Cairngorm Brewery tasting
A city needs plenty of good bottle shops, and Edinburgh until recently had only a few – led by the standout Cornelius Beer & Wine on Easter Road. But towards the end of last year a new establishment opened across the city near Haymarket. Appellation Wines on Dalry Road also offer something slightly different – guided beer tastings. That’s something the BeerCast is all for, so recently we went along to a tasting hosted by Ed Quinn of Cairngorm Brewery. Founded in 2001 in Aviemore – the capital of the Cairngorms – they have a twenty barrel plant and a range of eight core beers, both bottled and casked. We sat down with Ed and sampled seven of them over the course of an enjoyable hour.
Sheepshaggers Gold (4.5%)
First up was the rather awkwardly-named Sheepshaggers, poking fun at the taunts given to Highlanders from those further south in Scotland. Ed acknowledged the controversy over this – apparently there’s at least one publican who won’t take the beer due to it’s name – but it is also marketed as Cairngorm Gold for the people who can’t see the humour. With Bobek and Saaz hops it’s golden and slightly spicy, but with a touch of honey sweetness to it as the hops fade. Very drinkable at a perfect session strength, it was a great one to start with.
Trade Winds (4.3%)
Cairngorm’s flagship beer, Trade Winds outsells all of their other beers several times over. The simple reason for this is it’s fantastic – and is possibly my favourite session beer, something reliably good on cask and pretty good in the bottle. An old recipe from the Tomintoul Brewery (precursors of Cairngorm), Perle hops are combined with dried elderflower to give a tremendously fruity, almost tropical taste. CAMRA Champion Speciality Beer of Britain for three years out of the last six, and deservedly so.
Stag (4.1%)
Stag is Cairngorm’s 80/- style ale, and pours the expected mahogany brown with the musty dry Fuggles tang augmented by Challenger hops. It’s pretty dry for it’s type, there’s very little sweetness that you usually find. This may or may not be a good thing depending on your love of Scottish ales – for me Stag is drinkable and pleasant, but lacking a defined aftertaste – there seems to be something missing.
Nessie’s Monster Mash (4.4%)
Next up was another beer named after another one of Scotland’s famous animals – Nessie. About 30 miles separate Aviemore from Loch Ness, but there’s much less distance between this beer and the last one. A nudge up the abv meter, maybe a little more malt on the palate, but that’s about it. I asked Ed if Cairngorm didn’t yearn to create a 12% walnut-aged imperial balsamic porter rather then several similar types. His diplomatic reply highlighted their small size and lack of space – but we can dream, I guess.
Wildcat (5.1%)
Outside of their seasonal Christmas beer, at 5.1% Wildcat is the strongest beer Cairngorm produce. I remember having one on cask a couple of years ago and struggling with it – there is a convoluted flavour going on, no question – initially a strong malty whack, followed up by fruit and more malt, with a touch of toffee towards the end. I think it’s a grower, which explains why a single pint probably could repel some – but persisting with it would probably pay off.
Blessed Thistle (4.5%)
Ed then brought out a couple of other beers not on our tasting list – starting off with the one I really wanted to sample – Blessed Thistle. Named after the herb it contains, the predominant flavour is of the other added ingredient – ginger. Light and refreshing, with some flowery notes – to be honest I have no idea what thistles taste like so I was struggling to pick them out. But it was drinkable even as a slightly spiced ginger ale.
Black Gold (4.4%)
In true BeerCast fashion, we finished on a dark note with Black Gold, their Scottish stout hinting at one of the main industries in the north-east of Scotland. Highland CAMRA’s reigning beer of the year, it combines Challenger and Fuggles hops with Chocolate, Crystal and Pale malts and a touch of lactose. It’s pretty smoky, the lactose not coming to the fore like in a milk stout, but making the beer very smooth. With the roasty smokiness at the same time, this is a seriously good stout, and a great note on which to finish.
Thanks to Ed from Cairngorm for showing us the beers, and Ash at Appellation for hosting. We’ll be back for another tasting event, and will of course post our findings.
Cairngorm Brewery
Appellation Wines, 43 Dalry Rd, Edinburgh
