Harviestoun Ola Dubh

Name: Ola Dubh Special Reserve 12
Style: Imperial Stout
ABV: 8.0%
Serving: 330ml bottle
Brewery: Harviestoun Brewery
Location: Alva, Clackmannanshire, Scotland, UK
Weblink: Harviestoun Ola Dubh

Well... it's been a while. How are you? Been keeping well? Sorry for the big paws, but us polar bears are like that. Anyway, I've had quite a few good beers lately and though "now, if only I had somewhere that I could make a note of this". Why did I start this blog after all?

On to the beer in hand. In glass? In tummy? Well, all are true. This beer's name apparently means "black oil". I'll take their word for it as I don't speak Gaelic, but if so then it is terribly apt. The beer pours very treacly and thick, and I had to abuse it a little to produce any decent head. Once formed, however, the head was a beautifully thick and creamy layer of fine foam that lasted and lasted and lasted. On the nose it does smell frighteningly alcoholic, with a sharp tang of hard liquor and wood. Fortunately, this isn't the way it tastes. The beer comes across as a very well put together Imperial Stout; deep, thick and even across the mouth, with a rich malt and chocolate flavour accented by notes of tobacco and caramel. However, towards the back of the mouth this beer starts to take on another character, as peat and smoke start to power their way through, and as the beer leaves your mouth you end with an unmistakably whisky afterglow.

I did think that the whole "aged in whisky barrels" schtick was just marketing hype, but it really is there. This beer really does leave you with the feeling that about ten minutes ago you were enjoying a beautiful, smooth, aged single malt whisky. You really wouldn't want to drink more than one of these in an evening, and to be honest I found it somewhat over sweet as I like my stouts a bit more bitter, but as a sipping beer to enjoy curled up on the sofa it is up there among the best.

Great Lakes Canuck Pale

Name: Canuck Pale Ale
Style: Pale ale
ABV: 5.2%
Serving: 650ml bottle
Brewery: Great Lakes Brewery
Location: Toronto, ON, Canada
Weblink: Great Lakes beer

Well now, this is more like it. A good big bottle, shared with Pyropette, nice and cold on a muggy, hot summer day. Ok, so the bottle has a touque and a pair of skis on it, so perhaps I'm a bit behind the season, but it seems to sit just as well at 25°C as -25°C. Anyways up, to the beer!

The beer pour (or was poured for me, if I'm honest!) a good, rich copper-amber colour, with a thick head of fine, off-white bubbles sitting atop. The aromas are a pleasantly subtle hoppy, floral bouquet, with a warm hint of white sugar and grapefruit lingering behind. In the mouth the flavours are dominated by strong, toasted caramel, orange and spun sugar. This slowly fades back to reveal the aromatic hop notes (with a more herbal character than was evident on the nose) riding on top of a backbone of mixed metaphors and wholemeal bread toast malt. Toward the back of the mouth the flavours dry up nicely, leaving just a yeasty-toasty-hoppy flavour and, again, that white sugar quality.

Much much more to my taste than the Stone IPA. While the Stone beat you over the head with its hop-and-nothing-else approach, this beer balances the powerful hop bitterness with a very well-judged caramel and malt structure. This surprise me somewhat, as recently I haven't had a good run of luck with Great Lakes beers. Anyway, if I can get hold of this one again in the future, I'll definitely buy a couple.

Stone IPA

Name: India Pale Ale
Style: American IPA
ABV: 6.9%
Serving: 22oz bottle
Brewery: Stone Brewing Co.
Location: Escondido, CA, USA
Weblink: Stone IPA

So, an imported beer smuggled across the USA-Canada border by Pyropette from her recent trip to deepest, darkest Tennessee... Ok, I gather she did actually declare that she had a few beers on her when she came through customs, although I don't think she told them that the bottles were quite this big!

Anyway, the beer pours a pale yellow-amber colour, moderately cloudy, with a thin head of loose, large bubbles, just what you'd expect from an IPA. Also befitting an ale there is only a gentle effervescence, so I don't quite know where the shots on their website were taken, with their gargantuan heads of fine white bubbles sitting atop the glass. Anyway, once in the glass this beer is anything but gentle. The aromas rip into your nose right from the start, dominated by an astringent, pine-tar and coriander pallete, backed by a touch of grapefruit and yeast. The flavours are similarly hoppy; perhaps more of the dry-hopped spiceyness coming through, with hints of clove oil and orange peel. Backing it all is a toasty, yeasty strength, that helps to carry along the exceedingly dry and somewhat thin beer. The beer finishes with a final flourish of resinous citrus, and fades to a gentle, bread-dough yeasty scent that lingers.

Overall a very pleasant beer, although I'll admit that the American uber-hopped IPA isn't my favourite style. They seem to have become something more akin to a religion down there lately, with many believing that if it doesn't know your head off with hop flavours then somehow it would be a failed IPA. If I'm honest I find that attitude a bit juvenile. If you were to believe the RateBeer site this should be one of the top 1% of beers in the World... Hmm... For me it lacks balance. All that hop flavour isn't really supported by any significant malt, and after a few minutes it just gets to the point where the beer begins to taste slightly artificial. A good beer to drink cold on a hot day, not sip gently.

St-Ambroise Abricot

Name: St-Ambroise Apricot Wheat Ale
Style: Fruit wheat ale
ABV: 5.0%
Serving: 341ml bottle
Brewery: McAuslan Brewing Inc.
Location: Montreal, QC, Canada
Weblink: St-Ambroise Apricot

Well why didn't I write about this one before? It isn't as though I can claim that it is a new beer to me. I have known about this one for about two years now, pretty much since my first tentative trips over the border. Anyway, it's summer, so time to break a few more open!

The beer pours an appropriately apricotty orange colour, deep and rich, with a thin head of fine white bubbles that disappears fairly fast. The aromas released are dominated by thick, syrupy apricot and floral scents, oozing slowly and oilily (is that a word, who cares...). The same flavours hit your tongue very very hard when you first take a sip, and for an instant you expect the beer to be super sweet, almost anticipating a sugary fruit juice. However, this is not to be! The apricot scents are maintained throughout, but are wrapped in an intensely dry hoppy cloak. These are all backed by a tellingly wheaten, cerealy (a day for hitting the y-key often, it seems) flavour that carries the apricot rolling along toward the back of your mouth. The aftertaste lingers for a while, dominated by the more sour tang of the apricot's flesh next to the stone.

What impresses me most about this beer, each and every time I have a glass, is just how well integrated the flavours are. This isn't a beer that has just had apricot thrown in at the last minute, the fruit is an integral part of the beer's complex palette. It is a beautiful, soft, inviting beer, that you simply can't have just one of. Served cold on a hot day, I can't think of anything better.

L'Accommodante

Name: L'Accommodante
Style: Ale Rousse Multiculturelle (Belgian red...)
ABV: 5.4%
Serving: 341ml bottle
Brewery: Brasseurs et Frères
Location: Dunham, QC, Canada
Weblink: Brasseurs & Frères - Les Bières

A quickie this time I think, just polishing off a few more from the cross border excursion of a few weeks past. Readying the beer store for a top up with another incursion into La Belle Province this weekend...

The beer pours an odd, cloudy, brownish brick red, with a thin head of fine, light tan bubbles. The head disappears fairly quickly, leaving a fine white ring. The aromas seem slightly flat, with just a slightly syrupy sweet smell making it out of the glass, perhaps with a hint of Christmassy spice? The flavours follow the same sort of profile, with slightly more complexity to the malty tones, taking on a maple and toffee tone. In addition to these, behind the malt is the uasual Belgian yeast bready/toasty must. There is very little effervescence, so the beer slips down nicely, with a rich thick feel in your mouth. The aftertaste is dominated by a slightly smokey, almost burnt wholewheat toast flavour, with just a hint of green vegetable.

All in all a fairly nice, easy drinking beer for cooler days.