Brewery: Orkney (Sinclair Breweries)
Location: Stromness, Orkney, Scotland
ABV: 8.5%
Version: Bottled

I was extremely pleased to hear at the end of last year that the Portman Group had dropped their complaint against Skull Splitter ale (a situation brought to our attention by Joe last year) and decided to celebrate by cracking open the bottle that has been lurking in the beer cupboard since I picked it up on a trip to York in the spring.

Skull Splitter poured a rather pleasant red-brown, albeit with very little in the way of a head. The taste and mouth-feel alike were thick and heavy: a big hit of alcohol followed by a rich, sweet, dense flavour that was somewhat over-powering; almost to the point of making it difficult to pick out particular elements. Fruit cake, or mince pie, perhaps? Something fruity, alcoholic and spicy, anyhow.

Joe will probably shout at me for saying this, but it really wasn’t one of my favourite beers of 2008. Just too much density and in-yer-face alcohol, perhaps? Or maybe the 330ml bottle-size meant I just didn’t have long enough to appreciate it’s finer points? In any case, it’s not one I’ll be rushing back to. I’d rather go for something just a little lighter but a bit more complex: Meantime London Porter springs to mind.

But yes, I’m very glad indeed Skull Splitter didn’t fall foul of a Portman Group ban. Variety is the spice of life and any attempt to reduce consumer choice through the sort of spurious, hypocritical non-logic applied by the likes of the Portman Group has to be vigorously opposed at every opportunity.