Orkney Dark Island (Bottle)

Brewed by Orkney (Sinclair Breweries)
Style: Old Ale
Stromness, Orkney, Highlands & Islands, Scotland

Chocolate, malt, barley, coffee and hoppy. Pours a dark reddish/brown coloured beer with big foamy cream head. Hops, minerals, salt, coffee. A touch watery. Listed as an old ale but tastes like a hoppy imperial stout. Not as nice as the cask version.

The highlight of this is the flavor -- very noticeably smokey, gritty. (I’d give it an 8.5 if I could.) The rest has an obviously Scottish character and rather mild or even bordering on weak in the body and finish. There just isn’t the sharpness that is provided in the flavor. The aroma is recognizably Scottish but definitely not attention-grabbing.

Currently playing: Gal Costa

Bottle at in-laws. caramel, roasty, resin, black, frothy, medium bitterness, medium body, sticky, soft carbonation,

Bottle. Pours a dark brown with some ruby hints. Has a roasted malty toffee aroma with some hints of coffee. Sweet malty slightly roasted fruity chocolate flavor with some vinous hints. Has a sweetish rosted malty finish.

Bottle at No. 5. Brown with a light brown head. Aroma moderate/heavy malty (caramel, roasted, licorice, smoke, dark fruits). Flavor heavy sweet, light bitter. Thin, watery.

Pours a very dark brown that shows some dark ruby tints when held to light. Minimal tan-nish head falls fairly quickly. Nose is that woody syrupy sweet thickness. Pretty traditional stuff. Seems like there are some coffee grind tones on the end too. Flavor tastes like bitter old coffee at first but calms down to only a fairly bitter tone. As it warms it becomes more pleasant and some firm peat tones really start to appear. Leaves a smoked, peaty like aftertaste in the mouth. Feel has a thick liquid body and a good level of carbonation. Overall a decent brew. If you drink it too soon without letting it warm up, don’t expect as much as you should be getting.

Very dark ruby, no head. Aroma is malty, with caramel, toffee, dark fruits. Taste is caramel, light maltiness, very light hops in the background with a hint of smoke. Good session brew.

1pt Bottle: Poured a picture perfect jet black with a light but fastly dissipating light brown head. Aroma is light malty with a heavy scent of dark chocolate. Goes down quite easy.