Old Engine Oil Engineer's Reserve Blackest Ale | Harviestoun Brewery Ltd.

4.23/5  rDev 0%
look: 5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

4.28/5  rDev +1.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25

11.2oz bottle, no date. Served in a Gordon's thistle glass.

Appearance: Pitch black letting no light through. Thin tan persistent head. Lots of fine strands and islands of lacing.

Smell: Lots of roasted malt, some chocolate, a bit of malt sweetness.

Taste: Rich roasted malt flavor accented with bittersweet chocolate, black coffee, and herbal/leafy bitter hops. The goldings and fuggles do show up as the beer warms toward the finish. There is a bit of malt sweetness for balance, but there is a lot of strong flavors tilting toward bitter.

Mouthfeel: Very thick and creamy, prickly carbonation that balances the rich beer. A bit sticky on the teeth.

Overall / Drinkability: A nice beer to sip slowly and savor. They're not kidding on the label with the thickness and emphasis on roasted malts. A very nice treat of a beer.

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3.77/5  rDev -10.9%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

4.29/5  rDev +1.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5

Pours a finger of caramel-colored foam with a solid black liquid underneath. Head lingers for a while. Aroma is roasty, toasty, biscuity, bready, earthy malts. Hints of caramel and molasses add a little sweetness, but overall, very malt driven. Flavor profile toasty, biscuity, bready, caramely, earthy malts with hints of caramel, molasses, and herbal, resiny hops. It's roasty with hints of chocolate and cocoa. Mouth feel is medium-thick, falling just shy of the 'thick' title. Texture is still, with a little velvety, graininess that comes on at the finish. Overall, dense and full, while still staying under 10% ABV (slightly smaller bottle than a US made bottle, 11.2oz vs. 12oz). Still worth a visit for those seeking something malty and chocolatey.

Served in a 12oz snifter from a 11.2oz bottle.

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4.25/5  rDev +0.5%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

4.43/5  rDev +4.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

What a happy beer! Smooth and thick. Wonderful collection of comforting flavors: pumpernickel toast, chocolate, peat, licorice. Very dark brown color with nice beige head and lacing. A pleasant hint of booze. Very enjoyable!

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4/5  rDev -5.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

4.25/5  rDev +0.5%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

3.93/5  rDev -7.1%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

I had this awhile back, and I remember that it was good for an imperial porter/stout, but nothing stood out about it.

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4.21/5  rDev -0.5%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4

Aroma is quite roasty with chocolate, perhaps coffee, some alcohol. Color is black, opaque, with a 1/2 inch tan head that relatively quickly becomes a ring and very thin cap. Exceedingly thick and rich feel and taste. Texture is viscous, maybe SAE 40! Roasted grain, chocolate taste mirrors the aroma; initially sweet, but transitioning to a slightly bitter middle and finish. No alcohol taste or burn. The aftertaste is sweet chocolate balanced by a satisfying bitterness.

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5/5  rDev +18.2%
look: 5 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5

4.67/5  rDev +10.4%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.75

4.53/5  rDev +7.1%
look: 5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

4.25/5  rDev +0.5%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

4.1/5  rDev -3.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4

Appearance: Pours fudge brown with a spectacular bubble show that builds a frothy one finger tan head; spots a foam cling

Smell: Very roasty, with chocolate, molasses, licorice, smoked peat and tobacco tones

Taste: Roast, smoked peat and chocolate tones forward, with the molasses and licorice building; rather sweet, through the middle, but the finish has a harsh, tobacco leaf flavor

Mouthfeel: Medium to full body with moderate carbonation

Overall: Engineer's Reserve indeed; a little too sweet and a little too rough in the finish; I prefer the regular version better

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4.11/5  rDev -2.8%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

5/5  rDev +18.2%
look: 5 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5

4.19/5  rDev -0.9%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

4.21/5  rDev -0.5%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

I think this was a strong but delicious porter.

Look: Jet black with two-inch mocca head.

Aroma: The aroma is roasted malts, chocolate, and a hint of coffee.

Taste:. The taste is roasted malts, milk chocolate, a hint of licorice, a hint of coffee. I did not taste much of the alcohol despite the 9.00%, but there were some, just the right amount.

Feel: It is rich, creamy, full bodied, and stronger than most porters but less hoppy than most stouts.

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4.89/5  rDev +15.6%
look: 4.75 | smell: 5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 5 | overall: 5

4.5/5  rDev +6.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.75

Decanted into a shaker pint glass.
A: Mahogany to black with a limited tan head that dissipates quickly. No lacing
S: Dark malty sweetness with dark chocolate, molasses, anise, and pepper.
T: Dark malt, more milk chocolate than dark, smoked ham in balance with the bitterness of the hops.
M: Full bodied, nice effervescence.
O: A distinctly superior version of the porter style.

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4/5  rDev -5.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

4.44/5  rDev +5%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.5

4.94/5  rDev +16.8%
look: 5 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5

A bartender at my local pub gave me a bottle of this beer as a birthday gift. It was, indeed, the blackest beer I have ever experienced. I did not give the smell and adequate test, but I recall it's intensity. The taste was wildly dark and strong, reminiscent of a fine black rum with hints of licorice, strong sweet spices (nutmet, cinnamin and the like. The feel was heavy, like molasses, and it rolled across the tongue adding hints of dark bittersweet chocolate and strong coffee to the other flavors. Everything about it was excessive in the best sense of that word. Its intensity make it a beer I could not drink everyday, but one I would choose to have when I want to sit for awhile and savor a beer.

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4.45/5  rDev +5.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

A fast, gluggy pour--very thick and very still. Very, very dark.

One of the most chocolatey malt aromas I've ever come across, and the barley is alcoholic in *just* the right way to evoke the smell of a very high-cocao dark chocolate. It smells, in short, like dark chocolate fudge and booze.

Doesn't taste nearly as complex as its smaller brother, but the straightforwardness works. Dark chocolate up front, with notes of cherries and char, getting sweeter and stoutier as it progresses, finishing on a pleasant twinge of alcohol. Unlike most large stouts, it's not very hoppy, and there is little by way of wine or fruit. Instead, the barley gets full stage, and it makes the most of it.

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