The seventh annual Scottish Real Ale Festival starts pouring tomorrow at the Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh. The CAMRA event features some 130 beers, ciders and perries from around 30 breweries.
The companies represented range from big boys such as Belhaven Brewery to more boutique outfits such as Brew Dog, the punk upstarts from Fraserburgh. As always, the brewers have had a lot of fun naming their beers. A pint of Witches Cauldron from the Cairngorm Brewery sounds spell-binding but if there was a prize for the funniest name then Fyfe Brewery’s Idle Weiss would be a shoe in.
Brew Dog’s Hardcore IPA: yum
Just like wine or whisky, a lot of the beers reflect their roots. Skullsplitter and Beserker, from the Orkney Brewery and Hebridean Brewery on Lewis, give the nod to the islands’ Viking heritage while The Young Pretender from Skye looks back to Bonnie Prince Charlie’s flight across the Highlands.
More enigmatic is the Gutter Slab IPA from South Ayrshire’s Windie Goat Brewery.
The festival runs until Saturday and tickets are a fiver.
There are plenty of 5pm members that can keep the thirsty beer-lover from going dry. In Edinburgh, the ESI Brasserie, The Granary and Whighams spring to mind. In Glasgow, you are spoiled for choice with Black Sparrow, The Bank, Brel, Cottiers, Berits and Brown, Republic Bier Hof and Stravaigin all carrying an interesting selection of beer.