Edinburgh the big winner from beer week

Garrett Oliver and Václav Berka swap headgear whilst touring Stewart Brewery. Photo by Robert Gale of Beerlens, used with permission

Aside from the weather, which continues to surprise, things are starting to return to normal in Edinburgh. This time last week, the Festival City was living up to its name in frenetic style, as the Scottish Real Ale converged with the Edinburgh Independents’ and the European Beer Bloggers…Conference (so not, strictly, a festival, but there you go). Having attended all three, probably more than I should have, it was evident from the very first event (the night of collaboration beers at the Bow Bar) that beer lovers – in all their shades – were going to have plenty of chances to drink great products over those seven days or so. As we look back and the aches and pains wear off, to me it seems unquestionable that Edinburgh was the winner.

The photo above sums it up, really. Two brewmasters – the outsized hype-generators of large national breweries – larking about in a smaller, local equivalent on the outside of the Edinburgh city bypass. If you don’t recognise their names, you’ll almost certainly have heard of the companies they fly around the world being figureheads for – Garrett Oliver of the Brooklyn Brewery and Václav Berka of Pilsner Urquell. It was a surreal (and enjoyable) sight, watching the Heriot-Watt students on the Natural Selection Brewing team serving two master brewers their new beer, amidst a brand-new facility on the Bilston Industrial Estate in Loanhead. Would that have been remotely possible, even three or four years ago?

The beer scene here is changing so quickly. I have no idea how many pints, half-pints, two-thirds, thirds and tasting measures were dished out over the last ten days, but the standard and quality of beer has been incredible. Highlights included the rich, honeysuckle and apricot Thornbridge/Dark Star Old Ale, and the rounded bitter finish to the brand new Windswept APA. Sour fans were spoiled by the riches from East London, with Brodie’s barrel-aged Blueberry an absolute palate swisher, and I had the best IPA I’ve had for some time at the Conference, in the form of Toccalmatto’s 8.5% Surfing Hop, poured by founder Bruno Carilli.

Alpha State’s Neapolitan was another absolute ‘how did they make that?’ stand-out – a Sorachi Ace dunkelweiss, defying beer parody from people that joke about strange styles. Just try it, it’s sensational. As is Elixir’s Jump the Shark – pink peppercorns and lychees? In a beer? Yes, as it happens. Inventiveness is driving this industry forwards. Beavertown’s blood orange IPA, Bloody ‘Ell, is another. Ilkley’s chilli and chocolate stout, The Mayan, yet another. Time was, you’d not get beers like this in Edinburgh – you can only take your hat off to the brewers, thank companies like A New Wave, nod the head towards our pub managers, and realise that this city is now one of the best in the UK for beer.

Talking of brewers, and hats, Garrett Oliver said a huge amount of interest in his keynote address to the Bloggers’ Conference – and I’ll be writing about his quotes tomorrow, in the final EBBC-related post (before we can all get on with the rest of our lives). But one thing that jumped out, immediately, was this:-

About beer, if you talk down to people, you’ll never know what they might like. And neither will they…

The key thread woven throughout these three Edinburgh festivals was about giving people the freedom to try new things – whether a Brodies Sour in the Hanging Bat, or the summer seasonal from the Caledonian at the Real Ale Festival. The way to celebrate the beer culture of a city is to give its drinkers the chance to discover what beer can really be about; experimentation, craft (with a small c), and service. That’s why this past week has been fantastic; and that’s why Edinburgh and its beer fans (both local and visiting) have, unquestionably, been the winners.

As I just mentioned, on Monday I’ll be writing about the keynote speech from the Conference, and some of the juicy comments hurled down to the waiting masses by Garrett Oliver himself.