The Moulin Inn
The unseasonal weather has continued for Scotland recently, with temperatures soaring into the high teens from the wall to wall sunshine. As a result, a trip to the beautiful interior of the country was called for, and a visit to Perthshire. Stunning scenery, old castles, red squirrels (apparently, although they may as well not exist) – and of course, old pubs. When it comes to these, they don’t get much older than the Moulin Inn just north of Pitlochry, which was established in 1695.
Moulin is very picturesque, a tiny village one mile up the road from the tourist centre of Pitlochry. The Moulin Inn sits on the village square, and is a popular haunt for visitors to the area – when we arrived it was packed. The draws include the traditional interior, old fittings such as a working bar billiards table – and the on-site microbrewery, opened in 1995. Beer from the Moulin Inn sometimes travels to festivals, but is really only found in Perthshire – apart from the one beer they bottle.
We sampled that beer – Ale of Atholl (4.5%) as part of BeerCast #49 – unfortunately it produced a very low score – so I was keen to sample it again, alongside the other three beers the microbrewery produces. First up was the lightest offering – the 3.7% Moulin Light Ale. It was the last of the four to be created – to replace Boddingtons that had until then been served at the Inn. It’s the exact colour of Boddies – very pale and watery – and has a touch of biscuity malt about it. Unfortunately it’s so thin the flavours disappear very quickly, it really is session beer at its weakest.
Next up, Braveheart (4.0%), which was Moulin’s second beer and trialled at the time when Mel Gibson was doing his bit for Scottish freedom on the big screen. Light brown, the nose has a touch of malt and a bitter astringency. Slightly bitter on the palate, this one too has a touch of the wateryness about it, but is still just about drinkable. Ale of Atholl was next, and thankfully on cask it was slightly better than the bottle we sampled last year – but unfortunately only just.
All of Moulin’s beers have an odd quality to them – a musty bitterness which verges on the unpleasant. I’m not sure if we were just unlucky – on RateBeer a lot of the scores are extremely positive, so maybe we just caught them on a bad day. Ale of Atholl had a soapy aftertaste which spoiled the decent malt character. RateBeer user macdeffe summed up his thoughts in a way I agree with – “the taste reminds me of the dirt you remove from mushrooms when preparing them.”
Finally on to the last beer, the 5.2% Old Remedial, named by a touring rowing club that happened to be staying in the hotel while the brew was finalised. This saw the Ale of Atholl recipe (which was Moulin’s first beer) amended with one pound per gallon of local honey. I’m always wary of a totally flat pint, and mine arrived looking like a glass of coloured water. The aroma was interesting, malt and chocolate with a sweetness, presumably from the honey. Unfortunately, the whole thing was again spoiled by an off-putting coppery aftertaste.
This is such a shame – and again hopefully this was just an off-day for the Inn, but all of their beers were really poor. The village of Moulin is lovely, and the Inn itself is really nice. Replacing the original features after many years of unwise modernisation was a great idea. Moulin were one of the original Scottish microbreweries, and have done a great job in turning around the place. The quality of the beers, however, really lets them down.
