Beer of the Week – Loch Lomond Southern Summit
It’s another weekend and – slightly later than usual – here’s the latest in my series of the fifty-two unsung beers in Scottish brewing. Every Friday (and one Sunday) throughout 2017 I’ll be taking a closer look at a single beer I believe deserves to get a lot more love – and at the very least should be in your drinking cupboard or fridge. I’m on the road this week but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a beer waiting for me when I get home.
And that beer is Loch Lomond’s Southern Summit. To be fair, it’s another that stretches the definition of ‘unsung’ having being named SIBA National Champion on cask last year, and winning several other awards along the way. But I’d wager few people would be able to recite the awards it has won – even if Loch Lomond are now the undisputed CAMRA/SIBA champs (Silkie Stout is the current CAMRA Champion Beer of Scotland) and taking the crown from Swannay who dominated the annual real ale-run contests for much of the early part of this decade. There’s a simple reason why – their beers are outstanding.
37. Southern Summit (4.0%)
Loch Lomond, Alexandria
Style: Pale Ale
500ml bottle
Pick it up here:
At Scottish Real Ale’s online shop (as individual 500ml bottles)
This beer is a full-on citrus bomb – the closest I’ve had to date from north of the border that challenges the standout #1 (in my eyes), Fyne Ales Jarl. Like that beer, this one has Citra in, but unlike it there’s the addition of Summit – and this particular hop brings the Alpha Acid in abundance. It’s a fantastic one-two combo with the prime agent making the beer refreshing and arresting in equal measure, and the Citra there to back it up with that classic grapefruit and lemon flavour. It’s a tremendous beer, and I can’t think of a better way to wave goodbye to the Scottish summer and turn attention towards darker things – both in terms of the weather and beers. Southern Summit is worthy of all the awards it has received, and then some.
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
17. Harviestoun The Ridge
18. Orkney Dark Island
19. Williams Bros Seven Giraffes
20. Cairngorm Black Gold
21. Strathaven Craigmill Mild
22. Black Isle Red Kite
23. Spey Valley Spey Stout
24. Top Out Schmankerl
25. Cross Borders Braw
26. Williams Bros Midnight Sun
27. BrewDog Kingpin
28. Fyne Ales Hurricane Jack
29. Deeside MacBeth
30. Drygate Ax Man Red Rye IPA
31. Swannay Orkney Session
32. Fallen Platform C
33. Black Isle Porter
34. Top Out Altbier
35. Black Metal Gates of Valhalla
36. Fierce Beer Cranachan Killer
