Orkney Dark Island Reserve

Beer sellers: Scottish Real Ale Shop
Top Tastings 2009 (bottled 2007), Top Tastings 2011 (draught 2010)

ABV: 10%
Origin: Quoyloo, Orkney, Scotland
Website: www.orkneybrewery.co.uk

Orkney Dark Island Reserve

One of Britain’s northernmost breweries and one of Scotland’s strong collection of distinctive micros, Orkney was founded in a derelict schoolhouse by an Englishman in 1988. It later formed a partnership with the Atlas brewery and since 2006 both have been owned by Orcadian restaurateur Gordon Sinclair.

The standard Dark Island, in cask or filtered bottled versions, is the brewery’s signature brand and a natural choice on which to base its move into the upmarket gourmet beer sector. The Reserve is a souped up version of Dark Island at twice the strength that has been matured for three months in refill malt whisky casks from an uncredited Orkney distillery — in fact the world renowned Highland Park. It comes handsomely presented in 750ml swing top bottles labelled with a gyle number — mine was Gyle 2, brewed in June 2007 and one of 1,498 bottles.

The mahogany beer has a thick light brown head with a complex spirity malt aroma yielding notes of vanilla, artichoke and liqeur coffee and a slightly acidic vinous hint. There’s a soft chocolatey palate, again with a lightly acidic touch, chewy sappy fruit and peaty whisky notes. A drying well-balanced finish has oak and ashy roast, with salty, lingering with complex salt and blackcurranty flavours to mull over. It’s warming but nicely soft, one of the gentler examples of whisky cask-matured ale.

Update September 2011: There have been other releases of Dark Island Reserve since, including a cask version, still at the full 10%, that appeared in summer 2011. The recipe, is far as I’m aware, is unchanged: pale, chocolate and crystal barley malts, malted wheat, and First Gold and Goldings hops.

A sample of the cask beer tasted at Wetherspoon’s Counting House in Glasgow was jet black, with a fine beige head and a very fruity rum and raisin aroma. Slick dark cake and drying wood notes dominated the palate, with a slightly aged sharpness and developing oak, sultana and chocolate flavours. The beer warmed the mouth and slipped down silkily, with more chewy wood and a touch of molasses on a long and dry but still rich and sticky finish. Rich and sophisticated but astonishingly on sale at only £1.25 a half pint (285ml), this must have been the beer bargain of the year.

Orkney’s sister brewery Atlas, incidentally, was closed in 2010 and all production including the Atlas brands centred at the Quoyloo site.

Read more about this beer at ratebeer.com: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/orkney-dark-island-reserve/66103/