Orkney Dragonhead Stout

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 7

Rated Aug. 2008. 0.5L bottle poured deep dark brown with mocha head. The aroma is a mix of gingerbread, fruit cake, molasses, rum cake and caramel. Smells nice but not what I was expecting. The taste begins with roasty burnt malts. I then get vanilla, burnt molasses and faint dark fruity esters. It ends roasty and toasty leaving burnt malts, chocolate malts and a dash of coffee grounds lingering into the after taste. Tastes a bit different than it smells.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

Pours a jet black with minimal light passage. head is about 2 fingers and disappears quickly. Aroma is earthy with hints of oats, dry malts and a tad bit of liquorice. Tad bit of lacing going on in the glass. Flavor is slightly roasted with hints of coffee, toffee, and an every light chocolate touch. For a 4 percent beer this one carries a nice bite. Not the greatest but nicely done.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

It pours out oil-black with thin tan head and copious lace. Aroma of chocolate malt, coffee, vanilla, citrus, light hops, and mild spice. The mouthfeel is smooth, rich, and full-bodied. Flavors of chocolate malts, coffee, citrus, vanilla, light hops, and mild spices. Excellent!!!

Aroma: 10 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

An above average stout from Scotland. Clearly Orkney’s flagship beer is skull splitter, but this deservers a little recognition as a nice stout as well. The body is jet black, huge fluffy light beige head. Aroma had a nice, although subdued roasted aroma and chocolate. Flavor is backed with roasted malt flavors. Seemed rather light for a stout with a puckering bitterness that I didn’t associate with hops, rather malt astringency. Easy to quaff a few.

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

This reminded me of malta....that malty non-alcoholic soda drink that you get at Latin restaurants or grocery store. Has very low ABV%, which brings out the dark malty flavors that make up this beer. Also has a lighter carbonation mouthfeel that is pretty standard with these Scottish/Irish Stouts. I was a little hesitant to pay this price for a "lighter" beer so to speak, but knew this would be about the flavor and not the buzz. It definitely delivered flavor-wise......bitter chocolate, coffee, major malts, roasty, smokey. Pretty much the polar opposite of a hop bomb. This is something that I would try again, a little pricey though.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 9

the richness of the body and flavor of this beer totally hides the fact that it's only 4% abv. there is chocolate and some smoke on the nose. the feel is rich and very smooth. the finish smooth as well. my friend got way more smoke than i did out of this beer. i thought it was more like a thin bodied milk stout. sweet and tastes like malted chocolate with a hint of smoke. if this came in 6 packs, i'd be drinkin' it lots!

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 7

Pours pitch black with a decent creamy head that left tons of lacing. Some carbonation. Aromas of coffee, bitter chocolate, malts, a little smoked peat, slight licorice and faint hops. Taste is rich for a 4.0% abv beer with a coffee and slightly bitter chocolate enhanced by slight hops.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 9 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 7

A Scottish stout with a viking longboat. And a claim for 5,000 years in the making? Back to the ale. A velvety black body would have been even more impressive if there's been a head with some staying power. Brown head is slow to form on pour and if you blink, it's gone with no lacing. Everything about the nose and taste is a bittering coffee. Despite these negative observations, it's really not a bad drink, just not the best stout I've had so far.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 4 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

This stout pours a deep black color from a 500ml bottle. Large sized white foamy head, long lasting with good lacing. Aroma is chocolate, cocoa powder and dark chocolate. Light to medium bodied stout. Malts are chocolate and coffee. Hops are earthy. Nice balance. Soft mouthfeel with a crisp dry finish. Kind of thin tasting, but that may be due more to the 4% alcohol than any defect in the beer. This is a decent session stout, if such a thing exists. Mouthfeel is a touch thin. Finish is crisp and dry. Aftertaste is slightly bitter.

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 8

Opaque black, large, rich firm, brown head. Full roasty aroma with loads of dark malt with a whiff of smoke. Nice. Full-bodied for a 4 % ABV brew! Rosaty, vlean and smooth flavour. Clean roasty aftertaste of coffee with a hint of peat. Quite pleasant, this