Orkney Dark Island (Bottle)

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

(bottle - 500 ml) Dark ruby red, almost brown, pour with a thin tan head. Aroma is potent. Very potent. Lots of smoke, chocolate, malt, and dark fruits. Flavor begins with a dark chocolate note, then some coffee, then some red wine, then some nuts and dark fruits. Lots of flavor and a nice roasty finish.

Dark chesnut brown, with a small head. Aromas of smoke, chocolate and toffee malts. Flavors of chocolate with some fruit and nut undertones. The roasted malts give it a smoky flavor that reminded me of a smoked porter or a scottish ale. Let it warm a bit before drinking. Pretty good stuff.

Looked good as I poured it into the glass, dark body with ruby tinges and a tight beaded head. Coffee, dried fruit, a little smoke and sherry like notes on the aroma. Smooth taste, liquorice, coffee, hints of chocolate and caramel, not a lot of roast notes. For an old ale the alcohol is a bit low.

bottle, dark brown with slight reddish highlights, soft tan foam with some lace, aroma of coffee and graham crackers, flavor is mix of very bitter chocolate, meat, nuts and a bitter roast finish

Bottle pours black with a beige head. Aroma is rich malt, light smoke, and a bit of dark fruit. Flavor is lightly smokey, sweet malt, and a hint of dark fruit.

A smokey rich deep dark ale with a low ABV and a smooth malt charachter. Taste has some chocolate, plum, dried figs, plus a touch of charcoal and smoke. The smoothness of this beer is exceptional; glides over the tongue like a silken breeze. The finish is mild with a gentle emphasis on roasted, Porter-like flavours.

Bottle. Pours a fantastic deep ruby brown with a dense brown head that leaves a little creamy lace. Rich, mouthwatering aroma of dark treacley malts, prunes, subtle peaty woodiness with a hint of smoke. The flavours are big and delicious: sweet rye breadcrusts, figgines that is more like fig paste than fresh figs, dark toffee, and a nice nuanced peaty woodiness through it all. Medium to full-bodied despite the lighter ABV. It is frigging cold in Invercargill right now, and this is the perfect winter treat. This beer plays perfectly as an old-school porter, and it possesses all the characteristics that I love most in darker malt beers. This was a real treat!

500ml bottle thanks to Summer Secret Santa. Pours a very dark brown color-almost no light gets through- with a large off-white head. The aroma is great; heavily roasted malts, nutty, light fruit, and a heavy does of that glue-like roasted malt that the Guinness FES has, woody and almost like ash. The flavor is great; loads of flavors, huge roasted malts, nutty and woody flavors, a definite dark fruit, perhaps fig in here and vanilla. I love this type of beer, though is doesn’t seem like and old ale to me, really this is a stout. Give me a keg of this and I’ll drink it everyday without complaint. Now I need a fire and my pipe. I love the Orkney beers. A nice rich mouthfeel as well.