SkullSplitter
Orkney Ale, 8.5% ABV
SkullSplitter has been named the Supreme Champion Winter Beer of Britain 2001 at CAMRA's national winter celebration of beer.
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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. The Orkney Islands lie off the northern tip of Scotland at latitude 60 North. For 600 years they were ruled by the Viking Earls who owed allegiance to Norse Kings.
These rich green islands were the perfect base from which the Vikings launched their raiding parties down the east and west coasts of Scotland; across to Ireland; down into England, and further south into Europe.
The brewing of ale was a great Viking tradition which the native Orcadians readily adopted, and for centuries each croft and farm has brewed its own special guarded recipe.
It was not until the late nineteenth century that a commercial brewery was established on the Islands, but even this did not survive the advent of prohibition and was forced to close circa 1910.
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Prohibition "encouraged" the home brewers and the old traditions flourished right through to today.
SkullSplitter is a continuation of the Orcadian homebrewing tradition, its recipe being an amalgam of Island ingredients.
This powerful ale is named after Thorfinn Hausakluif, the 7th Viking Earl of Orkney - who lived and ruled around 950 AD. Although he lived and loved and fought amidst a violent way of life, he was sufficiently adept at surviving the perils of his precarious existence and died in his bed leaving five strong sons to meet a premature and not so peaceful end!
It seems appropriate to name this ale after a powerful and noble Earl as they share similar characteristics.
SkullSplitter has been described as "Satiny smooth in the mouth, deceptively light, and dangerously drinkable."
The Orkney Brewery was founded in April 1988 by Roger and Irene White. It is housed in a Victorian Schoolhouse in the remote, but magical Island of Orkney off the tip of northern Scotland. In 1995 the Brewery was extended and new equipment introduced in order to meet the demand for the Brewery's line of beers.
Orkney is steeped in history, and its archeological delights bring people from all over the world to gaze in wonder at the perfectly preserved Neolithic dwellings and beautiful buildings. With clear skies and clean seas they are one of the last strongholds of unpolluted land and water in Europe.
Complements to SkullSplitter:
Red meats, spicy food including chili deserts, particularly chocolate.
Quotes:
"This beer is big, strong...dark amber in color with a healthy head...immensely drinkable and recommended it highly."
~ Rex Halfpenny, Michigan Beer Guide
"The finish is clean and somewhat dry. A beer of strength, finesse and impressive structure. A deep chair and a cigar, please.
~Garrett Oliver
"...beautiful color and superb balance on the nose, it offers an invitation that cannot be ignored."
~Fred Eckhardt
"...a remarkably malty, winey, warming palate."
~Michael Jackson
"...a most delicious drink...very complex finish."
~Bill Erskine
Drink chilled in a goblet, particularly as an after dinner digestive.