Orkney Dragonhead Stout (Bottle)

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

Pours a deep black color with a ring of light brown lace. Aroma and flavor of vanilla and coffee. The body is light with a creamy texture and low carbonation. I thought this would be way better, oh well...

Aroma of bread and meat, some notes of something like rauchbier. Overall malty. Very black coloured beer. Brown, remaining head. Taste consists of burned malts, bread, bit metallic, bitter. Malty Palate.

Compact 500ml bottle carried back home from Centra Colosseum Park, Oslo. The beige-brownish head stays well and is packed with small dimples. More or less Devil black in body appearance. Nice label, too. Prominent smell of dark chocolate with hints of liquorice. Taste of peatsmoke malts and roasted grain, paired with hints of leafy hops developing into a relatively short bitter ending. Dry textured. Good, but a bit thin bodied. However, a beer that grows on your palate (at home, Tromsø 23.10.2009).

Thus far, I have never given any beer from Orkney Brewing less than a 4.0. However, this dry stout is a bit thin and reminds me of a bitter Xingu. Yes, it's roasty. Yes, it's hopped and burnt, but did I mention it's thin? Easy to down in quantity, but I'll stick with their Red MacGregor instead.

Bottle. A huge beige head on top of an almost black beer. Lacework too. Wonderful chocolate, vanilla and espresso aroma. Earthy flavours, almost a bit meaty, with good roast. Dry finish. Solid stuff.

Big bitter roasty stout, lots of coffee and bakers chocolate flavors. Very smooth on the palate, feels very big for a 4% stout with a ton of malt character. Finish is of dry cocoa powder and burnt chocolate.

0.5L bottle poured deep dark brown with mocha head. The aroma is a mix of gingerbread, fruit cake, molasses, rum cake and caramel. Smells nice but not what I was expecting. The taste begins with roasty burnt malts. I then get vanilla, burnt molasses and faint dark fruity esters. It ends roasty and toasty leaving burnt malts, chocolate malts and a dash of coffee grounds lingering into the after taste. Tastes a bit different than it smells.

Thick and oily in the pour, like changing oil. We are talking black here, with a huge tan head with little hints of black dipping through in places. Like drinking a cup of coffee with a shot of espresso dropped in for that roasted taste. Full of body and flavor, but kind of one sided. Lots of chocolate and a bit of nutty goodness in the aftertaste. This one does not last very long at all.