Ola Dubh - 30 Year Old Special Reserve
Harviestoun in Alva, Clackmannanshire, Scotland 🏴
Traditional Beer - Old Ale Regular|
Score
7.89
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This beer is 8% ABV in bottle, 10.5% in cask and keg.
We make Ola Dubh 30 by taking our Old Engine Oil (amped up to 10.5%) and aging it for up to 6 months in casks that previously held Highland Park’s phenomenal 30 Year Old single malt whisky.
Ola Dubh (pronounced ‘ola-doo’ and Gaelic for ‘black oil’) was conceived in 2007. It was the first ale to be matured in whisky barrels from a named distillery and, with traceable casks and numbered bottles, it is a beer with real provenance.
This amazing brew has been aged in selected oak casks formerly used to mature Highland Park 30 Year Old Single Malt Whisky, adding complementary whisky notes to our chocolatey, bittersweet beer.
Ola Dubh 30 pours deep brown with a burgundy flush and a head the colour of milled oatmeal. On the nose it has gently-finessed top notes of fresh heather and honey, subtly toasted malts and vanilla with balancing hints of red fruits and a distant, beguiling smoke. The flavour has elegantly-subtle developing wine-like notes; from bitter chocolate and espresso beans into to a sustained, oaked conclusion. Extended, oaky finish with pine resin, juniper, perfumed honey and traces of peat.
HOPS: Galena, East Kent Goldings, Fuggles
MALTS: Roast barley, oats
We make Ola Dubh 30 by taking our Old Engine Oil (amped up to 10.5%) and aging it for up to 6 months in casks that previously held Highland Park’s phenomenal 30 Year Old single malt whisky.
Ola Dubh (pronounced ‘ola-doo’ and Gaelic for ‘black oil’) was conceived in 2007. It was the first ale to be matured in whisky barrels from a named distillery and, with traceable casks and numbered bottles, it is a beer with real provenance.
This amazing brew has been aged in selected oak casks formerly used to mature Highland Park 30 Year Old Single Malt Whisky, adding complementary whisky notes to our chocolatey, bittersweet beer.
Ola Dubh 30 pours deep brown with a burgundy flush and a head the colour of milled oatmeal. On the nose it has gently-finessed top notes of fresh heather and honey, subtly toasted malts and vanilla with balancing hints of red fruits and a distant, beguiling smoke. The flavour has elegantly-subtle developing wine-like notes; from bitter chocolate and espresso beans into to a sustained, oaked conclusion. Extended, oaky finish with pine resin, juniper, perfumed honey and traces of peat.
HOPS: Galena, East Kent Goldings, Fuggles
MALTS: Roast barley, oats
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8.2/10
—
Appearance 10
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 10
Overall 8
Black as the Scottish devil, supported by a beige head. Smoked, dark malts to the nose. Milky chocolate hints in a roasted malty flavour, added by soft warming whisky notes. Silky and very, very smooth in the mouth. Full bodied (sampled from bottle at EBF, 12.09.2008).
Tried
from Bottle
on 01 Oct 2008
at 07:23
7.6/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 8.5
Bottle at EBF08. Good vanilla aroma. Almost black colour, seems clear. The flavour has some wood and nice vanilla. Good and warming alcohol.
Tried
from Bottle
on 21 Sep 2008
at 13:18
8.4/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 9
Flavor 9
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
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!
Tried
from Bottle
on 20 Sep 2008
at 08:55
6.3/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 6
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 6
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.
Tried
from Bottle
on 19 Sep 2008
at 13:46
8.8/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 9
Flavor 9
Texture 8
Overall 9
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.
Tried
from Bottle
on 16 Sep 2008
at 09:01
8.6/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 9
Texture 10
Overall 8.5
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.
Tried
on 13 Sep 2008
at 20:35
8.8/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 9
Flavor 9
Texture 8
Overall 9
From tap at OBrians. Pours pitch black with a lacing tan head. Aroma is dense roasted malt, dense oily and distinct barrel base presence. Dense roasted malt an dark barrel/whisky base presence. Solid smooth and nicely spiced. Smooth finish yet dense and mild spiced with alingering whiskey presence.
Tried
from Draft
on 06 Aug 2008
at 19:09
8.2/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 9
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
Bottled. Clear redbrown color, short head. Aroma of peat, whisky, oak casks. Slight burning ashy taste, peat, slight roasted. Nice balance. Great beer.
Tried
from Bottle
on 26 Jul 2008
at 16:19
7.2/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7
On tap at HopCat, Grand Rapids. Deep brown coffee-like body, thin ochre head. Leathery aroma, smoky and salty, with soy and molasses. Soft, nearly flat body, with smoke and apple notes. Leathery and oily. Interesting, but the body is a bit too lifeless for me to be considered great.
Tried
from Draft
on 31 May 2008
at 22:44
7.6/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 8.5
Bottle (number 06636). Blackish beer with reddish/brown highlights. Brown head. Chocolate, vanilla, oak, caramel aroma. Toffee, vanilla, light whiskey, light peat flavor. Medium-plus bodied. Chocolate, light peat, vanilla and toffee linger. Nice complexity. More refined and balanced than the 12 and 16.
Tried
from Bottle
on 05 May 2008
at 12:49