Orkney Raven Ale (Bottle)

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

Tasted at the 2007 Beer Festival in Edinburgh Scotland. Brown. Fruity malt. Not worth the stirling or the trip.

[bottle] Reddish body, good white head. Slightly fruity (pear, white grapes), roasted grains, tarty hoppiness; dry finish, not overly bitter. Full palate. Balanced and enjoyable.

Bottle. Initially wheaty and hoppy with some sweet malt in the nose. Mouth is much the same, with the addition of a little bit of fruit, perhaps some berry. Palate continues much of the same, finishes quite bitter, a little sweet.

Bottle. Fruity, light aroma. Perhaps a bit of malt in there. Clear amber color with a firm beige head. Starts fruity, brings up light malt, quickly followed by balancing hop. Almost medium mouthfeel. The finish is nicely dry and bitter. Very nice indeed.

Bottle picked up from SH Jones, Bicester, 23-09-06 Has a lovely label. Pours almost orange like in colour, fruit hops and detected some yeastiness in the aroma. Quite an easy drinking beer, with malt and caramel swishing around in balanced proportions, taste a slight sourness and comes across as being a little on the weak side but I can’t be too critical as this isn’t too bad a beer.

Clear dark orange with a bit of a head that left pretty quickly leaving a little lace. Weird aroma. First thoughts are of orange liqueur and then of berocca. Tasting reveals the same, but a bit weak. Flavour is pretty neutral, but if anything on the sour side. Fairly thin bodied, a little gassy, and not really much in the finish. (Thanks to highlandlad)

I half-wish this was rubbish so I could write a smart-arse one-word review for the literary-minded: "Nevermore". But it’s not, so Edgar Allan Poe won’t do. As pasteurised bottled bitters go, this is pretty good. Raven Ale is a pale chestnut colour and poured with a short, lacing head. It has that fruity ’house character’ that the Orkney range seems to have, but with the same odd chemical bath grout note that showed in the stout. It’s an odd aroma, with a splash of pasteurised boiled lolly and some sourness. However, the palate is lovely, creamy-smooth and moderately carbonated. The flavour mix is a melange that somehow works: roast barley, Juicy Fruit chewing gum, Belgian-style yeastiness, caramel... Overall, this is an odd cove but very drinkable. (500ml bottle shared with Bridge; bb Aug 2005; many thanks to my ould fella for lugging this to Australia.)

[bottle from Peckhams] aroma is caramelish malts balanced with citric hops. i find the body a little gassy and aggressive. It just dont like drinking beers that should be cask from the bottle.