Scottish Real Ale Festival – Trade Session
The Scottish Real Ale Festival begins in earnest tomorrow at noon, but the preview night trade session took place today at Adam House in Edinburgh. Thanks to organiser Owen, the BeerCast secured an invite, and we arrived just in time to witness the award session for the 2011 SIBA Awards. Nine different breweries took home prizes, but the event was dominated by arguably the most successful Scottish producer of the last few years – Orkney’s Highland Brewery. Rob Hill wasn’t there in person, but Highland won four of the seven categories in a very impressive showing.
In the overall contest, however, they could only come second and third (with Scapa Special and Orkney IPA respectively). The Gold Medal winner in the main prize was the beer that made it through from the standard bitter category – and regular readers of the BeerCast won’t be surprised to learn that it was Fyne Ales Jarl – surely now recognised as the best Scottish beer debuted in 2010. Other notable winners included John McGarva, as Tryst took home a Gold and two Silvers, and the strong Porter category, with Black Isle Porter (Bronze), Kelburn Cart Noir (Silver) and Cairngorm Black Gold (Gold) deservedly taking the prizes.
On to the beer, and the lack of queues meant it was a great chance to get some sampled before the gates open tomorrow afternoon. The classic festival starter is a 3.9% golden ale – so Belhaven Bonnie Birdie fit the bill, starting off on a gentle upward curve. There was a slight hint of hop to it, but after a long day at work it definitely did the job. Next, another lighter offering in the form of Burnside Black Katz Mild (3.6%) – a good roasty start with a coffee and nutty end. Milds are always an interesting category – in that they need a certain something to keep the balance, but this one certainly has it.
Kelso’s Tempest Brewery have been making steady headlines since their arrival last year, and are bringing six of their beers to this year’s SRAF. RyePA (5.5%) is hopped with Columbus but has a blend of rye and Maris Otter malt – at least that’s what the festival guide said. It was absolutely fantastic – toffee and caramel on the nose mingling with the hops, on the taste a really drinkable bitter US-style Pale Ale, with a great hoppy finish. Their Elemental Porter (5.1%) was also great, a roasty, bitter but very smooth porter. A really good showing from the relative newcomers.
One-off beers are always interesting to sample at the SRAF, and Edinburgh’s Stewart Brewing have a range of exclusive ales on offer. Their IPA Hop Challenge, or ‘hop around the world’ beers, each feature a specific signature ingredient. Being fans of the isohumulone we ordered one of each, and piled through them. North Atlantic contained Crystal, South Pacific featured Southern Cross, and Europe contained the classic British Fuggles hops. A really interesting idea, the problem is that all are brewed to 3.9%, so the hops really can’t show themselves.
Clearly meant to be session strength – which is fine at a festival like the SRAF – the beers were inevitably a tad on the watery side. The North Atlantic had some fruity hop, whereas the classic tangy Fuggles hint just about came through on the Europe – together with a grassy creaminess. A hint of biscuit was in there as well. The South Pacific was the weakest of the three, with a pretty unpleasant nose. Thankfully, the 40th Anniversary beer for CAMRA was much better. A red ale with Cascade and Citra, the caramel edge from the malt worked really well with the citrus from the hops.
So with that, the first day of the 2011 Scottish Real Ale Festival was done. Beer of the day was Tempest’s RyePA – a fantastically well-balanced pale ale. Check back tomorrow as we’ll be on the panel judging the Champion Beer of Scotland, before heading into the festival mix once again. You can keep up with our hits and misses before our daily post by following us on Twitter – @thebeercast
