Whisky Party

Old Dubh 30 Year

This is a whisky blog, but we’re also big beer drinkers here at Whisky Party – particularly when it comes to interesting micro brews.  So we were pretty thrilled when Dodgy Drammer came across Ola Dubh.

Ola Dubh is a an ale, best described as a stout, from Harviestoun Brewery in the UK.  That by itself wouldn’t be all that special, but Ola Dubh has been aged in ex-Highland Park whisky casks.  It comes in three styles – 12 year cask aged, 16 year cask aged, and 30 year cask aged – and each bottle is sold separately (at least here in NY).

According to the (hard to navigate) website, Ola Dubh (aka “Black Oil”) is “a nod to the classic Imperial Porters (and stouts) of the 19th Century.”  It is bottled at 8% abv and is the first beer of its kind to actually name the distillery from which it stocks its whisky casks.  It is also unique in that each bottle is numbered and can be traced back to its original cask.

Tasting Notes

Distillery Notes: The distillery does not differentiate between expressions in the tasting notes on its site. That’s a bit odd to me considering the bottles sell at different price points, have different packaging, and after trying two, have clearly different taste profiles for each expression. That said, here are the official notes:

Retaining the appearance of used motor oil from which the beer gets its name, it is deep dark brown, dense and oily.  On the nose there are notes of truffle oil and cocoa as well as faint smoke and heathery peat from the whisky casks.  Although lighter in body than its appearance suggests, Ola Dubh is pithy oily, salty, and bitter on the palate.  The finish is exceptional; burnt and bitter notes with an interplay of late hop characters, orange oil, fruity tartness and then delicate fragrant smoke.

Ola Dubh 12 Year

Ola Dubh 12 Year

My thoughts: Chocolate and a hint of smoke on the front.  It is definitely lighter and less creamy than a Guinness or a Bellhaven stout.  The whisky comes through in the finish via a small bite, some bitterness, and a hint of the honeyed character of the Highland Park 12.  I’m not a big drinker of stouts, but this is a great, great beer.

Dodgy Drammer: A crisp stout with a floral and othwerise complex nose.  The palette was lightly chocolatey and nutty up front, with a good sense of smoke picking up in the middle and a honey and scotch sweetness to finish it off.  Excellent, and one of my favorite beers that I’ve tried this year, which is saying a lot.

Old Dubh 30 year

My Thoughts: I enjoyed this considerably less than the 12 year.  Still lighter than a traditional stout, with the same chocolate and smoke intermingled throughout, but I found the Highland Park influence much less prominent, and at times barely detectable.  A good beer, but nothing special and certainly nothing to splurge on.

Dodgy Drammer: More complex (than the 12), and the scotch was more woven throughout.  As such, the individual elements of it were less detectable, although smoke along with some spices (nutmeg?), a smooth, sticky, and subtle sweetness, and oak come through the malty and slightly roasted ale.  Excellent.

Related posts:

1. Tasting Notes: Harviestoun Ola Dubh Special Reserve 16
2. Tasting Notes: Highland Park 1994 Vintage Edition
3. Tasting Notes: The Un-Chillfiltered Collection Signatory Vintage Highland Park, Distilled 1990