Orkney Raven Ale (Bottle)

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

50 cL bottle. Pours cloudy dark orange with a huge white head. Aroma is roasted caramelish and slight roasted malty. Lingering malty flavoured with a light bitterness showing through. Ends dry and slight spiced. Dry malty finish. Good one.

Bottle, 3.8%. Grassy aroma, mild but OK. Clear yellow colour. Stable white head. There seems to a hint of smoke in the flavour. It makes the beer a tad more interesting. Grainy finish.

Bottled 50cl. Biscuity, decent bitterness. Salty. A hint of quince in the finish. Enjoyable.

50cl dark brown bottle, label slightly different than pictured (on the new label, the raven doesn’t spread his wings). Pours a slightly hazy yellow golden with a small, off-white head. Solid retention, decent lacing. Light- to medium-bodied bitter with active carbonation and tickling, but not grainy mouth feel. A bit watery, as is typical of this style. Aroma of citrus fruit, malt and hops. Some herbal spices there, too. The taste is refreshing and characterful, due to a superb balance of malt and hops - the hoppy note is stronger than usual in a bitter, almost closer to an IPA. But it’s as bitter as most English "best bitters", so fans of that style will find much to admire here. Finish is dry, after tasty very mildly bitter - inviting you to drink another one. The mix of citrusy and malty notes keep the beer interesting, so it’s also highly sessionable. Another very good brew from the Orkney Brewery. At €3.50 a bottle, it doesn’t come cheap - but then, it comes from distant shores. Both literally and figuratively. ;-)

(bottle) Slightly hazy, golden colour with a thick and dense, slightly off-white foamy head. Citrus-fruity and slightly zesty hoppy aroma with a balancing amount of sweet (cara-)malt. Moderately bitter flavour, light bodied with a crispy carbonation. Well-balanced malty base with notes of biscuits and fruity, slightly woody hops, leading into a dry and bitter finish with aromatic hops character. Pretty aromatic and flavourful for the low abv. 03.XI.09

Bottle. Golden colour with an off-white head. Aroma is fruit, malt, apple. Flavour is fruit, malt, apple, hop, bread. Medium body. Ordinary beer.

Bottle 50cl. @ Chriso’s pre GBBF Shindig ’09.
Clear light to medium amber color with a small to average, frothy - fizzy, good lacing, mostly diminishing, off-white head. Aroma is moderate malty, oxidide malt, grainy, bready. Flavor is moderate sweet with a average duration. Body is medium, texture is watery, carbonation is soft. [20090801]

Bottle.Pours golden with a dissipating white head.Grainy bread and yeast in the nose with some malt sweetness and fruitiness.Biscuity/bready flavor with some yeast notes.Somewhat sweet with a bitter finish.Overall a rather dull beer.