Orkney Dark Island Reserve

Brewed by Orkney (Sinclair Breweries)
Style: Barley Wine
Stromness, Orkney, Highlands & Islands, Scotland

Bottle, thanks to bu11zeye. Dark brown pour, smokey peat aroma, flavor has an oily, woody char profile and lots of smoke, oily finsh as well

Bottle courtesy of bu11zeye. Dark brown pour with red hints through the light. Whisky sweet smell with lots of alcohol and roastedness. Taste has a woody characteristic with a fair amount of smoked flavor. Roasted flavors with sweet chocolate. Nice and flavorful.

Bottle: Pitch-black, mid-sized firm tanned head with a light lace; tobacco, leather and smoke in the solid vinous-caramelly nose, accompanied by a faint bitterness; solid sweet-bitter flavour, full bodied and smooth; a delicate bitterness in the full soft sourish-vinous and roasty finish. Great, gorgeous stuff......

750 ml from Bruisin’ Ales. Pours dark grey with bubbly head, looks caskish. Scotch whiskey in the nose. The tasting begins with scotch whiskey and ends with chocolate and peat in a long finish. Very good, it must be shared.

Opaque, pitch black. A small brownish head settles into some lacings. Plenty of roasted malts in the nose. Some coffee and dark chocolate. Dark caramel and molasses. The flavor is packed with big aromas of roasted malts, almost burnt. Coffee, dark chocolate and vinous dark fruits. Notes of oak barrel. Unfortunately, I detect an off-centered flavor of watercolor paint hovering above the other flavors, and it’s quite disturbing. The finish is somewhat bitter with acidic roasty notes, salt and licorice. The alcohol is well hidden, but noticeable. Medium body, gentle carbonation. Could perhaps have a little bigger body. Somewhat dry finish. Not quite as good as I had hoped for. Still recommended though. Lacks some balance. Serving type: bottle (Copy of old Beer Advocate review)

My bottle [750ml] shared with the gang at ’WaterlooWeekend Oct.’09’ -- c/o madmitch76. Pours a very dark brown with a small fizzy light-brown head. Aroma’s sweet and roasty along with dark fruit, some smoke, vanilla, whisky, spices and more -- lots going on here. Flavour: Wow, this is 10%? You’d never know it. Roasted malt, chocolate, dark fruit, some hops, whisky and spices. Medium bodied. A fantastic beer, very well done!

[2538-20091024] 750mL bottle. Sweet date and roasted fruit malt aroma. Brown black body with no lasting head. More roasted fruit and soy date malt flavour. Full body. Quite full all around, an interesting brew.
(c/o blankboy, w/ him, GregClow, HogTownHarry, jerc, tupalev)

2009-10-24. Very dark brown body with a modest khaki head that fades. 3+ Aroma is a touch boozy but has some interesting nuances, whisky, mild touch of wood. 7+ Flavour is less boozy, sweet dark malt base gets overtaken by a woody whisky character that has a a light tang/something fruity to it that is not unpleasant, but I am not overly enamored with it as I find it distracts. 7+ Smooth average plus palate is lightly carbonated. Alcohol is remarkable restrained. I enjoyed it, and it is well made, but it just did not quite come together for me as well as it did for others. Part of me wants to rate it higher but it just didn’t quite get there. Bottle shared by blankboy