Old Engine Oil (4.5% Cask)
(Batch of Old Engine Oil)
Harviestoun in Alva, Clackmannanshire, Scotland 🏴
Porter Regular|
Score
6.99
|
|
This beer is just the job for anyone who appreciates beautifully engineered stuff that used to be made properly. So undo the top button of your pressed pits overalls, ease into the wingback and roll out a rare taste of a truly great British beer.
Old Engine Oil is a remarkably smooth, creamy brew with a beautiful velvety mouthfeel. Enjoy flavours of coffee, slightly buttered toffee, dark chocolate and earthy hops. You may find some mild cherry fruit within the residual sweetness, neatly accompanying the roasted flavours that ride with you all the way to the finish.
Born in 2000, this winner of the first ever Tesco Beer Challenge was always designed to have a thick, dark, gloopy appearance. We piled in the oats to smooth out the bitterness from the roast barley and laid on a super-high-temperature mash to make the wort less fermentable. The result is a really black beer that has a greater sweetness and fuller flavour than many other stouts and porters, as well as a surprisingly light texture.
HOPS: Galena, East Kent Goldings, Fuggles
MALTS: Roast barley, oats
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pivnizub (12821) reviewed Old Engine Oil (4.5% Cask) from Harviestoun 12 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5
Cask(@Windsor Castle, Kensington):Literally black, stable and lacy small tanned head, mild to moderate toasty and ashy nose with a certain amount of dried fruits; moderate to solid dry bitter flavour with a delicate sweet base, almost medium bodied; lingering toasty and fruity - again - finish. Very pleasant stuff…
Scopey (25115) reviewed Old Engine Oil (4.5% Cask) from Harviestoun 12 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5
Cask at The George, Croydon. It pours dark brown with a small beige head. The nose is toasty, charcoal, earth, bitter cocoa, wood, and sweet berry. The taste is roasted malt, earth, leather, wood, toast, coffee grinds, light chocolate and berry with a rather dry finish. Medium body and soft carbonation. Well-rounded and integrated flavour. I am a big fan of the regular and this lighter version did not disappoint!
yespr (55501) reviewed Old Engine Oil (4.5% Cask) from Harviestoun 12 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
From cask. Pours pitch black with a small tan head. Aroma is roasted malty and liqourice. Toasted malty and breadish towards liqourice. Mild vanilla note. Dry and roasted malty into the finish. Bitter and dark malty lasting impression.
Fergus (31329) reviewed Old Engine Oil (4.5% Cask) from Harviestoun 12 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
Pint on cask at the henry Addington canary wharf. Black caramel with a thick persistent light tan head. Berry ester aroma. Some choc. Big berry hedge row flavour. Palate is a little thin.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 6.5
Cask at JDW Charlie Hall; dark brown pour with tan head, roast malt aroma, taste as an initial coffee hit with plain chocolate, some dried fruits leather, quite viscous mouthfeel. Very good.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 5 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 5.5
[Cask at Billy Bobs (JDW), High Wycombe] Tried this in bottle and it tasted of mushrooms. Given the reputation of the beer, I thought at the time it was maybe a bad bottle and vowed to try it again sometime. So bought it on cask when I saw it. It pours black with a good creamy head. Up front there’s still a hint of mushrooms. And mildew. It’s a lot more subdued than in the bottle but it’s still there. The mouthfeel is supremely smooth, and there’s some coffee and roasted malt and chocolate, but really to me this was a reasonable dragged down slightly by the fungi. I don’t see what all the fuss is about.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
Cask at The Metropolitan Bar (W’Spoons), Baker Street, London. A dark brown/black coloured pour with a medium off white head on top. Roasty, malty aroma. Tastes roasty, malty, some chocolate, slight bitterness. Served in excellent condition in a Spoons. So enjoyable I had 3 pints. Nice one!
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
On cask @ Bottle of Sack, Sutton Coldfield - Dull black with a thick tan laced head, very thick and lasting. Fruity aroma, in the mouth it’s oily (erm... naturally), with fruit, liquorice and aniseed; the finish is long and bitter with a touch of coffee. Excellent and the reason I love this brewery.
Leighton (34941) reviewed Old Engine Oil (4.5% Cask) from Harviestoun 13 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8
Cask at Hamilton Hall, JDW, London. Pours clear, dark brown with a creamy, tan cap. Pleasant roasted malt aroma, some chalky cocoa, charred wood. Medium sweet flavour with smooth and chocolatey dark malts, mellow roast, faint earthy bitterness, background roast. Light to medium bodied with fine, velvety carbonation. Sweet finish with mild bittersweet chocolate, mild roasted malts, some dirt and burnt leaves, earth, burnt bread. A well rounded and very cohesive beer.
Grumbo (24387) reviewed Old Engine Oil (4.5% Cask) from Harviestoun 13 years ago
Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
Cask from Crosse Keys (Wetherspoon), Fenchurch St, London. Black with just right amount of creamy head, thick, with minimal carbonation. Fruity. A not unpleasent bitter finish. Very enjoyable.