Orkney Dark Island (Bottle)

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

Bottle at the MicroBar in Clapham (London), dark brown with a bubbly tan head. A bitter coffee aroma, slight molasses touch. Smooth mouthfeel, a light sweet flavour of coffee and toffee.

Bottle. Tulip. Nearly pitch black pour with tan head. Very faint aroma that leaves impressions of smoked chipotle and chocoalte. Tastes of malt, deep wood smokiness and sweet coffee/chocolate. Heavy mouth feel, but not a ’big beer.’ Decent.

Cask, Moon Under Water, Watford. Poured a nice black colour with a white head. A burnt smell, with a little tar. Bitter chocolate taste, smokey flavour, but with some sweetness. Rather nice.

500 mL, pours black but not opaque. Medium head that lasts. Aroma is graham cracker, chocolate, molasses, marshmallow and a hint of band-aid. Taste is smoked and spiced band-aid, with some faint hints of molasses. Palate is almost mouth-puckeringly dry, medium-bodied, and watery. Too much band-aid taste at first, then way too much smoke. This beer is way overrated, probably because it is more of a rauchbier, porter or stout. While this beer might be OK in one of those categories, Old Ale fans who like malt should be wary of this one, as the promising malt in the aroma is killed by the choking smokiness in the flavor.

500. Pours opaque black with a towering, thick, moussy, tan head that leaves sheets of sticky, sudsy lace. Fairly restrained nose for such an attention whore of a head--some dark fruit and a bit of sweat, faint floral notes there as well. Sweet and creamy body, veyr mild--low carbonation, body’s thin enough to be clean-drinking despite the creaminess. Much too little going on in the mid-palate flavors and in the finish for this to be exceptional, but it’s tasty enough and definitely more than just drinkable--the palate’s incredible with its smooth creaminess layered in against such clean drinkability. Really great stuff in some ways.

Bottle sampled with Beerded_one. Pours brown with a large light tan head. Aroma of roast, smoke, spices, and alcohol. The flavor is smooth, smoke, roast, spices. NIce brew, a little thin but good.

Bottle. Strongly malty aroma with balanced smoke and peat. Vinous, whiskyish character. Dry and burned - a very interesting nose. Deep, darkened burgundy with a creamy, rocky, lacing tanned head. Taste reveals definite smoky whisky notes, restrained but demanding attention. About as far from over-the-top as possible. Faint burn and bg fruitiness. Light body but a dry and slightly ashy aftertaste, though not at all harsh. Have to wonder what this would be like form the cask. A really subtle and contemplative brew ... taste the archipelago!

Aroma of dark dank old dungeons; fits the name perfectly. Pour was a beautiful almost black with a thin off white head with no lacing. Taste was smokey; so much so that I would guess this was a smoked ale in a blind taste test. Some coffee bitterness and a burnt roasted malt taste. This is the best Old Ale I’ve ever had and it’s hard to imagine something topping it.