The brewery in Quoyloo on the Orkney islands (which I suspect only contains about 4 houses and a brewery) produces a dark and chocolately stout they call Dragonhead. This small-batch stout is rich in aroma, and has some good tastes, but lacks the full-bodied feel of a stout, and comes out a bit watery.

This bottle with its Viking longship on the front, a rich gold lettering and certificate of authenticity looks quite special. Let’s hope the beer lives up to the packaging.

Initially out of the bottle, this is dark and rich, looking sumptuous in the glass with the light brown head. There is not much carbonation as one would expect in a stout, but the head does fade and disappear quite quickly, which takes out some of the richness in the ale.

This stout smells outstanding out of the glass. The rich chocolate aromas hit you in the face, with hints of vanilla and apple to go with the malt aromas.

The rich chocolate aroma comes out in the flavours when you first drink it. This quite simple flavours, but runs through the beer from start to finish. As the chocolate is rather strong, I would expect the body to be equally full, but this stout has one overriding problem, and that of the body. It is watery and weak, and unfortunately distracts from the flavours. I would want more on the tongue, and to feel a stronger body. But the aftertaste, the chocolate flavour rides out through the beer, and the hint of bitterness comes through at the end too.

Summary. A rich deep chocolate stout, but without the body I would expect from this beer. Improve the watery feel and this would be an excellent beer. Lacking body which would move it to greatness.