Halfway to Orkney
The other Friday we ventured out into a muggy Edinburgh night to celebrate the famous festival. Not the Fringe, or the International, but the Halfway House’s Beer Festival. Each week in August the smallest and friendliest pub in Edinburgh™ showcases a different Scottish brewer and blankets the hand pumps with their offerings. For the final week in August it was the turn of the Highland Brewing Company, who make their home at Swannay in Orkney.
We’re big fans of Orkney at the BeerCast (not least panellist grooben, who grew up there) – we featured the pick of Orcadian ales in our Northern Isles podcast at the start of the year, and have twice been to the Scottish Beer Festival won by Highland’s beers – without being able to try them as they had sold out before we got there on both occasions. With characteristic thoroughness, the Halfway House had pretty much their entire range on offer.
It was blink-and-you-miss-it stuff, though – as we arrived their four pumps had Orkney IPA, Scapa Special, St Magnus Ale and Dark Munro on offer. Starting off with the excellent IPA, which was the first beer I tried at this year’s aforementioned Scottish Beer Festival, we were looking forward to moving through the styles. Orkney IPA really is something, far more zingy hops than Caledonian’s Deuchars IPA. Anyhow, we then went for the Scapa Special – reigning Champion Beer of Scotland, which was golden and more complex than the IPA, but equally as good.
St Mangus Ale had gone off at this point, and I managed to scrape a pint of Dark Munro before it too finished. I was glad I did though, as it rivals the Northern Isles true classic, Sinclair’s Dark Island. The Scottish punters agree too, as it was Champion Beer of Scotland last year before being deposed by it’s stablemate Scapa Special. But the depleted pumps didn’t stay idle for long, as quickly Orkney Best and Orkney Blast arrived. The second of these featured in our January podcast, and although it finished midtable, the 6.0% warmer is far superior on cask.
Look out for our forthcoming second Edinburgh Pub Guide, which as you can imagine given this post, will feature the Halfway House.
