Royal Oil
Bull & Bush Brewery

Royal OilRoyal Oil
Beer Geek Stats | Print Shelf Talker
From:
Bull & Bush Brewery
 
Colorado, United States
Style:
American Strong Ale
Ranked #5
ABV:
13.5%
Score:
98
Ranked #379
Avg:
4.47 | pDev: 7.16%
Reviews:
46
Ratings:
111
Status:
Active
Rated:
Nov 18, 2023
Added:
Apr 08, 2007
Wants:
  159
Gots:
  24
Batch 12/4/15 (Bottled) - Aged 1.5 Years - 13.5% ABV
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by mentor:
Photo of mentor
Reviewed by mentor from Colorado

4.73/5  rDev +5.8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5
Holy Crap! If I could brew this beer, I would never need to buy a high-end commercial beer ever again. Reviewed from notes found on several pages, as I've had this several times.

Minimal brown layer of fine bubbles over a dark brown liquid. Brown edgings when held to light. Amazing legs when swirled, no lacing.

Smells stunning. Cognac with heavy dark fruits and strong, but clean, alcohol. Flavor is dark raisin, plum, vanilla, pasty cookie dough, toffee, sweet nut, and lightly of molasses. Thick sweet is lifted off the palate by the alcohol. Nice oak and toasty undertone throughout.

Thick and lushious in the mouth with modest carbonation. Truly a stunning example of what beer can be. Plays the same game as Sam Adams Utopias, but better, as this beer is about flavor rather than simply shooting for the highest ABV possible. I can't get enough.
Dec 12, 2009
More User Ratings:
Photo of stevoj
Reviewed by stevoj from Idaho

3.5/5  rDev -21.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
500ml bottle at share. Dark brown PO r with a ring of beige foamy head. Aroma is sweet roasty malts. Taste follows with more roasty malt sweetness, notes of chocolate, but lost against a sea of open RIS bottles.
Nov 18, 2023
 
Rated: 4.69 by Ristaccia from Nebraska

Dec 11, 2022
 
Rated: 4.7 by brewskis from Indiana

Sep 04, 2022
Photo of jzeilinger
Reviewed by jzeilinger from Pennsylvania

4.46/5  rDev -0.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
Many thanks to tacosandbeer for this bottle!!

A - Clear burgundy garnet colored pour with thin toffee colored lacing.

S - Dark brown sugar, light Bourbon (ever so light), light molasses, and some light booziness.

T - Toasted caramel toffee with a perfect balance of Bourbon, oak, brown sugar, and molasses.

M - Thick, viscous, and lip smacking sticky on the lips.

O - This one right here is a total must seek.
Aug 06, 2022
Photo of Knapp85
Reviewed by Knapp85 from Pennsylvania

4.3/5  rDev -3.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Poured as a deep reddish brown color with a thin cream colored head on top. The smell gives off some rich molasses, caramel and booze. The taste is bold and full of dark brown sugar and caramel with some bourbon notes as well. The feel of the beer is full bodied, some subtle heat from the ABV as well. Overall a very nice beer!
Aug 06, 2022
 
Rated: 4.44 by StoutSnob40 from California

Jul 30, 2022
Photo of REVZEB
Reviewed by REVZEB from Illinois

4.57/5  rDev +2.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.5
Very dark brown body with a tan head that fades quickly. Rich caramel, boozy bourbon soaked earth, tobacco, brown sugar, raisin, date, prune, toffee, leathery oxidation, and mild oak make up a beautiful nose. Taste is much the same, though the finish has a very warm sweetness that lingers, dampening the complexity just a tick. Feel is warm, malty, smooth, barrel caresses the beer gently but firmly, very rich and full. This one is ready to drink now as this was a 22 bottle.
May 25, 2022
 
Rated: 3.73 by westcoastbeerlvr from California

May 07, 2022
Photo of jrc1093
Reviewed by jrc1093 from Connecticut

4.24/5  rDev -5.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Bottled on 8/17/2018 (bottle #1422); consumed on 4/1/2022

Pours a near-pitch mahogany hue capped with a finger of rocky, off-beige foam; decent head retention yields a largely blank surface surrounded by an expansive, creamy collar and no lacing holding to the walls of the glass.

Aroma brings wafts of boozy heat and dark grape dispersing to leather, raisin, and roasty cocoa, with sweeter developments of caramel and bourbon peaking with oaky vanillins on a still-evolving close.

Taste opens with lush cocoa and evocative notes of freshly picked dates, with deft touches of malt roast coat hints of toffeed bourbon over the mid-palate, while leather meets a cherrywood inflection on the back end before a Concord grape enmeshed in lingering fruitcake essence finishes.

Mouthfeel offers a medium body as a soft, mild carbonation fluffs a silky, punchy prickle, with level textures into the mid-palate producing a fleetingly tannic undercurrent carrying a mild grit over the back end to a resoundingly dry finish.

A classic roast profile amplified by massive waves of warming barrel at the onset soon reveal layers of vivid dark fruits and chocolate-imbued bittersweetness as an approachable build to a satisfyingly bold expression; a sipper leveling both boozy aggression and exceptional detail in equal parts.
Apr 02, 2022
Photo of Fordcoyote15
Reviewed by Fordcoyote15 from Pennsylvania

4.84/5  rDev +8.3%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5
Okay. This beer has been an experience just getting to the pour. First off the packaging is 10/10. The wax job with the seal in it? Never seen that.

I started cutting the wax when I saw the string to peel it back. Incredibly thoughtful of them. It wasn't tremendously helpful but the thought was nice.

Okay, popping the top. POP. Wtf was that? Ah, it was the rest of the string snapping. This wax definitely has glue in it. Its super sticky still.

How cute of them to include a message under the cap too.

Smell is great. Very jw lees esque or old school bcbbw.

Taste is fucking phenom. This is jw lees without age but fuxking jacked up and more potent.

Feel is fucking hot and heavy boy.

Overall, probably a top 10 beer ive ever had. This, mother of all storms, and jw lees are the unchased barleywine champions. Good God i need more of this.

---------

Notes from a 2022 bottle im revisting on 5-27-22.

Opening this I was somewhat scared it would not live up to the phenominal experience I had just 6 months prior (but from a much older version).

The pour didn't impress. I had to look up reviews of 2015 and 2018 to see of this murky, tawny mud water was what my beloved former experience looked like. There was also no message under the cap. Hugely disappointed.

The smell triggers all things quality. The beers aromas reminds me of i something I can't explicitly recall - but it's dense with aromas of some of the best smells I've ingested in my life.

The flavors. Ugh. While maybe I found the 2018 (or was it 2015) bottle I previously had to be more astounding, it couldn't be by much. The way this beer embodies deeply carmelized sugar without being overly sweet. The way it exudes flavors of grapeskin, plum and cherry without being tart. The mind boggling amount of oxidation that I taste in this beer reminscent of JW Lees but without tasting like cardboard is revolutionary to the palate that I'm for the second time struggling to find something equitable to compare it to.

The feel... Perhaps a heavy, fizzier carbonation than I love. But still, stupidly oily and long lasting. Loads of heat. Loads of fucking heat but its a welcome reminder to sip slowly, analyze, digest, and evaluate all you're sensing rather than just drink.

Overall I'm absolutely mind shook how slept on this beer is. Perhaps its my affinity for oxidation and all things mature that makes me gravitate towards this more than today's beer drinkers. Christ I sound old. Maybe its being 35 and drinking beer for 15 years or maybe its simply drinking 1500 beers but this right here is so close to the precifix of what I know as perfect.
Nov 25, 2021
Photo of CraftFan5
Reviewed by CraftFan5 from New Jersey

4.64/5  rDev +3.8%
look: 3 | smell: 4 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5
14 November 2021 - Beer #252

Acquired via trade

Appearance: 3 - strong ales and barleywines are ugly. This is sorta ok; it's on the darker side.

Nose: 4 - not a ton on the nose. Smells like a barrel aged barleywine.

Taste: 5 - oh yes, I got an absolute blast of flavor. Extremely malty but not too sweet.

Mouth: 5 - I love that it's not too bubbly but also doesn't feel flat. Chewy and thick.

Overall: 5 - been waiting a long time to try this one, and I'm sure glad I put in the effort to get it.

Cheers!
Nov 17, 2021
 
Rated: 4.43 by paresis from Massachusetts

Sep 09, 2021
 
Rated: 4.43 by allenson21 from New York

May 29, 2021
 
Rated: 4.43 by DVMin98 from North Carolina

May 01, 2021
Photo of Radcpa
Reviewed by Radcpa from Washington

4.4/5  rDev -1.6%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
Lighter brown appearance with a slight tan head that dissipates quickly. Aroma is a mild slightly sweet caramel. Taste is a very smooth slightly sweet caramel with a nice alcohol warmth. A little thin.
Jan 29, 2021
 
Rated: 4.52 by Dharmelink from Wisconsin

Sep 27, 2020
Photo of deleted_user_950283
Reviewed by deleted_user_950283

4.87/5  rDev +8.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.75
2018, bottle #0027. World class English barleywine. Nose is bourbon soaked caramel, toffee, raisin, fig and molasses. Taste starts the same, also vanilla, oak, and finishes with hints of leather, pipe tobacco and a lot of smoke. One of my absolute favorites.
Dec 30, 2019
Photo of rkarimi
Rated by rkarimi from Colorado

4.6/5  rDev +2.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
12-15-19
Dec 16, 2019
Photo of GreesyFizeek
Reviewed by GreesyFizeek from New York

4.66/5  rDev +4.3%
look: 4.25 | smell: 5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.75
This is the 2015 vintage.

This one pours a dark and slightly murky brown color, with a very small head, and not much lacing.

This smells like caramel, rum, bourbon, spice, tobacco, raisins, leather, brown sugar, and toffee. It's super evocative and strong on the nose.

This is exactly what you want out of this style. It's supremely malty in the most satisfying way, with caramel, vanilla, tobacco, dark fruit (raisin, plum, etc), with lightly sweet brown sugar and Rolo's candy. It's bourbon barrel aged, as far as I know, and I get those sort of tones, but I also get a spiced oaky character that more reminds me of rum. I also get some tones that are reminiscent of port. There's lesser notes of tobacco, chocolate, and leather.

This is medium bodied, softly carbonated, and pretty rich. It's not really boozy at all at this age.

This met the hype for me - it's an excellent sipper, and a really great barrel-aged strong ale. I hope they make a new batch of this soon - only two ('15 and '18) aren't enough.
Nov 22, 2019
Royal Oil from Bull & Bush Brewery
Beer rating: 98 out of 100 with 111 ratings