An unusual name for a beer? According to Harviestoun's website, when first brewed this dark thick beer reminded the breweries founder, Ken Brooker, of exactly that, old car engine oil. So he named the beer in honour of his love of all things automotive (he had previously worked as a prototype designer for Ford).The beer pours a thick dark colour with a thin tan head. It has a lovely subtle aroma that gives hints of chocolate with a background of roasted barley. It is full bodied with a near syrupy texture that coats your mouth and throat. The low level of carbonation is perfect for this beer allowing all of the subtle flavours to come through. It has a very complex taste, with lovely hints of chocolate and roasted barley, and a very strong bitter aftertaste that balances everything beautifully. If you let this beer sit in your mouth for a few moments all of these lovely flavours come through.
Overall a very nice drink, complex flavours combine well to produce a very well balanced drinkable beer. At 6% it is certainly not a session beer, however I would highly recommend sitting down with a few bottles. I look forward to trying Harviestoun's other bottled offerings; Bitter & Twisted (Blond Beer) and Schiehallion (Lager Beer).
For those interested in trying to make a homebrew version of this, Harviestoun use Pale Malt, Roasted Barley and Oats, the hops used are galena, Fuggles and Kent Goldings.
