Ola Dubh - 12 Year Old Special Reserve
Harviestoun in Alva, Clackmannanshire, Scotland 🏴
Traditional Beer - Old Ale Regular|
Score
7.64
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Ola Dubh, meaning ‘Black Oil’ in Gaelic, is craftily created by taking our Old Engine Oil and maturing it in 12 year old Highland Park whisky casks. The process is far from simple, but the result is a beautiful brew with complimentary whisky notes and a chocolate, roasty and bittersweet aftertaste. All thanks to the labour of love of our master brewers.
Brewer’s Notes: Ola Dubh is a labour of love. Everything about it is extreme. The brew team fill the mash tuns to the brim with roast barley, pinhead oats and malted barley. It ferments more slowly as the the yeast struggles to move around in such a viscous beer! The base beer is Old Engine Oil which they then put into Highland Park Whisky casks and it stays there for at least 6 months. During this time the flavours from the wood enter the beer to produce Ola Dubh. It is ready only when our Master Brewer, Stuart, deems it ready!
Brewer’s Notes: Ola Dubh is a labour of love. Everything about it is extreme. The brew team fill the mash tuns to the brim with roast barley, pinhead oats and malted barley. It ferments more slowly as the the yeast struggles to move around in such a viscous beer! The base beer is Old Engine Oil which they then put into Highland Park Whisky casks and it stays there for at least 6 months. During this time the flavours from the wood enter the beer to produce Ola Dubh. It is ready only when our Master Brewer, Stuart, deems it ready!
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8/10
Vintage bottle (bottle no & date:22669,Feb 2017) aged in Highland Park Whisky Casks;very pleasant,layered & balanced aroma,complex
Tried
from Bottle
on 15 Apr 2018
at 20:45
7.1/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 6.5
Tap at Bar Ihku, Oulu. Color is almost black with small slightly brownish head. Aromas and flavors: Dryness, chocolate, some coffee, wood, whiskey and roasted malts. Pretty heavy quite gentle whiskey barrel aged beer.
Tried
from Draft
on 02 Mar 2018
at 19:40
7.6/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 7.5
Shared bottle. Pours almost black with a beige head. Aroma and flavors of roasted malt, dark chocolate, cigarette ash, wood, soy sauce. Very good.
Tried
from Bottle
on 25 Jan 2018
at 05:19
6.8/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 6
Bouteille de 330 ml de LCBO. Un profond caramel au beurre domine des notes de barriques et boisé, agrémenté de feuilles mortes et de terre. Le whiskey est plutôt discret. Des notes de chocolat au lait se laissent également découvrir. Une mousse de couleur moka et bien crémeuse recouvre un liquide noir et opaque. L'entrée de bouche se fait d'abord en nuances de caramel mais se laisse rapidement envahir par son aspect terreux de vieilles branches et de terre humide. Son boisé est subtil mais présent. Le whiskey est encore une fois discret malgré la présence de chaleur d'alcool. Les malts sont profonds et tout en nuances. légère présence de fruits noirs et raisins secs. Bière assez particulière mais étonnamment complexe.
Tried
on 23 Dec 2017
at 16:21
8/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
Draught at In De Wildeman, sample size, as Ola Dubh 12 years Special Reserve (10.5%). Pitch black color. Very dense light brown head with good retention. Aroma's of roast, roasted malts, umami, fruity. Retronasal it's light sweet, whisky, peat, fruit, roast, chocolate. Flavor is light moderate sweet, fruity. Medium bodied. Very soft mouthfeel. Long finish. Good stuff!
Tried
on 16 Dec 2017
at 02:53
6.9/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 6
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7.5
From Mar 2008
I bought this from South Bay Drugs & Liquors. Thanks Joey!
It pours from 11.2 oz foil wrapped bottle a near pitch black(brown hues) and a 2 finger head of tannish foam. Good sticky lacing here and the head retention is pretty good.
The smell is of caramel and roasted malt, dark fruit, and maybe some chocolate.
The taste is sweetish but defintely not too sweet. Caramael malt is lighter in the taste than the nose but the roasted/burnt malt really shines along with some dark fruit like fig and dark cherries, chocolate, vanilla, and just a wee bit of Scotch and smoke. Very complex flavours and quite delcious. The mouthfeel fooled me because I thought it would be thicker than it was but no real complaint there. The alcohol is there and it gives me some warming, the carbonation is light, and it finishes with a nce burnt malt bitterness. Good stuff!
Bottom line: Tis a fine Old Ale and I'm glad I got to try it but I think it'll be just a one of because it's quite the expensive brew.
I bought this from South Bay Drugs & Liquors. Thanks Joey!
It pours from 11.2 oz foil wrapped bottle a near pitch black(brown hues) and a 2 finger head of tannish foam. Good sticky lacing here and the head retention is pretty good.
The smell is of caramel and roasted malt, dark fruit, and maybe some chocolate.
The taste is sweetish but defintely not too sweet. Caramael malt is lighter in the taste than the nose but the roasted/burnt malt really shines along with some dark fruit like fig and dark cherries, chocolate, vanilla, and just a wee bit of Scotch and smoke. Very complex flavours and quite delcious. The mouthfeel fooled me because I thought it would be thicker than it was but no real complaint there. The alcohol is there and it gives me some warming, the carbonation is light, and it finishes with a nce burnt malt bitterness. Good stuff!
Bottom line: Tis a fine Old Ale and I'm glad I got to try it but I think it'll be just a one of because it's quite the expensive brew.
Tried
from Bottle
on 06 Nov 2017
at 13:10
8/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
Bottle, 330 ml from Pivoljub. Shared with Max and JFK10000. Pours dark brown, beige head. Caramel, dried fruit, some chocolate, some scotch in aroma and very light in flavor, easy drinkable. Medium bodied.
Tried
from Bottle
from
Pivoljub - The First Beer Shop in Slovenia
on 29 Oct 2017
at 05:17
6.9/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 5.5
Fantastic dark beginning. Easy to drink with a nice woody whisky in the back. The beer itself is not too deep and quite thin from what I've expected. Hints of grain, hints of malt. It could be much more concentrated to be deeper and richer. Quite sessionable for the 8%, the whisky is in the back. Round and refreshing with a lack of density.
Tried
on 10 Oct 2017
at 13:31
7.8/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 8.5
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
Pours almost black with reddish hints if seen through light. Scarce mocha head still leaves a bit of lacing. Complex and quite intense aroma shows some general caramel-ish sweetness, chocolate, a hint of roasted malts, notes of coffee and liquorice, light oak. Taste is pretty sweet with only a slight hint of bitterness in a balanced enough finish. Caramel (or maybe burnt caramel), chocolate, slight coffee, some peatiness and a warming alcohol note. Medium to dense bodied with low carbonation resulting in a nice soft feel. Overall this is a nicely complex and quite intense beer that feels warming and 'comfortable'. Very nice.
Tried
on 22 Sep 2017
at 15:21
6/10
Aroma plomme, karamell, malt. Utseende sort med lite beige skum. Smak karamell, malt, mørke frukter, lakris. En kraftig øl med lang ettersmak med noe lakris, føles noe tynnere mot slutten
Tried
from Bottle
on 13 Apr 2017
at 20:47