Old Chub - Scottish Style Ale - Oskar Blues Brewing Company

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BA SCORE
90
exceptional
-
2,341 Ratings

THE BROS
90
exceptional
-
read more »

rAvg: 4.01
pDev: 11.72%
Reviews: 1351
Hads: 990

Ratings Help

Brewed by:
Oskar Blues Brewing Company

Style | ABV
Scotch Ale / Wee Heavy | 8.00% ABV

Availability: Year-round. can (1194), on-tap (82), bottle (68), nitro-tap (3), growler (2), cask (2).

Notes:
From the Oskar Blues website: "This jaw-dropping Scottish strong ale (8% ABV) is brewed with bodacious amounts of malted barley and specialty grains, and a dash of beechwood-smoked malt."

Reviews

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Reviews by ThisWangsChung:

ThisWangsChung

Maryland

4.3/5 rDev +7.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4

12 oz bottle poured into a pint glass.

A: Pours a very dark burgundy color with a fair amount of light coming through the body. Nice head on this one, a one finger light mocha shade with nice texturing and retention. The lacing left is plentiful, as well.

S: I've had trouble identifying leather in a beer's aroma before - but this is the first beer I've had that's truly leathery in its scent. Beneath that lies some sweet caramel, dried dark fruits, and a subtle touches of smoke and green tea.

T: Has a nice opening sweetness to it, almost akin to a porter/stout, but not quite. Layered notes of both roast and smoke aid the complexity without creating a messy clusterfuck. Smoke builds up more assertively on the finish and aftertaste, as well. The midtaste features some nice dark fruit flavors. I'm impressed with how complex this is - other sips reveal varying flavors like chocolate, mint, licorice, and tobacco. Drinkability is sacrificed for savorability, and it's better for it.

M: Silky and delicate. The heavy body makes it feel quite decadent, as well. In general, it's just a joy to swish around in the mouth.

O: I don't know if I could have more than a single can of this in a session - simply because it's meant to be savored rather than rapidly downed. Any beer that bears a passing resemblance to Schlenkerla's rauchbiers is a great thing, in my opinion. It strikes me as a fantastic 'cigar' beer, too.

Serving type: can

11-24-2012 22:28:16 | More by ThisWangsChung

More User Reviews:

warpedrevolution

Washington

3.5/5 rDev -12.7%

05-18-2013 08:02:44 | More by warpedrevolution

st9647v3

New Jersey

4/5 rDev -0.2%

05-18-2013 04:20:50 | More by st9647v3

akttr

Michigan

3.5/5 rDev -12.7%

05-18-2013 01:03:02 | More by akttr

Ebf

Illinois

2/5 rDev -50.1%

05-17-2013 23:53:22 | More by Ebf

G_Rod

North Carolina

4.25/5 rDev +6%

05-17-2013 11:23:18 | More by G_Rod

ElizabethEleanor

Texas

4.75/5 rDev +18.5%

05-17-2013 02:02:40 | More by ElizabethEleanor

NorthSideSean

Illinois

4/5 rDev -0.2%

05-17-2013 01:28:46 | More by NorthSideSean

MaximalC

Illinois

3.99/5 rDev -0.5%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25

Pours a murky molasses color with a thin khaki head. Aroma smells of molasses, brown sugar, and a faint nuttiness. The flavor is both sweet and roasted, but neither is cloying. This may be due in large part to a level of hopping that just about perfectly offsets the sweetness of the malt--far more balanced than I typically expect from a scotch ale. There is also a palpable alcoholic heat that adds an additional dimension to the flavor profile. The exact character of the malt is pretty difficult to dissect on account of how well everything melds. There's brown sugar and some nut, but that's as much as I can discern, at least without significant warming. The hops may overstay their welcome ever so slightly, but this is forgivable when one considers how well they serve the beer as a whole.

The stellar carbonation lends a creamy texture to the medium body that complements the flavor of the beer quite well. This is a brew where the whole definitely exceeds the sum of its parts. It's flavorful, lively, and sessionable in spite of its moderately high ABV (it strikes me as the scotch ale equivalent of Domaine DuPage). This is the first offering I've had from Oskar Blues, and I must say I'm impressed.

Serving type: bottle

05-17-2013 01:01:16 | More by MaximalC