Orkney Skull Splitter (Bottle)

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

In short: A very good slightly smoked clean barley-wine.
How: Mtl-crew Halloween-tasting session.
The look: Clear ruby body with little chunks and a little beige head.
In long: A bit of smoke on the nose. Toasted bread with rich caramel and a multi-fruits jam. Alcohol well hidden. Very clean for the genre. Low in hops, this is a malt story. Looking forward to drinking it again and hopefully take more notes. The best skull splitter since the Stihl MS-400 chainsaw according to my uncle Psycho Rob.

From bottle. Beautiful mahogany color, thin almond colored head. Intense winey/porty aroma- almost smells like port to me. Highly alcoholic taste, high carbonation. Dry finish. Lingering sweet aftertaste, not too pleasant. An interesting beer, although I don’t know if I’d buy it again. Re-rate- I think I had a bad bottle the first time. Either that or something I had eaten before gavie this beer a sickeningly sweet taste. Well, after giving it another shot- great mahogany color, viney aroma. Light carbonation, subtle alcohol. THis beer is sweet and creamy, with some fruitiness. FUll bodied, but enjoyable.

12 oz. pours with a little head that quickly fades. A dirty murky orange tinted swamp water. Aroma is faint of whiskey, apple, and brown sugar. First roll around the mouth reveals a very full body with intense creaminess. Tastes of scotch, candied apple and some kind of dark bread. Overall, pretty sweet, very delicious. One of the bes alcohol overtones I’ve experienced. Finishes great. Will be on the lookout for this one.

THOUGHTS: Seemed like I liked this a lot more a couple years ago when I was just getting into good beer on a consistant basis. I was surprised this isn’t a wee heavy instead of a barley wine. Not a bad beer, but a pretty bad barley wine. TECHNICAL: Bottle. Poured a medium to dark brownish red with asmall, orr-white head that barley laced. The aroma was moderate to heavy malt and light to moderate herbal hops with alcohol and a little smoke and some slight dar fruit. The initial flavor was lightly sweet, while the finish was moderately sweet and bitter with some smoke and an average duration. The medium to full body was lightly fizzy with and sloholic finsh.

pours a red-copper with a thin beige head. smell - fruit, caramel apple, malt. taste - sweet, prune, brown sugar, malt, leaves the mouth on the oily side, not too dry.

Pours a dark copper with a brown head and beigde carbonation bubbles. Taste is sweet almost fruity but not. Has a nice finish and high alcohol, Very enjoyable.

In the realm of great beer names this one is on the leader board, great label as well this bottle is a keeper. Abundant and aggressive aroma of floral, sweet malt. Sugary caramel and cedar. Clean burnt amber color, fresh light tan head, and streaky lacing. Solid malt body, sweet on the taste buds. There is a minor spark of noticeable alcohol. Flavor has a real pleasant smoked sweetness. Amber malt with caramel, molasses, and other residual sugar tastes. Great woody quality along with toasted bread. Great brew, wonderful example of the style. Remember "If it’s not Scottish, It’s crap!" This is a must try.

Bottle. Copper-coloured with a big yellowish head. Raisins nose. Intense rains flavours with some dryish nuttiness. Alcohol. Rummy flavours. Very satisfying.