The BeerCast

The Scottish Real Ale Festival is done for another year, and once again it generated a fair bit of debate. In fact, 2011 seems to have been one of the more contentious SRAF’s of recent years. You may have noticed our daily posts didn’t make it into the final day (Saturday) – an official tweet was released mid-afternoon stating they had run out of beer, and the festival had closed early as a result.

So in many ways, the event was a success – following the difficulty of a venue switch, to get that many people in the doors to drink Adam House dry was pretty impressive. Certainly, the round-the-block queue when we turned up on Friday night showed a healthy interest in Scottish beer. The twelve new brewers in the lineup had their products showcased – and one of them (Kelso’s Tempest Brewery) undoubtedly won the BeerCast beer of the festival with the magnificent RyePA.

So why the gnashing of teeth? This seems to lead back to two issues – the victors of the showcase award, the Champion Beer of Scotland (CBoS), and the venue the festival was held in. We had a direct input into the former, so let’s deal with that first. The overall winner was Isle of Skye Cuillin Beast. Second was Cairngorm Black Gold, and third Houston Peter’s Well. Amongst the (small but selective) Scottish blogosphere a resounding ‘errr…what?’ emanated.

No household names there. I include myself in the bafflement, as admittedly (and I mean no slight by this) I had never heard of the third place beer until it was announced. As a member of the judging panel I copped a fair bit of flack for the result – but we had nine beers placed in front of us, and those were the ones that scored the highest on the day. Cuillin Beast had a great toffee sweetness and a boozy finish, so I don’t regret that it came out on top.

There is an issue here though – more than one, in fact – the selection process takes an age to get the beers through to the final, and then at the final one off-day can scupper everything. The beer I scored lowest was very poor indeed, only later did I learn it’s one of my favourite Scottish beers – this is clearly the danger of a one-off judging event. Of course there are plenty of better beers around at the moment – but on the day, those three got the nods from the experienced panel.

It’s great for a relatively small producer like Isle of Skye that they won CBoS. On the day, Cuillin Beast was the best beer we tasted – so congratulations to them. There may be some discussion on the structure of the process – the lag of twelve months between the rounds should be addressed, for example – but time will tell. Lost in the fallout was the fact that a 7% barley wine won CBoS for the first time – definitely an under-utilised style north of the Border.

The other SRAF issue that cropped up in conversations on Twitter and in person was the venue – Adam House on Chambers Street. The usual venue on George Street was unavailable as the Assembly Rooms are being renovated, hence the switch. The multi-level hall was always going to be tricky, with everything spread over four floors (five if you include the toilets). Crowds at beer festivals always happen, but throw in all those stairs and it becomes far trickier. Personally I didn’t witness any incidents, but hopefully it all passed smoothly.

The biggest bone of contention however, was the heat. Trying to keep the smaller rooms cool (even with the typical inclement June weather outside) was very hard. Even on the relatively empty Trade Session Wednesday, the temperature was getting to the people, and the products. We spoke with one brewer who took his beer off as it had been sitting in the lines too long in the stifling room, and later on in the week people were actually leaving as it was too much.

This is a shame, hopefully these were just teething problems that were caused by the new venue. Beer festivals are inherently warm and uncomfortable when busy, and as a method for showing beer they leave a lot to be desired. But as a method of getting hundreds of beers together for the public, there may not be a better alternative. Keeping the beer as it should be served under these conditions is tough, and clearly at some point things took a downhill slide.

But the SRAF will return, and so will we. There were some great beers out there, I think personally I got through about 25 – from dark roasty porters to lemongrass infused golden ales. We got a surprise CBoS, but one that will hopefully lead the brewery to bigger and greater things. With the stupendous Fyne Ales Jarl winning the SIBA competition, look for good things to come at next year’s festival – just don’t wear too many layers…

Day three, really – having been at the Trade Session on the Wednesday – but the second day of the SRAF is always the busy one, occurring on a Friday. And so it proved, as we turned up to Adam House* to find an enormous queue stretching round the block. Having piled our way through twenty-three different beers over the previous two days, and faced with the prospect of queuing in the rain for another shot, we decided to check out the other beer festival currently happening in the city.

BrewDog have been hosting an ‘alternative’ beer festival all week just round the corner, so we descended into Little Saigon and levered our way inside to find….a fairly typical Friday night in the BrewDog Bar. The only thing slightly out of the ordinary was the mythical hopinator bubbling away, coursing a different edge through Punk IPA. In fact, I much preferred it to the new Punk recipe, the sweeter hops gave the beer a more rounded edge – which itself is more rounded than Punk Mark I.

BrewDog are all about the tinkering, and I’m not sure what they’ve done to Chaos Theory but it’s far more bitter than it used to be – some puckering astringency on the end where there used to be citrusy grapefruit. Royal Virility Performance was also on, but we went straight for the only non-BD beer on offer – a strangely non-inclusive vibe for a ‘beer festival’. Lost Abbey Angel’s Share is a monstrous 12.5% oak-aged barley wine that feels like drinking Irish creosote. Thick, chewy tar, mixed with that sweet boozy alcohol and fruity chocolate. Just incredible.

At this stage the bar was crammed to capacity, so we headed out and watched a couple of the Cowgate’s finest inviting out a couple of doormen for an altercation, as a group of twenty men dressed as Where’s Wally? meandered past. Not something you see outside the SRAF. We also bumped into one of our other contributors who said the heat had been so intense in the SRAF venue he’d decided to leave – so maybe it was the better decision to seek out the alternative, such as it was.

Best beer of day two of the SRAF – Lost Abbey Angel’s Share

*Apart from a certain BeerCaster, who went to the Assembly Rooms on George Street – venue for last year’s festival…

After yesterday’s Trade Session the Scottish Real Ale Festival kicked off today with the judging for the 2011 Champion Beer of Scotland. After last year’s win for Highland Orkney Blast it was a question of if Rob Hill could carry on with his brewery’s dominance of the CBoS title, having won three of the last four. The BeerCast were once again invited to help with the judging process, and although there was one of Rob’s beers on the blind shortlist, it didn’t feature in the final top three from the judges selection. Eight different brewers were represented in the final, and it was a tough act to pick a winner.

Whether this was down to the condition of the beer, or the fluctuating nature of cask ale, or just the play of chance, the judges scores were very close. The panel consisted of brewers, publicans, beer writers and CAMRA regional chairs, and after almost three hours of deliberation, the results were announced. In third place, Houston Peter’s Well. Second – Cairngorm Black Gold. The winner – and 2011 Champion Beer of Scotland – Skye Cuillin Beast. Wait…what? A barley wine winning CBoS? In terms of style, that’s good to see – something unusual taking the plaudits – but in all honesty, it was the best beer of the nine on the day of the judging.

With that, it was time to hit the floor to sample some of the other beers on offer. With the lack of expected favourites reaching the CBoS finals, it was time to head for something from Highland (although Dark Munro did win the Mild category). Island Hopping was a good start to the festival day, some sweetness in there but a good touch of hop to offset. We’re all about trying new things on the BeerCast, and the Tinpot Brewery are one of the newest producers in Scotland, putting their interesting recipes out through TSA’s equipment in Stirling. Their Thai Pot (5.0%) had something of the lager tops about it, but a zesty lemon edge that just about worked in it’s favour.

Unfortunately that couldn’t be said about Devon Ales Thick Black Stout. However, this was probably down to the temperature of the main hall more than anything – it wasn’t that thick and the roasty flavours mellowed out a little too much. In fact, the mild I had next topped it – Luckie Ales Midnycht Myld had a lot of things to like about it – the inherent thinness of the style was helped along by a subtle roast and a touch of (probably unintended) sourness that worked really quite well. After that, another dark one with the outstanding Deeside Talorcan. The balance in this one is almost perfect, that mix of roasty malt and woodiness, with a slightly smoky finish.

We had Burnside’s Black Katz Mild yesterday, so tried the Mad Dogz IPA today. There really wasn’t that much to it, some slight hop and then a vaguely bready finish. For the last couple of beers of the day, time to head back to the unusual flavours of Tinpot – Marmalade Pot and Beetroot and Blackpepper. The first, a sweet cordial orange with a beery edge lurking underneath – the second, a classic Marmite beer. For me, I really liked the sweet, earthy beetroot giving way to sharp, bitter black pepper. Really interesting – not to everyone’s taste, admittedly – but you can’t argue it’s not a good way to finish a day at the festival.

Check back tomorrow for Day 2 a the festival – our beer of Day 1 has to be Deeside’s under-rated Talorcan. Keep up with our tweets @thebeercast, and if you are attending, enjoy your beer…

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

SRAF website

Beer festivals needn’t always take place in musty town halls on the local high street. Rather than bringing the beer to the punters, some brewers make the drinkers do the legwork. Argyll’s Fyne Ales are based on a farm at the head of Loch Fyne, and when you have surroundings like that it makes sense to get people along to enjoy it. The debut FyneFest took place last year, and was greeted with glorious sunshine. Fyne not only serve their own beer at the event, some top quality English brewers supply their products as well. If that weren’t enough, Fyne Ales also brew a special beer for the event. Last year this was Jarl, which has since taken the beer world by storm.

As Cairndow is, let’s be honest, miles from anywhere, camping is the only option to enjoy the festival for a decent length of time. After arriving at the well-marshaled event, we managed to get the tent up in a record time of about forty-five minutes. With two fields set aside for people staying over, there was plenty of room to find a decent spot. The beer was being served inside a giant marquee, so a quick wander through the field and it was time for a well-earned pint. The new FyneFest beer for 2011 was Fiddler’s Gold, a hoppy 4.3% golden ale – which is exactly what Fyne do best. Very drinkable, the American hops give it a dry bitterness similar to Jarl, although with a touch less grapefruit.

The distinctive pump clips of Thornbridge were proudly sitting at one end of the temporary bar in the beer tent, so next up I went for Ashford (4.2%), an American-style brown ale. Caramel in colour, with plenty on the taste as well, it had a lovely fruitiness leading into a bitter finish. Thornbridge get fantastic balance into their beer, none more so than their new 6.2% porter Evenlode (pictured below is the ‘half’ that I got from the generous bar staff). This was my beer of the day – absolutely stunning roasty malt porter, so drinkable for such a session-slaying abv. Great bitter finish, but so tremendously smooth.

Other things on my menu were Hawkshead Cumbrian 5 Hop (5.0%), a citrus-lover’s dream containing Fuggles, Golding, Bramling Cross, Citra and Amarillo. The Citra stood out, but the other hops really worked well to give a big zesty hop flavour. Other picks were the Whim/Marble collaboration Utopia (5.1%), another two Thornbridge beers – Hopton and St Petersburg, and another dark corker from the hosts, Fyne Ales Sublime Stout (6.8%) – a smooth, malty fruit bomb, with a really mellow finish.

So a great time was had by all, the beers were in perfect condition, it was fantastic to see so many other great British brewers present – many that don’t feature in Scotland all that often. Hopefully everyone who attended had a great time, there were still plenty of people carrying on into Sunday. Many thanks to Jamie and the rest of the Fyne Ales crew for hosting, and hopefully next year the weather will help to get everyone back for more…

Fyne Ales website
Other Scottish bloggers were in attendance, of course – check out the reports from the Beer Monkey and I Might Have a Glass of Beer