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Harviestoun Old Engine Oil

Harviestoun Old Engine Oil

Rated 3.879 by BeerPals

Brewed by Harviestoun Brewery

Dollar, Clackmannan, United Kingdom

Style:  Scottish Ale

6% Alcohol by Volume

Availability of this beer is unknown


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Old Engine Oil is a near-black brew with a silky-smooth rummy aroma, a coffee-ish palate, and a suggestion of the darkest chocolate. It is made from pale malt, roasted barley and malted oats. Old Engine Oil is well-hopped with the sweetish variety Galena from Washington State, Worchester Fuggles and East Kent Golgings. The PG (present gravity) of Old Engine Oil is unusually high. This is because Ken Brooker wanted to produce a beer that had the character of a barley wine, i.e. high PG, lots of mouthfeel and high viscosity but with only 6 % ABV, rather than the more normal barley wine ABV of about 8.5 %. He has used a high mash temperature to give the required wort profile. The trick is to balance this sweetness with the hop bitterness and acrid flavors from the Roast Barley.

ID: 739 Last updated 3 years ago Added to database 22 years ago

Key Stats

99
percentile

0

Drunk

49

Reviews

0

Likes

3 Member Photos


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Statistics

Overall Rank322
Overall Percentile99.4
Style Rank5 of 680
Style Percentile99.3
Lowest Score3.1
Highest Score4.7
Average Score3.933
Weighted Score3.879
Standard Deviation0.408

Rating Distribution

Beer vs Style

49 Member Reviews

Recent | Card View | Table View
ALCOHOLIC 220 reviews
rated 4.1 13 years ago

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

It pours extremely black. Full bodied and complex flavors. A little bit of a bitter finish with coffee tastes present. Solid choice any day of the week.

  • CYBERCAT 11711 reviews
    rated 3.8 6 years ago

    Aroma: 10 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

    Pours opaque coffee brown with a thick and persistent tan head. Aroma delivers tempting roast malt, woody hops and chocolate notes. Flavor features roasted and slightly charred malt, chocolate, and woody hops, with subtle chocolate sweetness nicely balancing the subtle hop bitterness. Mouthfeel offers thin body but good fizz. Get oiled up! (But if you get too "oiled," please call a cab or Lyft.

  • FISHINGFAST 685 reviews
    rated 4.3 9 years ago

    Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 9 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 8

    This is a true black beauty with no head. The aroma is very light & make fun of me but I smell malt and meat, yes I wrote meat. The mouthfeel is very thick like 40 weight oil with just a note of bitterness. The flavor is rich malt,coffee and chocolate. Really makes me angry I only bought one bottle but I will buy more.

  • ALEFAN 118 reviews
    rated 4.3 10 years ago

    Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 9

    I like me some Scottish ale. This one was a great and awesome brew. I was blown away that the roasted malt and the alcohol mixed so well with each other. The brew in the mouth was incomparable. You could really taste the traditional and the passion in this brew. The color was that of 40 weight motor oil and it was quite thick. there was no strong flavor of alcohol and it was sweet on the back end. I do want to have this again but it is quite pricey at $6.75 American for 11.5 oz. In all a fabulous brew that I would like to try brew on my own. Fingers crossed.

  • AIRFORCE1 681 reviews
    rated 3.3 10 years ago

    Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

    Pours pitch black with a 3 finger chocolate colored head that takes its time. Body likens to cola and the head is sudsy. Seems carbonated but is hard to tell. Aroma is very roasted with hints of coffee and chocolate. Definite metal on the nose as well, almost rusty. Taste is very dry roasted with hints of oatmeal with a slight boozyness. Body is quite creamy. Aftertaste is dry and malts. Not half bad but not to my personal liking. You can get a lot better for the price elsewhere.

  • JERRYMORRISON 2130 reviews
    rated 3.9 10 years ago

    Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

    A deep dark mahogany on the pour with a rich medium lasting brown head. Good lacing and head retention. Aroma of dark roasted malt, earth, some espresso. Taste has a good roasted chocolate flavor, with nice espresso notes with sweet roasted malts. A slightly creamy texture on the palate with good carbonation. Finish is a combination of sweet roasted dark caramel malts, some good flavorful chocolate notes, espresso, some dark chocolate bitterness.Overall a tasty brew. I would drink this again.

  • GIVMEBEER 795 reviews
    rated 3.8 10 years ago

    Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

    Another good beer by Harviestoun. Should introduce some of my Scottish , Coors Light drinking buddies to this. Not as smokey as other Scottish ales. Full flavour of roasted malt, chocolate and a hint of cherries. Oily mouthfeel. Heading for the Blackest.

  • HEYBEERMAN 1025 reviews
    rated 3.3 11 years ago

    Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

    After the 18 and 12 I thought I would try the standard. Not even close to the aged versions. Lacks the body and depth of character, even a bit grassy and stale. Not a bad beer, just about average, but not worth the price I paid for it.

  • RICHSBEER 1929 reviews
    rated 3.6 11 years ago

    Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

    Pours a very dark brown (almost black) in color with some hints of deep amber when held up to the light with a small creamy dark beige head that reduces to an extremely thin film with moderate amounts of lacing. The aroma is of dark roasted malts along with freshly roasted coffee. There is also a very light presence of alcohol in the finish of the aroma. The taste is of dark roasted malts and burnt malts along with some notes of bittersweet chocolate and some freshly brewed coffee. There is a good complexity and depth to the flavor. The mouthfeel is medium bodied with moderate amounts of carbonation and is smooth with very light dry finish.

  • DOGFOODMAN 373 reviews
    rated 3.9 12 years ago

    Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

    Pours dark, but not as dark as expected, Flavor is complex with nice toasty notes and a hint of sweetness. Biggest disappointment was a somewhat thinner body than expected, but if it is in your area, them buy it.

  • MITCHFORGIE 683 reviews
    rated 4.6 13 years ago

    Aroma: 10 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 10 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 9

    Nest time I am in the UK, cases of this brewery will be coming home. It actually pours so thick and so black. YUM. Jammy, figgy, coffee note, no prominent spices, just bready, malty, thick and wonderful. Has a fruity character that is so alluring. I liked beer chronics illustration of a stale wooden garage. I agree, only I think it smells like my workshop/furnace room. Smells damp... AWESOME! I love descriptions that sound wholly unappetizing, but are in fact the best things ever.

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