Orkney Dark Island Reserve

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

750ml swingtop bottle bought for a relatively expensive price at Cornelius in Edinburgh. Vintage 2007, hand bottled 10.11.07. Thin, light brown head on top of a ruby-black body. Peaty aroma containing oak, dark coffee malt and a underlying note of liquorice. The flavour character appears as reminiscent of a dry, semi-sweet port wine. The vanilla oak works quite well together with figs and raisin. The concluding bitterness has got a smoky touch to it. Maybe rather too wine-like. I must admit that I had expected a little more, but, nonetheless, it is a fine drink for having a good time on late evenings (shared at Finns, Tromsø 18.02.2009).

Bottle 0,75l brewed 3th June and hand bottled 10th November 2007. Shared with Rune. (Thanks). Dark red/black colored. A rapidly dwindling mocha colored head. Some coffee and liquorice in the aroma. Flavor is close to port wine. Vinous. Touch of oak. Dry fruity bitter aftertaste reminding you that this is a beer after all. KI=3

Mild funky on the nose, dark fruits, oaky aromas. Pours very dark with a thin head. The flavor is full of dark fruits, smooth chocolate, oaky vanilla, with some mild funk. Nice very nice.

Bottle, picked up in Edinburgh. Opened with Alaskanwarren for our "Reeser Got Married" tasting. Deep red-brown, dense espresso-tan head. Toasty brown sugar aroma, rum, Marmite. Dry salty roast flavor, a touch of old oak barn boards. Viney, mineral finish. Lots of interesting character that doesn’t quite come together as well as it could.

slightly tart, lots of dark malts, rich fruits, smooth milk chocolate and vanilla bean. hardly any carbonation. pretty good.

The aroma is toasted and slightly sour with fruit, licorice, and oak. The appearance is black with almost no head. The flavor is like the aroma with a burnt finish. The palate is watery. Overall this is not very good. It’s certainly not like most barley wines.

Bottle at Horsens Beerfestival. Black body with a thin beige head. Aroma of moderate roasted malt, liquorices, dry fruit, vinous and traces of vanilla. Flavor is just a marvelous mix of the entire indigents found in the aroma. Delicious, complex wit a long and a bit acidulous finish completed with a warming alcoholic feeling.

750 ml bottle, with a big thanks to Andrew for sending this from Edinburgh! Pours a dark black color with a small white head, later the head basically goes down to nothing. A very nice aroma; sweet roasted malts and rich fruits, nothing like a BW. Later as it warmed it became sweeter and more sugary, lots of barrel goodness. The flavor is excellent; sweet woody and whiskey flavors, some dark fruits, figs and tobacco, roasted and smoky peat flavors, some light vanilla. A lively and full palate. Excellent. This beer is my 1,000th brew. It is all that I love about beer; unique, tasty, full of local enthusiasm and character. It doesn’t hurt that I love Scotland and Scottish beer. Cheers!