RWC beer that isn’t predictable and golden. Dark brown with an off white head. Faint sweet chocolate malt aroma. Thick, earthy malt taste with a bitter finish. Good enough to become a regular.

Bottle at home ... deep copper ... musty hop with a little malt nose ... woody slightly smokey dark malts ... little nutty

Good cream-coloured, fluffy head, pretty persistent over dark chestnut-coloured beer. Strange woodstainer aroma, fleetingly, then more wood and coffee. Finally dry hops and faint cardemom. All in all a pretty complex and layered nose. Hops, my good Doctor, hops! Noble English ones caress the yearning WoostePattyn palate, as well as some dark malts, just enough to sustain. Faint black cardemom remains, but the beer is too weak - I was going to say "too British" - to have an as complex layered taste as its nose. Still pretty good! Light bodied, but nowhere empty. Harviestoun, undeniably amongst the best on the isles. Póg mo thóin, it has balls - Jezza, you knew!

Bottle. Bronze with a large off-white foam. Aromas are toffee malts with lots of grapefruit bitterness. Nutty with earthy, spicy hops. Flavours are mainly fruity and hoppy with some chocolate malts. Spicy and prickly with hints of pine. Pretty good.