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Dark Island
Orkney Brewery


- From:
- Orkney Brewery
- Scotland, United Kingdom
- Style:
- Scottish Ale
Ranked #4 - ABV:
- 4.6%
- Score:
- 89
Ranked #12,888 - Avg:
- 3.96 | pDev: 11.36%
- Reviews:
- 266
- Ratings:
- Status:
- Active
- Rated:
- Aug 16, 2023
- Added:
- Apr 02, 2002
- Wants:
- 90
- Gots:
- 48
No description / notes.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Reviewed by Mikecap42 from Maine
4.04/5 rDev +2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
4.04/5 rDev +2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
A: dark brown color with a white head. The head did not last long though.
S: The aroma of this beer consisted of hints of coffee and toast.
T: Malty and flavorful. You can taste caramel, and hints of dark fruit.
MF: Medium bodied. The AB might be low but the flavor is rich enough to prevent it from being crushable.
O: very nice ale. I would drink it again.
Jan 31, 2023S: The aroma of this beer consisted of hints of coffee and toast.
T: Malty and flavorful. You can taste caramel, and hints of dark fruit.
MF: Medium bodied. The AB might be low but the flavor is rich enough to prevent it from being crushable.
O: very nice ale. I would drink it again.
Reviewed by cebsch from Michigan
4.42/5 rDev +11.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
4.42/5 rDev +11.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
A lovely dark beer, with roasted chocolate notes akin to a stout, but a lighter mouthfeel and a fair amount of caramel malt. I ordered it on more than one night during my stay in the Scottish highlands.
Jun 04, 2022Reviewed by papposilenus from New Hampshire
3.9/5 rDev -1.5%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4
3.9/5 rDev -1.5%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4
From a 500ml bottle, undated as best I can tell. Served in an honest-to-God thistle glass, and how often do I get a chance to drag that out?
Pours cola brown-to-black, maybe a caramel highlight, and a scant quarter-finger of bubbly beige head. Retention is fleeting, just a fizzy little cap, a creamy collar and some sparse slippery sheets of lacing.
Powerfully robust nose of molasses and barley straw with a faint metallic tang.
Taste departs from the nose only in having no sweetness in it. Earthy and intense with roasted chicory bitterness, overcooked caramel, prune, powdered unsweetened cocoa and wet straw.
Feel starts out with a kind of icky dilute malt syrupy quality but still manages to redeem itself and end dry before it’s all done. Otherwise, it’s medium bodied with ample, fine carbonation.
Overall, it’s all about the dry, roasted bitterness. Other than the colour and the relatively low abv, there’s nothing especially scotch ale-like about it? Not that I’m a stickler for style guidelines.
Nov 18, 2020Pours cola brown-to-black, maybe a caramel highlight, and a scant quarter-finger of bubbly beige head. Retention is fleeting, just a fizzy little cap, a creamy collar and some sparse slippery sheets of lacing.
Powerfully robust nose of molasses and barley straw with a faint metallic tang.
Taste departs from the nose only in having no sweetness in it. Earthy and intense with roasted chicory bitterness, overcooked caramel, prune, powdered unsweetened cocoa and wet straw.
Feel starts out with a kind of icky dilute malt syrupy quality but still manages to redeem itself and end dry before it’s all done. Otherwise, it’s medium bodied with ample, fine carbonation.
Overall, it’s all about the dry, roasted bitterness. Other than the colour and the relatively low abv, there’s nothing especially scotch ale-like about it? Not that I’m a stickler for style guidelines.
Reviewed by neenerzig from Ohio
4.25/5 rDev +7.3%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
4.25/5 rDev +7.3%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Poured out of a 16.9 oz. glass into my tulip glass, this beer pours a dark brown color with jist a hint of deep amber highlights when held up to the light. Has a dark tan head that's about an inch thick when first poured. Head settles to a fairly thick ring surroundings the inside of the glass along with some spots of surface coating and some decent lacing on the inside of the glass. Aromas of some roasted malts along with some cocoa and coffee hints some dark fruit notes such as plum. A similar flavor profile, with roasted malts with a bit of caramel sweetness followed by cocoa and coffee notes and certainly plum and fig. Rounded out with a bit of an earthy hop bitterness. This beer has more bitterness than just about all other beers of this style that I have had do. The heavy roast on the malt along with the coffee flavor combined with the earthy hop notes give this beer a more bitter flavor profile than I've also ever found in this style of beer before. Has a fairly crisp, just slightly chewy and gritty, creamy and frothy, medium to full bodied mouthfeel with moderate carbonation. The roasted bitter notes really linger inside my mouth and on my tongue long after each sip. Quite enjoyable.
Eric
Aug 17, 2020Eric
Reviewed by trevormajor from Ohio
4.4/5 rDev +11.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
4.4/5 rDev +11.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
500ML bottle poured into a pint glass. Dark and malty the only reason I can see for this to be a scottish ale is the location of the brewery. The beer has great flavor for a session.
Jul 23, 2020Reviewed by Lone_Freighter from Vermont
4.14/5 rDev +4.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 3.75
4.14/5 rDev +4.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 3.75
Bottle to English pint glass.
The appearance was a fairly thick dark brown close to black color in the glass and more of a dark ruddy brown color in the pour. Left a mild eggshell white film of a head, light spotty lace along the side of the glass.
The aroma had some dusty cocoa powder dryly plucking at some dark chocolate flakes, sweet ash/charred coffee edges, some dark fruits and some dark toast. Subtle whiff of clean alcohol notes even lighter underneath.
The flavor leaned towards the sweet side running through all of the prior mentioned aromas and adding a touch of toffee malts. Semi-sticky cocoa powder aftertaste.
The mouthfeel was about medium bodied, perhaps closer to full with a very good sessionability about. Smoothness gravitates fully through over my tongue without any cloying effects but just a touch of stickiness. Finishes with clean cocoa powder sweetness, dark fruits and dark toast.
Overall, not sure how this is considered a Scottish ale, to me if this was labeled English porter on here, I'd rate this way higher. Still, I know this is one I would absolutely come back to.
Oct 26, 2019The appearance was a fairly thick dark brown close to black color in the glass and more of a dark ruddy brown color in the pour. Left a mild eggshell white film of a head, light spotty lace along the side of the glass.
The aroma had some dusty cocoa powder dryly plucking at some dark chocolate flakes, sweet ash/charred coffee edges, some dark fruits and some dark toast. Subtle whiff of clean alcohol notes even lighter underneath.
The flavor leaned towards the sweet side running through all of the prior mentioned aromas and adding a touch of toffee malts. Semi-sticky cocoa powder aftertaste.
The mouthfeel was about medium bodied, perhaps closer to full with a very good sessionability about. Smoothness gravitates fully through over my tongue without any cloying effects but just a touch of stickiness. Finishes with clean cocoa powder sweetness, dark fruits and dark toast.
Overall, not sure how this is considered a Scottish ale, to me if this was labeled English porter on here, I'd rate this way higher. Still, I know this is one I would absolutely come back to.
Reviewed by JonnoWillsteed from England
3.51/5 rDev -11.4%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5
3.51/5 rDev -11.4%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5
L- Effectively black, thin off-white head fast clearing to a ring.
S- Roasty-toasty grains.
T- Follows the smell^, pungent and quite biscuity with it.
F- It's quite dry, yet quite pungent for the relatively low ABV% for this style. The brewery terms this a 'dark ale', to me it's more off into black-beer stour/porter etc territory.
O- It is very nice, nothing is out of place flavour-wise. It presents a big taste-profile on a relatively light 4.6% foundation. A session-beer with impact for black-beer enthusiasts?
500ml bottle BB: June 2020
May 05, 2019S- Roasty-toasty grains.
T- Follows the smell^, pungent and quite biscuity with it.
F- It's quite dry, yet quite pungent for the relatively low ABV% for this style. The brewery terms this a 'dark ale', to me it's more off into black-beer stour/porter etc territory.
O- It is very nice, nothing is out of place flavour-wise. It presents a big taste-profile on a relatively light 4.6% foundation. A session-beer with impact for black-beer enthusiasts?
500ml bottle BB: June 2020
Dark Island from Orkney Brewery
Beer rating:
89 out of
100 with
468 ratings
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