Orkney Dragonhead Stout (Bottle)

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

A solid stout--one good for moving people past the regular brews into specialty beers. Not nearly as good as the Dark Island Ale, but a fine chaser to Dark Island.

Bottle (500ml). Thanks to Degarth for this one!. Opaque black, lively pour, large fluffy beige head. Oily, nutty, deep roast malt aroma, a little milky with a touch of cherry tartness - very rich and appealing. Taste is very roasty, light nut and tart fruit, some acidity and grassy hops in the finish. Light, still, silky mouthfeel, nice bitter aftertaste - solid stout, would have it again.

500 ml bottle, via SoLan/TheCheeseMan. Pours a flat black body with some brownish edges under a small fizzy brown head that settled to a thin creamy covering. The nose on this is just great, heavy roast and smoke with some lighter bitter chocolate and coffee. Just a hint of hoppiness. The flavor is slightly lactic with heavy roasted barley and dark brewed coffee up front. Finishes with a slight hoppy kick that doesn’t really meld too well with the roast to me. Mouthfeel is slightly oily with a slight stickiness on the finish. Slightly fizzy carbonation with a little too much pricklyness for me. Overall, I liked this for the most part. If the hops were a little more toned down on the finish and featured the roastiness more it would have been even better. It does get some points for uniqueness though.

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.

Black with medium beige head. Sweet with roasted malt caramel, coffee and chocolate. Good complexity for a beer with that amount of alcohol.

500ml bottle. Pours pitch black in color with full foamy brown head. Aroma coffee and chocolate. Taste roasted malt and dark chocolate with dry finish.

(br-btl bk/gl-lbl)
bk, med-co2,
T1 §sweet
T2 §bitter
T3 §pete-smokey
great texture and underlying aroma and flavor but scottish-ale-yeast-peat-smokiness dominates and buries it.

Black pour with a thick long lasting chocolate mousse head and nice lacing. Nose of dark chocolate. As to the flavor, I’m going to use a comparison that those familiar with New Orleans culture will understand: "Coffee with Chicory". Translated: Deep roasted, practically burned coffee taste with a distinctive nuttiness. Notes of smoke and chocolate as well. Bitter finish of coffee and smoke. Excellent balance, overall.