Orkney Skull Splitter (Bottle)

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

11.2 oz bottle into a Snifter style glass. Pours a mediumly thick looking light brown with copper tones and a nice foamed tan head that goes down in a minute. The aroma brings a sweet malt sense as well as a smokey malt sense. Caramel and toffee also are brought into the nose. BIG caramel notes as the beer warms. The flavor starts with a very mellow sweet malt that moves into a rich carameled toffee note. This is then over swept by a very present note of alcohol, that is overwhelming a bit, but actually really nice. A tiny bit of bitter notes are hinted at during the alcohol. A fairly syrupy feel on the palate. Easy to drink for 8%. Definitely a Scotch ale, not Barleywine. Quite enjoyable really!!

It is funny that I am only now rating this beer. I used to drink this stuff back in college (circa 1994) and I do not think that I have had it since. Let’s see what 12+ years of beer education and experience have done for my opinion. Clear copper with a nice tan head that consists of bubbles of many different sizes.The head itself does not last too terribly long. The aroma is sweet and smoky. I am not sure if they use peat in this beer but it sure smells like it. Reminds me of a whisky without the nose-hair-singing alcohol. Very sweet and caramel flavors, the peat that I picked up in the aroma (a figment of my overactive imagination?) is faint at best in the flavor. The palate is wonderful. It is full but not syrupy or sticky. I can see why I liked this stuff in college. It is really quite good, especially considering the scale at which it must be produced to be so readily available. A fine Scottish twist on a classic style.

This makes for a very nice nightcap. Pours deep caramel into the glass, with an initial off-white head that diminishes to nothing. At first, I pick up sourdough and yeast predominately on the bouquet, yet as the brew warms, I detect heavy caramel and toffee. The flavors are quite sweet, in a wonderfully comforting way.... caramel, dried dark fruits (raisins, plums, figs), toffee and honey, with a spiced peppering finish (from the alcohol notes); however, there’s no real astringency, as the ABV is well-integrated. The mouthfeel is round, although it feels initially a bit thin. This is such a comforting brew, I just wish the substance really "held up" on the palate. (Everything gets better as the brew warms, and the palate is even "more than" tolerable as I acclimate to it). Very nice offering here.

Pours deep amber into a snifter. Tan micro head leaves slightt sheet lacing as it slowly recedes. Earth and sweet ozone aromas. Sticky and flat caramel and honey with a lingering bitter finish.

Bottle. I bought it because of the abdsurd name and the cranky viking on the label. Pours reddish brown, no head to speak of. Sweet honey smell, strong hit of alcohol. Very, very malty sweet, with bitter backdrop, and noticable alcohol burn (bad, naughty beer!). With a name like skullsplitter, I kinda expected something with more punch. Not too much to it beyond the strength, I think.

Beer pours a clear and brilliant brownish copper with a thick off-white head that never completely disappears and laces the glass heavily. The aroma is very sweet and malty with some honey and fig preserves - I get impressions of honey-glazed sourdough croissants. The aroma also hints at the beer’s strength with a bit of alcohol in the nose - and also reveals hints of chocolate as it warms. The flavor starts sweet, with a very fruity malt presence that hints at tartness on the tip of the tongue. The middle of the flavor is still sweet but a noticable, albeit somewhat mild, flavor of hops creeps in with hints of earthy bitterness. The beer is decently bitter on the back of the tongue with hints of smoke, but is malty enough to finish sweet, fruity, and full. The after-taste is a little hoppy but heavy with malts and dark fruit. The mouthfeel is medium in body with a crisp carbonation that tingles the back of the tongue. I would probably label this a Wee Heavy over a Barley Wine (though it is a little hoppier and not quite as dark as other wee heavies...)

11.2 oz. bottle. Strong aroma of wine, grape, and apple with hints of chocolate that develop after sipping. The scent is interesting and nice, but I’m not sure that it’s appropriate for a beer. Pours a clear brown with a large amount of fizzy tan/beige head. Fruit sweetness in the flavor from the malt and high alcohol content. Barely a hint of hops. Smokey malt, reminiscent of a scotch whisky. Somewhat port-like flavors. Chocolate and roasted nut notes. No obvious alcohol taste despite the high abv. Little aftertaste. Smooth, soft, full-bodied, and fizzy in the palate; very drinkable. I’m not the biggest fan of barley wines and scotch ales, so SkullSplitter was a pleasant surprise. I could use some more hops, but, apart from that small gripe, this is a unique, complex, tasty, and very enjoyable beer.

Great beer, poor aftertaste. Blind test. 1 finger head. Dark crimson color. Smell lightly nutty, pcans, walnuts. Flavor is nutty and slightly hoppy. The aftertaste is coffee with a strong musty burnt caramel.