Orkney Dark Island Reserve

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

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.

A mixture of barley wine, Rodenbach and some stout thrown in. It turns out to be a very nice mix. A light cherry taste is always present.

Bottle from MaltOMeal at the February Houston Tasting. Thanks, Bill! Pours a deep black with an aroma of cedary chocolate alcohol. Flavor is sour cherry cheap wine with a hint of raisin and plumb soaked in chocolate. Average mouthfeel. Different for sure.

Bottle from the Otown throwdown. thanks mcbackus! Mant is was one good beer. Super dark pour wtih a dark tan head. Aroma is fruity, molasses, whisky, oak, and prunes. Flavor is sweet and bitter with notes of whisky, honey, wood and vanilla. This is a winner!!

February Houston Tasting. Thanks to maltomeal for this beer. Pours very dark with a little thin mocha head. Nose of brett, sour funk...and a bit of an old ale aroma. Flavor is like a porter, with some sour cherries and chocolate. Rich and full bodied.

Bottle pours deep brown with a lighter head. Sweet malts in the nose with a bit of plum and molasses. Medium body for a barley wine with a lasting sweetness and pleasant bitterness at the end. Goes down way too easy. No alcohol burn for that ABV. No signs of whiskey or oak in the beer. Very nice beer.

My Bottom Line:
This serious creature of a Barley Wine stuns the tastebuds with its oaken alcohol, fruity chocolate, vanilla-like sweet spiciness, and peaty earthiness for a classy but stern moment of sipping.

Further Personal Perceptions:
-A thin ring of foam decorates the reddish blackness.
-The alcohol is strong throughout, almost burning in the finish. This is obviously meant for slow sipping.
-The body is quite healthy and never falls into syrupy textures.
-The fruitiness is also redolent of black grapes and cherries.

Bottle.

Thanks to Keith for sharing this! Black pour with very thin beige head. Vanilla, bourbon and roasty aroma. Dark fruit, peat, vanilla, and toffee.