Harviestoun Ola Dubh 16 Year

Been a while since we ventured to Scotland for anything non-Brewdog.

Harviestoun however have put together a range to date that belies their small stature, beers of strong flavour and character throughout. This is a stout based on the excellent Old Engine Oil (apparently the name even translates to 'black oil') aged in 16 year old whiskey barrels from an award winning local distillery. There's a whole range of these at varying ages .. would be very interesting to do a vertical tasting on the range one day.

As it is this is indeed oily but at the same time very approachable. It's got a balanced mocha sort of nose with dark chocolate and coffee competing at equal measure, plus that hazy undefinable barrel complexity you get from extended exposure to the wooden residuals. Very flat delivery is on target for the style and allows you to really enjoy the slick alcohol back notes. It's smooth this and feels like it has lost some of the biting bitterness that Old Engine Oil leaves you with.

A mellow, settled and reassuring beer deep with complexity but also restrained in terms of booze and spirit notes. Very good indeed. 8.5

Brew Dog Dogma

In picking this up I had a mental image of it turning up kind of like the bottle - orangey amber sort of colour and sweet due to the heather honey used. Boy was I wrong.

Yep, 10 types of malt and wow it's black. Nice head too, and even from a distance there's a rich, malty smell that greets you comfortingly. You just know it's going to be a round embrace of a beer from day one.

And indeed it is a really convivial sort of drop but really surprising, quite different to any idea I had. The sort of beer you drink and smile as you place the glass down for another look. You just sort of have to say 'wow' and have a think about it for a bit. Lugubrious and sticky this carries a lasting burnt treacle character through the journey with delicious roasty flavours and honey smothered toast throughout. The burnt nature helps cover off on the sweetness, making it really quite approachable to boot.

Wow. This is a beer that's at once quite different to anything I have had previously, and quite delicious to boot. A really tasty mouthful, the sort of beer that's just overflowing with flavour and leaves you smacking your lips because of it.

In short, a real pleasure and still another example of Brew Dog brilliance. Much respect. 8.5

Brew Dog IPA is Dead 2012

Four rather cool looking bottles lined up for a back to back tasting.

First some notes about the core of the beer itself - this is a well crafted beer, no real surprise from the accomplished crew at 'Dog. Tending slightly on the sweet side of things perhaps but not unbalanced by any stretch, it's a good drop to showcase the hop - and that, after all, is what IPAs should be about. Good colour, good head retention, in short a good shell casing with which to deliver our promised hop bullets.

Motueka - green grassy herbaceous sort of smell, puts me in mind of marijuana from time to time. Clearly a good hop for aroma, but also for taste as it delivers as promised upon that lovely lush spectrum of NZ hop notes. Very good hop, very good beer, certainly one of the best of the bunch.

HBC - hadn't (knowingly) tried this one before but from the first aroma you know you're in for a USA hop experience, with all of the piney bitterness attached to it. Spiky compared to the rounder NZ effort first up but in no way a bad thing.

Challenger - least appealing nose of the set tending to earthy, even slightly metallic edges as expected from this UK staple. Taste wise however this is still pretty delicious, a lovely surprise after first impressions. Would happily drink more of this regularly.

Galaxy - the Aussie hop shares most in common with its NZ cousin from across the way, delivering a good balance of aroma and flavour. Slightly fruitier and spicier than the Motueka but again well suited to this purpose. Quality beer.

Overall a great set to pick up if you're a beer enthusiast, beginner or advanced, and a lovely way to mull over a couple of hours with a friend or loved one. 8.0

Harviestoun Mr Sno'balls

Mr Sno'balls, a wintery bitter from the thus far impressive crew at Harviestoun.

This one pours pretty sedate and flat as you can see with low aeration, but it is a nice light cola hue. The flavour profile is dominated by the pale and crystal malts with a bit of caramel character and just slight bittering hops. The roasty barley character is quite pleasant and lifts this above some others that are all just caramel and nothing else.

While they're not perhaps the most exciting beers, I don't mind beers in this vein from time to time. They can be a pretty comforting drop to nurse over some time as they take well to being flat and warm. The only real issue I have with this one is the label - 'Crisp' yeah, 'Caramel' yeah, 'Citrus' ..what? Surely there were other words that started with 'C' you could have used? 7.0

Fraoch Heather Ale

I had thought 'heather ale' was a name for this beer actually but it turns out it's a style, using heather, that's been brewed for up to 4,000 years. Impressive.

Smells slightly vegetative certainly.. bit of sourness there too, ale notes. Clean, deep grass flavours come through on the taste, it's clear and easy drinking with a bit of difference from the norm too, sort of herbal finish on it is quite refreshing really.

A thumbs up for this, probably the only heather ale ever to grace the tracker. Give it a go. 7.0

Brewdog Hardcore IPA

Biggest IPA so far I think at an arrogant 9.2%.

Oh yeah this smells pretty damn delicious - it is a big, big hop IPA. This is clearly not just talk and I for one am pleased.

Pours with a slightly offwhite head, dark colour of the beer, feels heavy in the glass. Little bit of malt alcohol on the nose once it's in the glass but not overwhelming. Tastewise you get a rather bitey kick of bitterness after a sweet start consisting of mostly melon and stonefruits.

You don't taste much alcohol here, which is some achievement really. It's a little heavy, not super drinkable but good for the content for sure. Nice aftertaste too. Will certainly buy again, it may move up from a preliminary 8.0

Brewdog Trashy Blonde

I knew a Scottish blonde once. But she wasn't a lot like this.

Indeed, her body was strengthier than this rather cooperative drop and she lacked the sort of lemon honey flavours this thing has going on. But then she wasn't as artificial either. This tastes a little of manufactured sugar.

Still, in both cases, you could do a lot worse. 6.5

Brewdog 5AM Saint

An amber ale from the land of scots, packaged in that inimitable, somehow unlikeable way of Brewdog.

Pours very attractively in terms of both appearance and aroma. Then all of a sudden you're singing christmas songs. This is very faithful to type in terms of taste - a classic Amber, sweet malt the main characteristic with a bit of fruitcake sort of stuff going on also, then a slight peppery finish. There's just the right amount of bitterness and hops to balance that sweetness.

It's not a revolutionary take on things but a very solid one - much like their IPA effort in fact. Good beer. 8.0

Harviestoun Bitter & Twisted

I was oddly not looking forward to this one despite loving Harviestoun's first one.. a 4.2% blond beer doesn't usually set my world alight.

What a pleasant surprise then when this too turned out to be an excellent beer. Again this is true to the label in an impressive display of scottish truth in advertising: it is indeed zesty, spicy, and

The key is in the balance here - malt melds beautifully with the zingy bitterness. It's very well crafted. And very gently aerated as a deliberate measure to boot.

Looking forward to some further testing of this one, particularly given the attractive price point. 8.0

Double Espresso Premio Caffe Birra

Seems this is brewed by some mob in Scotland called Traditional Scottish Ales.

Beautiful nose if you're into coffee - doesn't hold anything back. No real head to speak of though (possibly a result of the coffee injection itself?).

The taste falls just short of backing this up, it's a little bit more watery than you'd like. Tastes of chicory, or like those Kopiko lollies. Bloody good way to back up a chocolate dessert though. 7.0

Brewdog Punk IPA

It's an IPA. And a good one.

And it comes in a can. Which is odd. But pretty cool.

Nothing special here perhaps but it's a fine emissary from the people we know and love. Like a diplomat from the land of cheese and pickles.

Clear body, enjoyable white head. Mouthfeel is light. Been drinking some impressive IPAs of late and this doesn't hit the same heights of valour as say Stone's efforts. But maybe it doesn't need to. I reckon I could put away a stack of these bad boys, crunching the aluminium housing as I go. 7.5

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.

Brewdog Paradox Isle of Ahran

At 10% alc and having been aged in whiskey casks, this beer was always going to pack a punch.

Note that it doesn't necessarily need to be poured into sake cups bought from a zoo in northern Japan. But it does make it better.

There's a great complex nose on this one due to the bottling / aging process, and a dark head to boot though this dissipated quite early in the piece. I won't lie - I found the alcohol in this one a little overpowering, though it does generate a really long a complex harmony, with the best flavours coming through almost after you've swallowed your mouthful. Coincidentally, that is when your throat starts to tingle also.

Very interesting - my first foray into spirits-cask-aged beers and a good one at that. I'm giving it a 6.0, with Nic backing up with a 7.0.