Orkney Dragonhead Stout (Bottle)

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

Bottle. Black pour with a big brown head. Has a nice roasted aroma with a hint of some spice. Roasted flavor becomes burnt, like charred wood, in the bitter finish. If you like your stouts with a burnt flavor (like i do) then this is a good one.

16oz bottle. Pours a dark brown with a decent tan head. Nose is interesting, some grape, vanilla, and coffee. The flavor is utterly unique as I have come to expect from this brewery. Sort of like eating toast and vanilla beans with coffee. Very bready and malty with tons of vanilla and a little coffee with no bitterness. A little peat smoke but not alot. Slightly watery, to be expected given the low abv, but complex and unique.

Aroma: smokey, coffee and nicely balanced by dark chocolate roles. Appearance: black, tan, head sheet lacing. Flavour: hazelnut, chocolate coffee in abundance. Palait: creamy, lights carbonated but a touch thin. Finishes fruity/herbal.

A mythical, scaled creature hailing from the far North and East is always an eye catcher for an unassuming passerby, which is why when I saw a wooden dragon head peering out from the refrigerator at my local liquor dispenser I had to pick it up the bottle it was inescapably attached to. The glass frame is stockish and bullish, like a championship boxer’s coach, and gives the impression, unopened and untouched, of being a truly masculine brew. However, the texture disappoints, being somewhat "translucent" in the depth and breadth of its flavor. It pours thickly, with a fluid base of opaque brown and a tannish shade for a head. There’s nothing one could call artistic magestry in the overall appearance. It really is just a burly looking drink. The overall flavor is hard to discern for a newbie like myself, but I’d definitely call it smoky, with a subtle but welcome hint of chocolate. Most amazing was the disparity between smelling it out of the bottle and out of a glass. Completely different sensations hit my neighboring sensory nerves. I imagine this beer would be a great drink while doing hard agricultural work in a humid environment. Odd, but this might explain its Scottish origins. The Orkney Stout may be a nice parlor drink. You can’t drink it too fast without catching the suspicious glances of your friends. The environment has to be absolutely right. As I begin to sample the stout I find myself under a noisy barrage; my roommates are playing a raucous children’s game, but once I move to another room and start listening to a healthy round of the Russian Red Army Choir, the flavor and its contribution to the environment are enhanced. Drinking this heavy and hearthy beer I feel like a part of history, sunken into the ground with time and tale. If you plan on being light on your feet and witty do not drink the Orkney stout. It sort of sinks into the tongue and gut with an anvil heaviness - hence the aptness for sitting in a parlor and pontificating on European unification or some such weighty matter to the tune of a brazenly burly Scottish brew.

Bottle pours an opaque black with a thick dark tan head that lingers like a frothy cappuccino. Aroma of bitter chocolate, roasted malts, tobacco, and dried fruit. Bitter flavor that includes a nice mix of chocolate, coffee, and smokiness. Smooth and creamy mouthfeel.

This beer poured a very dark amber, almost black color and formed a huge dark tan foamy head that coated the glass with lace as it very slowly subsided. Almost a float like appearance to it. An aroma of malt and burnt chocolate and coffee. A flavor of malt and coffee. A slightly burnt aspect to the finish, but not in a bad way, and a little lighter than I thought it would be.

Medium sized, toasted marshmellow colored head. Liquid is very dark. Aroma of coffe and cookie dough. Boy I might have to say that this is the best Non-Russian Stout that I have had. Super smooth and soft mouth feel. Flavor is not overly bitter. Dry finish. I could drink a lot of these in a Pub somewhere.

Small foamy head and an opaque black shade. Roasted malt and milk/cream on the nose all the way. Espresso-like, greasy coffee bean flavor. Hop bite is evident. Yogi_Beera is right...the body is very thin.