Orkney Skull Splitter (Bottle)

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

Didn’t think this was a barley wine. Had lagery bitterness to it, kind of pukey flavor, unpleasant aftertaste. Very carmally, dark fruit, but I didn’t really like it overall.

From a trade, this bottle poured a very dark garnet colored red with a tan medium sized head and very sticky lacing rings. Nose of ripe fruit and lots of other tantalizing aromas. Very rich and creamy mouthfeel. Flavor is caramel malts with more ripe fruit. Alcoholic finish. Very nice to drink.

11.2oz bottle. Pours copper with a small ring of white lacing. Moderate carbonation. Aroma is of burnt malt, caramel, alcohol, sugar, and dark fruit. Smells pretty damn harsh. Taste is initially a boozy smack in your bitch mouth. It takes a few sips to warm up to the alcohol. After it warms, a delicious burnt caramel malt backbone presents itself. Notes of dark fruit, sugar, and medicinal flavors. Lingering sugary fruit flavors. Body is medium, and and the carbonation doesn’t helpt it drink any easier. Huge alcohol presence, which is strange since the bottle only lists it at 8.5%. Definitely a sipper. Way better than I recalled.

Dark red to brown pour. Caramel and alcohol aroma with a similar flavor. Alcohol bit at the finish. Good, but I didn’t think it was anything extremely special.

330 ml bottle. Poured a deep red with no really discernable head. Lots of fruit and malt with the alcohol very obvious. Rather too sweet to my taste, and I would like to taste a bottle conditioned version to see if this would hit the spot better. Still, not bad at all.

YES my friends I would diffently do this one again pick up at binnys poured a hazy meduim brown with a orange aura aromas are of caramel malts and alcohol and fruit, taste is of sweet caramel malts,sugar,candy and oh YEAH alcohol but don’t drink to many of these my friend you just might end up with a splitting head ache

As a geek of many things, including beer, it is a hard line to be drawn between buying only what I really want, and not what I blindly think I want. A large amount of my success, anyone’s success, is knowing themselves intimately inside and out. The very first time I tried the Scottish Ale Skull Splitter was years before my full beer geekdom inauguration. I bought it because the label was badass and the name was awesome. Yes, I succumbed to a beer marketing ploy. Now, as I have before me once more the Skull Splitter, I buy it not for its name or its label, but because it is one of the finest Scottish Ales available. Though should one do a bit of history homework, one will learn that both the figure on the label and the name are more than just eye-candy, but a living part of Scotland’s history.

My Skull Splitter stormed no-holds-barred a brilliant copper amber hue into my glass. Like a crimson sunset sounding the death knoll of yet another successful conquest, I surrender myself to his mercies. His crown leaves no doubt as to his purpose, leaving but a thin blanket to stand guard. Sweet caramelized sugars, plums, black cherries, dates, and crunchy apples topple any defenses I had while maple syrup, cinnamon, and ginger deliver the finishing blow. A conquered woman, I could be no happier. His nose is perfection, so I can only imagine what his body is like. Our first meeting is full and mouth-coating sweet with spice and a hint of crunchy apples in the finish. Over-ripe plums, caramelized sugars, and maple linger throughout each quaff as pleasing warmth permeates my body, centering in my chest. As my Skull Splitter warms, refreshing lemon zest nips at the back of my tongue, lightening my hefty brew. Each quaff leaves my breath warm and spicy with a sweet plum flourish while my senses remain coated in caramelized sugars and malts. Are those plump, dark, sun-soaked raisins I detect? Definitely a sipper, I savor our time together which assumingly is under no sense of duress. Nay, I would welcome Skull Splitter into my world any day.

Scottish Ales and Scotch Ales, aka wee heavy, were one of the beer styles which have taken me longer than some to develop a palate for. A stronger, thicker, sweeter full-bodied brew, they were meant to warm the hearts and souls of their sturdy Scotsman as they did whatever they did. I know that on a cold winter’s night in Scotland, I would reach for a Skull Splitter without hesitation.

bottle, pours brown with a thin tan head. Aroma is all malt with some carmel, and sweet malt notes. Flavors start with a sweet bready malt tone and end mild with little to no bitterness, and a slight spiced ending. Moderately carbonated, medium body. Not outstanding, but a good sipper.