I was lucky enough to get my hands on a bottle of Harviestoun’s Orach Slie, a lager matured in Glenfarclas whisky casks. I was quite excited about this because, although my experience is fairly limited, I haven’t yet found a Harviestoun I don’t like. As I’m not a whisky drinker I didn’t have any knowledge about Glenfarclas, but I assumed it would bring a sweetness to the beer. Was I right? Only one way to find out…
Just look at that brilliant white head and hazy straw colour. It’s like watching the sun go down in a glass (I’m in the wrong job here; poet laureate anyone?) On the nose there were distinct aromas of vanilla, sweet sherry and a biscuit maltiness. To be fair, at this point it was all I could do not to pour it all over my face.
The taste was not what I was expecting for a lager at all. It was very malty (milk biscuits again) and the sweet taste of sherry soaked dry fruit came through, but not in an overpowering way. With every sip I was tasting something new and interesting, yet within all this sweet maltiness there was also a tang to it, almost cider like. So strange, but so good!
Would recommend leaving it out of the fridge for a while before drinking. This is definitely a beer that tastes better at room temperature than ice cold.
The Crafty Beeress 