Moon Dog Black Lung II

Another spirit aged stout - this time a revisit of a past brew with new edits and improvements.

My critique of the first one drew comment from other bloggers at the time, haha. But that's what's great about beer - it's alive, and is affected not only by palate and personal preference, but also by age within batches, and various things between batches too.

I found this second swing to be a bit more successful than the first - whisky more evident initially on the nose along with slight peat, and again that big chocolate. It's sweet up front, but moulds into peaty whisky barrels, and wooden dry spirit notes.

There's a bit more of a roasty edge here this time that I didn't really pick up on in the first, and it helps it to be a bit more easy going and less cloying over time. Evolution, you might say. 7.0

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