Beer of the Week – Harviestoun The Ridge

Friday means two things – firstly that the weekend is just around the corner, and secondly it’s time for another beery recommendation from the growing list of the most unsung beers in Scotland. On the cusp of every weekend this year I’ll be putting forth a suggestions of a beer that might well have flown under your radar but which should actually be front and centre next time you fancy uncapping a bottle of something interesting.

For this instalment we have what could be the quintessential beer to fit that bill. How many Harviestoun beers can you name? Bitter & Twisted. Schiehallion. Old Engine Oil of course. If your list ends there then here’s a classic that you also should append the next time you get a chance. From the small town of Alva comes a beer that on paper ties up an odd blend of hops – the two major components are Amarillo and Fuggles – and yet in looking for the perfect mid-Atlantic Pale Ale Harviestoun have created an absolute belter; The Ridge.

17. The Ridge (5.0%)
Harviestoun Brewery, Alva
Style: Pale Ale
500 ml bottle

Pick it up here:
At Harviestoun’s online shop (as a case of 8x500ml bottles)
At Scottish Real Ales Online (as individual 500ml bottles)

Harviestoun’s transatlantic mashup can be summed up in a single word – zingy. Named after the point in the ocean where one tectonic plate meets the other (see what they did there?) the beer knocks UK and US hops against each other. There is a slight herbal spicy element on the far aftertaste that might be the Fuggles and East Kent Goldings fighting back but make no mistake about it, this is a straight up citrus-bomb from their American counterparts. Amarillo is my favourite hop and the orange and lemon it delivers here make this the beer that Bitter & Twisted should be. It’s a fantastic pale ale and one of the most under-rated iterations of the style in Scotland. A fantastic beer in every respect.

Beer of the Week Series:
1. Fyne Ales Highlander
2. Swannay Old Norway
3. Broughton Old Jock
4. Traquair House Ale
5. Tempest Easy Livin Pils
6. Cromarty Brewed Awakening
7. Fallen Chew Chew
8. Black Isle Hibernator
9. Isle of Skye Red
10. Harviestoun Old Engine Oil Engineer’s Reserve
11. Orkney Skull Splitter
12. Windswept Wolf
13. Kelburn Dark Moor
14. Alechemy 5ive Sisters
15. Loch Ness Light Ness
16. St Andrews Eighty Bob