Harviestoun Old Engine Oil Porter

I'm a solid and evergrowing fan of dark beers and particularly stouts and porters, so when I first spotted this one at the local first choice for a pretty reasonable fee I felt I had to give it a go despite the somewhat worrying label.

No, not the guinness. More the fact that it calls itself 'Old Engine Oil', with a picture of a car, and then uses its precious first few descriptive words on 'Viscous', 'Bittersweet', and 'Dark'. Well well well. I've got a lot of respect for the advertising angle but was well prepared for it to be a terrible beer.

Out of the bottle this is slick, you feel you can see it nearly stick to the glass. There's a lovely iced coffee coloured head on a solid deep black cola coloured body, though happily the taste doesn't conform.

Indeed, dark roasted chocolate dominates nose and body, bittersweet and lingering throughout. There's an edge of toffee but it's not oversweet. Mouthfeel is heavy-ish but far from troublesomely so, and the light aeration also suits.

I dig this beer greatly. It's a beautifully balanced example of the porter style and warrants a 9.0 from me. A carton for $65? Yes please and my new standard fridge beer for that money.