Orkney Skull Splitter (Cask)

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

Aroma is lightly smokey peaty malts, quite a bit of sweetness, grassy floural honey i assume from some sort of hop character. Taste is similarly complex and sweet but increadibly drinkable, like 2 pints out of a plastic jug drinkable!

Cask (handpump) at the White Horse, Parsons Green. Attractive, rich bronze colour. Quite dry and hoppy for a UK Barley Wine - certainly not in the sumptuous fruity style. Light vinous aroma with lots of woody, slightly musty, notes. More of the same in the flavour. I found it a little too woody, without enough other interest to back that up. Wouldn’t have spotted 8.5% alcohol.

1. Cask Stillage at the Metropolitan Cathedral Crypt, Liverpool 22/02/2001 Dark coloured and very strong. Smooth on the palate. 2. Cask Handpump at the Penny Black, Northwich (JDW) 24/12/2001 Dark with a reddish hue. Strong in alcohol and fruity. Warming finish. 3. Cask Handpump at the Bon Accord, Glasgow 01/12/2007 Strong fruity aroma. Mid brown coloured strong in alcohol slightly sweet and rich on the palate. Crisp and bitter lasting malt finish.

Sweet and malty, its nice but the alcoholo shows through more than similar strength beers and it isn’t that complex.

It was really better on bottle, definetly, it was a little mor epale on cask, and the aroma is not that oaky, the foam is not as great, and the taste, well, get a bottle.

Wallington Festival. This wasn’t deemed to be ready, but after putting in a request I was given a half pint. I had been after this for so long that it was good to get it at last. But, maybe I should have waited a bit longer and got it when it was ready. I see nothing here to fuss about. Quite the opposite. A rather awkward beer with odd flavours - plastic, petrol, rubber, tea, etc. I’ll assume this was unready and give a default score.

Cask conditioned at the 32nd Cambridge Beer Festival, gravity dispense. Dark reddish brown colour. Complex aroma of dark fruits, spices and oak, various woodwork, some chocolate. Flavour is spicy, oaky, malty, chocolate, there’s vinous qualities (old sherry, marsala). Nutty / dusty hops finish. A great beer!

Cask conditioned - handpump - White Horse - Parsons Green London SW6. A beautiful aroma of whiskey like alcohol and furniture polish to this mid brown beer. Sadly the taste doesn’t live up to the aroma. Having said that though it ain’t bad. It has a vinuous sweetness and is almost Belgian. If only it tasted as good as it smelled.