Orkney Dark Island Reserve

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

0.75 l bottle, thanks oh6gdx! Black color with small tan head. Vinous aroma with sherry, calvados, apple, soya sauce, licorice and some lambic notes. Vinous and slightly acidic flavor with oak, apple, calvados, sherry and hint of smoke. Oily and woody palate. Surprisingly sherry and calvados like. There are also some acidic lambic notes which may not be intentional but this is nevertheless tasty.

Bottled (swing top 75cl, Vasa session). Pitch black, small tan head. Aroma is suprisingly very lambic-like, quite tart. There is calvados, grapefruit, smoke and licorice. Full-bodied. Cellary and earthy, some vinegar, alcohol and tartness. Some licorice and oak barrel, but othwerwise feels like infected.

Bottled (thanks cgarvieuk!). Black colour, small brown head. Aroma is madeirawine, some grapes, alcohol and quite sourish. Flavour is smoked oak, alcohol, raisins, some sourness as well. Oily palate. Feels a bit infected, yet in a quite nice way.

750 ml bottle enjoyed@GrOve’s. As black as it gets with a thin layer of foam. Strong malt nose with a touch of fruity acidity. Taste has a rich, roasted malt body with a delicate sweetness, that unfortunatly is set off by vinegar-like acidity, probably from a light infection. Strong body. Acidity in the finish. Re-rate pending.

750 ml bottle. Pitch black. Small beige head. Light cherry aroma. Hints of toffee. There is quite a bit of vinegar. I think I remember there was a bit of vinegar when I tried it three years ago. Rich roasted malt with a sweet background. The vinegar dominates a little unfortunately. Hops are well hidden behind the rich dark malts. Woudl like this one without the vinegar.

2008 Bottled from Grog in Edinburgh, drank in 2009. Poured super dark with just a bit of head. Incredibly fruity, perhaps overpoweringly so. Also hints of vanilla. Some spice too. OK but a bit hard to take for the full 750 mls.

750ml from Chevy Chase Wine, D.C. Handsome bottle, and it better be at this price. Anyways, a dark and gloopy pour, like something unearthed from a long-buried cask. Thick, almost no carbonation. The nose is actually somewhat modest, with prunes and figs blending with malt, peat, molasses, and smoke, but all very faintly. Slight barrel notes in the flavor, with a pleasant whiskey character to the brew. Silky mouthfeel, and as the beer warms it suggests a rich, fruity old ale. Pretty good.

In short: An extra-sweet, extra-roasted (read burnt) and extra-alcoholised Barley Wine. Annoyingly aggressive.
How: Bottle 750ml. Sent to me by MatSciGuy, thanks a lot Levi. Sherbrooke dinner-and-beer with Montreal crew.
The look: Very dark ruby topped by a beige ring of foam
In long: The keyword here is “burnt”. Burnt black cake, burnt brown sugar and burnt wood. Way too much residual sugar. Desperately needs hops to dry it out. Alcohol is way too apparent with no body texture to hide it. This is a sipper but the wrong type of sipper. Some respectable sippers are a nice slap in the face. This is Mike Tyson biting off your ear.