If you are unfamiliar with Harviestoun and their Ola Dubh beers, I’m not going to rehash it. Check here, and read up, then come back. Okay, we’re all back? So, I’ve actually had this bottle since last year’s release. I had planned on storing it and doing a comparative year over year tasting. Except it turned out that this year’s batch was actually the same vintage as last year. So I was foiled. So I kept this one for a special occasion. Today I picked up my best friend from the airport, as he made his return to Toronto from Belfast. I thought it was a good celebratory beer for the evening, and I decided to snap a picture and do a quick review of it too. Incidentally, the bottle surged a bit when I opened it, which indicates some funky stuff grew a bit. Could be unusual.
Ola Dubh 40 - Harviestoun Brewery
From the well adorned bottle, the beer pours nearly solid black, a little brown around the edges. The tan head drop to an espresso like film pretty quickly, but lingers through the whole glass. Aroma is a tab subdued from past experiences, but still has a heap of whisky, peat, smoke and coffee. Taste is more of the same, though is a little wild and fruity at the start. The bottle surged a bit, so this isn’t unexpected. Mid palate is a big peaty whisky dose, with a dry bitter coffee and chocolate finish, and a linger of lovely whisky warmth. As a beer, it’s a very slow sipper, but thinking in terms of it’s whisky characteristics, you can nearly chug it. So lovely and warm. Yes, it’s bloody expensive, and yes it’s very limited availability, but I still recommend it. Just wonderful interesting beer.
