Brewery: Orkney Brewery, Orkney, Scotland.
Brewery Description: “SkullSplitter is a Scottish robust ale with a distinctive flavor (8.5% ABV). It is named for Thorfinn Hausakluif (SkullSplitter), the Seventh Viking Earl of Orkney. SkullSplitter has been described as ‘Satiny smooth in the mouth, deceptively light, and dangerously drinkable.’”
Brew Style: Scotch Ale/Wee Heavy, 8.5% ABV
Recommended Glass: Snifter
The Ugly Truth: “Lo, there do I see my mother, and my sisters, and my brothers, Lo, there do I see the line of my people, back to the beginning, Lo, they do call to me, they bid me take my place among them, In the halls of Valhalla, where the brave may live forever.“. And drink tons of beer from the heads of Frost Giants ye have slayed in battle, noble Einherjar!
Ah, SkullSplitter. I love this stuff. Scottish ale is one of my favorite types of beer, and SkullSplitter is at the top of the list, making it a Brew of Choice and also a Brew of Legend. I mean, just look at the label for god’s sake! SkullSplitter is extremely refreshing and goes down smooth when drinking. Best served in a snifter style glass, it has a rich dark color with a decent head and strong aroma. It has this subtle smokey taste to it that I think helps balance any bitternesss that may be there. The taste isn’t overly strong as some 8.5% ABV tend to be, it is rather smooth. It is much like they say on the brewery description, dangerously drinkable. Fortunately it’s mostly sold in 4 packs so you can’t get into too much trouble with it. The finish isn’t what I would call dry and I think it leans more to the spiced side than anything, but it is enjoyable. It kind of lingers for a second before fading off, and leaves a good sensation on the tongue. Definitely a beer for people to go try. Just the fact that it is named for a Viking Earl gets it into the Hall of Beer, which we all know is just around the corner from Valhalla.
Verdict: Byggvir, Norse God of Beer and servant to Freyr, spoke to me and commanded me to grant SkullSplitter a 10 out of 10.
There is some arguement as to whether Skullsplitter is a Scottish Ale or a Barley Wine. I don’t think I would call it a Barley Wine seeing as how almost as a rule barley wines have at at least 9% ABV and Skullsplitter is only 8.5%.
Well, that’s not a good indicator. Barley wine also has no carbonation and no hops.
Since when are barley wines required to have no hops?
What in the name of God are you talking about? Barley wines most certainly contain hops, and a number of them are carbonated.
I didn’t say required, I just thought they didn’t have hops. Thanks for the correction. Still, I stand by my belief that wines (except for sparkling wines) have no carbonation.
Then again, neither do some beers. But, I have only ever seen stouts without carbonation. I am sure some warm british ales probably aren;t carbonated, but I haven’t been to London in a long-ass time.
So, does barley wine go through the second fermentation, usually done in bottle or keg, required to induce the bubbles?
Been having a conversation with Colin…. basically it’s a semantics argument.
Barley wine isn’t actually wine, then? It’s beer.
And you people say *I’m* crazy.
Almsot universally, beers have carbonation but there are a large number that are lightly carbonated so that you never really get the sense that they are. And remember, barley wine is still beer technically.
They are typically aged longer than normal beers and fermented a bit different. All About Beer has a good article about it. I’m actually a bit wrong about the whole ABV cut off, but a barley wine below 9% seems pointless.
http://www.allaboutbeer.com/style/23.6-barleywine.html
I love skullspliter. I drank it when I was stationed at Holy Loch Scotland backm in the 1960’s. I still
pick some up and down a few along with a good cigar
Hey guys, I just want to say that I have a charicter named Thorffin Skullsplitter. He is a viking like warrior. I just typed up his name to see what came up. I Love all kinds of beer, Ale, and find myself trying all kinds.
Thought it might be worth adding something of pertinent interest. I am the Viking on the North American label. Actually this was the second label used by the original brewery in Quoyloo. The picture was taken in Orkney at Broch of Gurness in 1990 and was supposed to be for a small local pub poster…17 years later it lives on in North America. Actually I was not supposed to be pictured, the model was a Shetland local politician who got cold feet at the last minute.He has size 7 and my size 11 feet had to squeeze into the deerskin boots that came with the genuine Shetland Yarl outfit Very wise in retrospect. It is very popular in Helsinki as I found out when I was last there. Anyone interested in more on the story can email me at strongforest@hotmail.com
That’s pretty damn cool if you ask me. I would love to be a beer label.
This turns out to be an excellent beer to drink while performing calcium imaging experiments on hippocampal astrocytes at 10:30 at night.