Beer 269 - Orkney Brewery Dark Island (4 stars out of 5)

Sinclair Breweries Ltd., The Orkney Brewery, Quoyloo, Scotland.  The bottle says "Hand crafted in small batches".  It also says  "The Orkney Brewery beers are brewed in tune with the ecology of our beautiful corner of the Northern Isles". But nowhere on the bottle does it say the beer is brewed and bottled by The Orkney Brewery in Orkney, Scotland.  Bought at Tesco Supermarket in Bathgate, Scotland and drunk at Nicola and Stephen's house before dinner of fish and chips.

We arrived at Nicola and Stephen's house around 4:30 pm after driving up the M6 and M74 from Pat and Colin's house.  We are here to see my new Grandson, Austin Graham, as well, of course, Nicola and Stephen.  The in focus part of the picture above is Austin, now 2 months old, the beer is out of focus in the background.

the brewery web site: http://www.sinclairbreweries.co.uk/bottle_darkisland.html

The web site says "Dark Island is an iconic beer: a standard-bearer for traditional Scottish ales. In cask, this beer has twice won CAMRA’s Champion Beer of Scotland.
On the nose, this dark beer offers bitter chocolate, figs, toffee and hints of fruit.
On the palate, this resolves into beautiful, silky-smooth, coffee-and-chocolate flavours, followed by figs, dates and dried fruits, with a very appealing, lingering aftertaste of fruits and hop bitterness.
Norman Sinclair recommends drinking his dark ale with pate, red meat dishes and strong cheeses.
Appearance: A very dark beer with a deep ruby tint, displaying a tight, smooth, almost white head
Aroma: Chocolate, winter fruits and dried fruits, with hints of smooth roasted malt, coffee, nuts and toffee
Palate: Chocolate, coffee and roast malt flavours, giving way to warm winter fruits and a balanced, more-ish aftertaste"
I enjoyed this beer a lot.  The beer was full bodied and tasty, a sipping beer to be enjoyed with easy conversation and nice company, exactly the way I enjoyed it.