WILK Friday BeerBuzz–12 Aug 2011 Harviestoun Ola Dubh

Today’s show was a significant change for the WILK Friday BeerBuzz.  Not only did we have a vacation filled week change our cast of characters on the show (Vince said it might be like this!), but we also made a change in our choice of beers.  For over 15 months of Friday BeerBuzz shows I have always made it my goal to find beers that unite people.  In other words I’ve tried to choose beers that people can agree on, so even if they didn’t love the beer itself, they would always agree that it’s a good brew…..well NOT today!

Today I chose Harviestoun Ola Dubh as our beer of the day.  Ola Dubh comes to us from the Harviestoun (Pronounced HAR-VE-STONE) Brewery in Scotland and the name translates to Black Oil….and you’ll see why when you open the bottle.  Old Dubh starts with Harviestoun Old Engine Oil Imperial Porter and then ages that brew in whiskey barrels from Highland Park Distillery.  To get the various versions of Ola Dubh, Harviestoun uses barrels that aged the whiskey for 12, 16, 30 and even 40-years!  The beer (and I use that word loosely) comes packaged in hand-numbered and hand-signed packaging with a special box…and yes this beer IS special.

Ola Dubh is not a traditional summer beer, and in fact it is about as far from a summer ale as you can get.  I like choosing non-traditional brews and I like challenging the palates of people in the studio and our listeners and this beer is a big one.  Big in ABV (8%), big in color (dark black), but most of all BIG in flavor.  As I mentioned above this beer WILL divide people.  Some people will love this dark black complex palate monster and some will absolutely hate it.  The choice is yours, but do keep an open mind; the flavor settle in after you sample more than one or three sips and do decide for yourself.

Whether you love it or hate it, Ola Dubh is an interesting beer so please let me know what you think when you try it.  A BIG thank you to our pal Vince Sweeney for going above and beyond the call of duty to join us today on the Friday BeerBuzz. 

Thanks also

to  John, and Bosco for yet another fun Friday. 

The Friday BeerBuzz…bringing good beers and good people together. 

As always you can check out the video on-line at the WILK Friday BeerBuzz page by clicking HERE.