Orkney Dragonhead Stout (Bottle)

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

Bottle: Black with a small tan head, ends dry. Better on cask. On cask NERAX ’04: Black with a small creamy head. Roasted coffee/chocolate aroma, light bodied, starts and ends sweet.

500mL bottle. Head is initially average sized, frothy, brown, mostly lasting. Body is black (not opaque). Aroma is moderately malty (chocolate/cocoa, caramel, roasted grain), lightly hoppy (resin), with light notes of vanilla, cassis, milk, hint of smoke/ash/peat. Flavor is moderately sweet, lightly to moderately acidic, lightly bitter. Finish is lightly sweet, lightly to moderately acidic, moderately bitter. Light to medium body, watery/creamy texture, lively carbonation. A bit too tart for my liking, but it has an interesting and pleasant aroma.

(Bottle) Dark stout with a brownish, medium head. Descent chocolate and coffee taste, but a bit too carbonated.

Thick and malty,very easy to drink,a nice session ale,a nice chocky and hoppy aroma.

Fair dry stout. Aroma of coffee and roasted malt. Pours deep black with thick, dark head. Flavors of chocolate and caramel. Thin and watery. It looks great but the total package is lacking.

Huge dark brown lasting head. Apparently opaque black body. Big roasty cocoa aroma with sugary licorice and hop notes. Dry burnt chocolatey coffee taste with metallic toffee notes. Some faint fruitiness, too. Thin body. Mild, smoothish mouthfeel. Dry pine needle and burnt coffee aftertaste. Burnt coffee taste lingers for a long time. Too thin and dry, but otherwise great. With more body this would be an awesome beer. (0.5l bottle, Centra, Oslo.)

Handpump pint at the Maltings, York. Not sure of the difference between this and the cask version here, since they both say cask in their description? So I’ll keep it here. Pours pitch black with a lasting, creamy and dense tan head that laces considerably. Nose is indistinct, slight roasted malt and a considerable chocolate presence. Taste is really superb: strongly roasted and coffee upfront, fades to a heavily bitter finish that lasts and coats. Echoing the sentiments of some raters before me: this makes for an exceptional session stout and as such gets a few extra bumps from me.

For sure a cool label, this one sure let me down. Not that it tasted bad really...more just that it didn’t have much of a taste at all. A Stout this one is not, drinks much more like a porter. Does pout a nice looking deep, dark brown with lots of lacing. Flavors are water, water, carmel, cold coffee, dark fruit, and water. At 4% ABV, there isn’t anything here to pack a punch, and very little that even reminds me of a stout; no chocolate, no alcohol, no roasted barley, nothing. Does have a coffee flavor, but it is more like cold coffee than coffee beans, and is diluted by the water. I just didn’t get this one at all.