Scottish Real Ale Festival 2012 – trade session

The finalists in the bottled beer comp – can you pick a winner?

The 2012 Scottish Real Ale Festival opens to the public today, in a new home at the Corn Exchange in Slateford. As with previous years, the day prior to the doors opening saw the trade session for brewers and sponsors (and bloggers), and also the judging for the SIBA competition – of cask and bottled beer. We were on hand for both, which served as a useful introduction to the new venue, and how things might pan out over the three days of the festival.

Firstly, the Corn Exchange is a far superior venue to Adam House last year (with one exception, which I’ll come to later). The space for the bar and surrounds is enormous, and importantly, cool and airy – so the beer should be in the optimum condition. As befits a building more used to holding large-scale gigs, having a big, level area to unload the gear must have been far easier for the set-up – no staircases to negotiate this time around.

The only downside I can see is the one thing that Adam House had – location. I do think people who want to come to the SRAF will not be put off by having to take a bus/train – but being out at Slateford might limit the number of walk-ins that would otherwise attend. But hopefully as word gets out, more people will make the short journey – after all, the beer is the most important thing, and the Corn Exchange should provide the ideal conditions.

The SIBA judging was interesting, as always – I was involved with cask strong bitters and then bottled beer over 5%. About a third of the draught beer is on handpull, with the rest racked behind the bar – I do wonder if the beers arriving on cask have an advantage in the judging process. Fyne Ales were the big winners, picking up numerous awards – Strathaven and Arran also had good days – as did Anthony Valenti of Ayr Brewing Co, who won silvers for Dr Hornbook in both the draught and bottled categories.

The overall SIBA champions were Highland Brewing Co for their Pale Ale (cask), and Fyne Ales for Jarl (bottle) – completing a remarkable one-two for the Argyll brewery (Jarl having won last year, on cask). They also won a bronze overall for Sublime Stout on cask – with John McGarva picking up the silver for Tryst Carronade. Other winners in the bottled final were Arran Milestone (bronze) and habitual winner Cairngorm Black Gold (silver) – one of the most under-rated beers in Scotland?

If you’re heading down to the SRAF over the next couple of days, check back tomorrow as we start to review the beers on offer. We’ll be there all day on Thursday, so if you see the BeerCast symbol on a t-shirt, come over and say hello. The festival opens 12pm-11pm Thursday and Friday, and 12pm-9pm on Saturday. Entry is £5 (£3 for CAMRA members), and if you keep hold of the glass you get back in for nothing on any of the later days. Check the official website for how to get to the Corn Exchange.