Skull Splitter

I'll be leaving the city tomorrow and heading into the mighty forest for a few days, along with a few buddies for a (mostly) drunken cabin/hiking excursion among the wilderness. Therefore, it seemed fitting to end the week with a beer review.

Perhaps the most obvious thing about this brew is the label and that mean motherfucker glaring back at me. I mean, seriously, what are you going to do when this guy pounds your door down, rapes and pillages your wife and stomps a fucking mudhole in your sons bitch ass? That's right, nothing! You're going to cower, because you're a simple peasant and the vikings have arrived to take what they see fitting from you!

Skull Splitter pours a gorgeous dark brown and when you hold it to the light some red-ish tones can be seen, but generally it doesn't look entirely different from a glass of coca-cola. The head comes and goes quite quickly while a quick sniff into the glass reveals a malty and slightly fruity scent. The taste is rich and malty with diverse flavors of raisins, oak, dates and a slightness of bread and bananas. The finish is slightly smoky in character with some sort of creaminess to it too. Generally though each sip seems to reveal a little something different, which makes for a new adventure each time.

The Orkney Brewery in Scotland, UK, comes through here with an exceptionally, smooth and quite pleasing beer. Personally I found this as a four pack in 11.2 fl. oz bottles for, I believe, about $12. Each bottle has an 8.50% ABV, which means it packs a bit of a punch, but that's probably for the best - I mean you'd probably want to be a little out of it when that viking comes to your village, after all!

Musical pairings: Falkenbach, Hel and Windir