Orkney Dark Island (Bottle)

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

Bottle. Dark ruby red with a little beige head. Sweet roasted malty aroma. Flavour has some liquorice and quite sweet. Some dryness from flowery hops. Otherwise a sweet roasted feel with a smoky edge.

Cask at the Ship Centurian in Whitstable High Street. This pint took me off-guard, pouring liqourice brown with a tan head. Distinct burnt notes with chocolate and coffee flavours more reminiscent of an imperial stout than an old ale. Thick mouthfeel with porty finish. Very good winter beer.

Rich dark chocolate/cocoa nose. Pours deep brown with a tan head and good lace. Flavour is also rich and chocolatey with some balancing peatiness and a vinous finish with raisins, syrup of figs, and a hint of freshly turned earth. Pretty darn good.

Dark brown ale, beige head. Strong dark chocolate aroma, malty and coffeish. Soft mouthfeel, malt accented, with some smokey notes. Light body, maybe too much for my taste, but it’s not a big problem. This beer is in the middle of some styles and doesn’t seem to me a very old ale. However, who cares? Good.

Insanely dark brown color with a medium head. Sweet, maple malt aroma. Heavy peat taste with some nuttieness and more maple syrup. Slight earthy hop finish. Very fine.

From a 500 ml. narrow neck bottle with a short blurb on the back label, no freshness date. Poured a ruby hued cola brown with a small foamy tan head that settled into a thin lacing. Aromas of peat and fruity esters, vinous, soft chocolate and coffee malts. Good moderate carbonation and a crisp, velvety smooth medium-light bodied mouthfeel. Pleasant Scottish taste, smoked peat and a little earth, some sweetness from chocolate malts, nutty, a soft, sour citrus hoppiness and a dry nutty chocolate finish with a touch of smoky peat. Easy, smooth drinkability, a tasty and balanced Scottish Ale, well worth trying.

(500 ml bottle from <A HREF=http://www.ratebeer.com/Place/massachusetts/f target=blank>Kappy’s) Smoky, peaty, but sort of a mess of flavors...Pours very dark birch beer brown with one nice finger of creamy tan head that recedes to a lasting thin layer. Aroma sweet and malty, notes of molasses, candy, perhaps roasted coffee and bitter chocolate. Mouthfeel surprisingly thin, kind of fizzy. Very nice fine rings of webby lacing. Flavor is kind of a bunch of different things that really don’t blend together well. Tastes pretty smoky - smoked peat, kind of sour, some bitter chocolate and roasted coffee, perhaps some toffee, definitely some grassiness. Nice looking beer with an appealing aroma, but the cheapish mouthfeel and strange mix of flavors kind of messes it up.

yeah, buddy! / one of the best beers i’ve had all year--i know, i know! i don’t get the PRIVILEGE of obtaining some top beers like some of you ;o) / strong aroma of coffee beans, but nicely coupled with fruit; this is nice... a lightly carbonated ale, vinous, slight maltiness, a little coffee, milky; thickish mouthfeel.