The BeerCast

The beer list for this year’s SRAF is in draft form and still taking shape, but thanks to organiser Owen we managed to secure a sneak peak at what will be on offer in June. At the time of writing this preview, not every producer has confirmed their attendance, but hopefully this time there will be 41 different breweries present at the Corn Exchange – up from 37 last year, and 32 in 2010.

Scottish brewing really is in great shape – whilst the levels may reach critical mass at some point in the future, on this evidence there’s no sign of that happening yet. Another positive is that, for the first time, every brewer who sent beer along in 2011 will be doing so again this year. With five new producers slated to appear as well, it could be a great festival.

For that to happen, the venue will need to have a positive impact. Since the redevelopment of the Assembly Rooms, the SRAF needed a new home. Last year’s site at Adam House was hired through necessity, but proved – despite some hard work – to be wholly unsuitable. Long queues, multiple staircases, and a stifling temperature met with plenty of criticism.

For 2012, the festival has relocated to the Corn Exchange in Slateford – a much larger venue, which should give the organisers plenty of scope to make things work. It may not encourage walk-ins – but most people travel for good beer these days, and with plenty of options to get out to the area, it should be a huge improvement.

Of course, the big draw is the beer. If everything in the provisional list makes it, this time around will see a bumper selection of 184 on offer (up from 148 last time). Around a third of that is new beer, or beer that wasn’t on offer in 2011, as some of the larger producers shuffle their entrants. Top of the class are Highland, who have pencilled in eleven different beers (pretty much everything they make, I think).

Some of the festival’s rarer offerings include two must-try’s from Stuart McLuckie – his Dark Mild and American Style Porter are without doubt on my list. Black Isle Export Scotch makes another appearance, and Tempest will be bringing four beers – including the much-heralded Cresta Black). Lovers of wacky weirdness will, once again, be revelling over Tin Pot. No Marmalade beer this year, but ingredients include raspberry, rhubarb, ginger and five spice.

The new debutants for 2012 are Alechemy, Cromarty, Loch Lomond, Loch Ness, and Spey Valley. I’ve tried most of them – apart from the latter. Ex-Heriot-Watt graduate Stefan Masson has three beers on offer from Speyside (as does his classmate Craig Middleton from Cromarty). Alechemy are the nearest new brewer to Edinburgh, whilst Loch Lomond have four beers confirmed for the festival.

The best thing about beer festivals is taking a punt on the unknown. Broughton Willicade, Deeside Abhainn, Houston Slainte, and Sulwath Cuill Hill fit that particular bill for me. I’ll also be keeping a close eye on Ayr’s Dr Hornbook Blonde Stout, DemonBrew Redline and Barney’s Red Rye (from Edinburgh’s latest brewery – having recently relocated to the Meadows).

There will also be a few special beers on offer for the very keen, so be sure and get over to the Corn Exchange as soon as possible once the festival gets underway in the last week of June. As you can imagine, being our local festival the BeerCast will have it covered from every angle – check back daily for our reports on the beers, follow our live tastings on twitter (@thebeercast), and keep an eye out on Thursday for the Champion Beer of Scotland (CBoS) announcement, as once again we’ll hopefully be on the judging panel.*

The Scottish Real Ale Festival is this year being held at the Corn Exchange, New Market Road, Edinburgh from Thursday 28th June to Saturday 30th June. Opening hours are 12pm-11pm Thursday and Friday, and 12pm-9pm on Saturday.

Entry is £3 for CAMRA members, £5 for non-members, but keep hold of the glass given out and you can get free re-admission over the other days. As this is a preview, breweries and beers submitted may change – visit the official website to keep up with any amendments.

For more on what to expect at this year’s Scottish Real Ale Festival, our reports on the previous SRAF years are here – 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008 and 2007.

*will a mainland brewer take back the Champion Beer of Scotland prize in 2012? Last year, the shock victory for Skye Cuillin Beast meant the last non-island producer to win CBoS was Kelburn Cart Blanche, in 2006…

EDIT 11/05
The full beer list is now up on the official SRAF site – link

Brewers have to be amongst the best multi-taskers in any industry – they regularly deal with formulating new recipes whilst continually producing core beers, and then shifting everything on to free up space for the next batches. Stewart Brewing have been frantically keeping the plates spinning out at their Loanhead base for some time, waiting for the much-needed new facility. Moving round the corner into larger premises will really free them up to do more things – and yet, despite being pushed to the limit, they have recently managed to find the time to launch two brand new beers.

The first of these arrived last week, at an event hosted by the Abbotsford on Rose Street. Zymic is a cask 3.5% golden mild, following in the footsteps of Light Edinburgh Draught as their summer quaffer which also fits with CAMRA’s Mild in May ethos (whether by design, or co-incidentally). The name refers to the product of fermentation, and the beer was hopped equally with Cascade, Centennial and Amarillo. Despite the typical grey, cold Edinburgh weather, a decent turnout headed down to the launch.

The other brand new beer is considerably different. Radical Road is the first triple hopped beer Stewart have produced. A labour of love for head brewer Iain Couper, the IPA had hop additions in the kettle, fermentation tank, and then during conditioning – mostly with a new Polish variety called Junga. Ending up at 6.4%, it was debuted in keg and bottle at the Red Squirrel on Lothian Road. Over a hundred people had registered for the event, and as such it was also well attended.

I think both of these beers can be seen as something of a statement of intent by Stewart. On the one hand, they have continued to cover the session cask market in Edinburgh, and chip away at the incumbent Caledonian. Zymic is another in this lineup, and once the two weeks of summer arrive, I imagine this will be pushed out to more pubs to sit alongside Edinburgh Gold and Hollyrood. The IPA, on the other hand, is laying down a different kind of mantle. As a one-off brew (although it may inspire others of a similar style), and not released on cask, I wonder if it’s almost a beery ‘loss leader’ for Stewart.

Having seen plenty of bloggers offered a free bottle of Radical Road (as were we, also), a very clever PR blitz could pay dividends in the future. It’s a term I hate, but us ‘beer geeks’ love a mega-hopped IPA, so attracting attention online by rolling out a punchy India Pale Ale and putting it in the right hands* is the perfect thing to do. Coupled with a new cask quaffer for the more universal beer drinking market, and they could be onto a winner.

Of course, if you’re going to go down that line, the products need to speak for you. Zymic is supremely sessionable, with a touch more citrus than their entry-level Pentland IPA. On first taste I found it gently oily, with orange rind on the flavour – but a second pint a week later was more muted, with more of that Stewart biscuity malt edge. Designed to be drunk outdoors in the sunshine (should such a thing occur at any point in Edinburgh), I can imagine many pints of this being sold.

As to the Radical Road, it’s a belter. This one really is orangey, with sweet floral honeysuckle stickiness and a proper citrus finish. I knew Iain was happy with it, but it’s far and away the best keg beer they have produced. Pitched perfectly for the hopheads – it has a great balance, as you can’t just throw hops in things and expect it to work. When the bloggers get their bottles, I expect a lot of positive reviews – not to mention pressure to make this more than just a one-off.

I was asked on Twitter if it’s the best beer Stewart have ever produced. It’s a cracker – and is definitely up there – maybe you could argue that the Black IPA and Coconut Porter shade it, and the second version of the Dopplebock was also outstanding. I was going to make a pun about RR marking a Radical departure from Stewart’s regular Road – but thinking about those relatively recent dark beers, they are on that path already. Once it leads to a new brewery, expect much more.

*If you assume beer bloggers are influential in any way, that is

Over the past few years supermarkets have caught on to the ‘premium bottled ale’ market, steadily improving the selection of beer in their stores, and some even moving towards regional variation to appeal to shoppers. Sainsbury’s launched a contest in 2008 to encourage brewers to offer up their PBA’s for selection – with Bath Ales Barnstormer and O’Kells IPA coming out on top. The competition has continued, having been tweaked over the past few years – but the prize of a minimum sixth-month national listing has remained, to act as an incentive.

Scotland has traditionally been well-represented – even BrewDog entered in the past, and Williams Brothers dispatch half a dozen hopefuls every year. It paid off last time as their lager/IPA hybrid Caesar Augustus finished in the top two and appeared on shelves up and down the country. For 2012, the regions were juggled about and increased from four to five, and a split-level prize pot created. Brewers could decided whether to enter their beers for regional listing – in which case the pick of the heats would go straight into local branches – or national, so they would then be judged again against those from the rest of the UK, with the winners of that round gaining nationwide glory.

I’m used to blind competition judging – whereby you’re given an anonymous glass of beer to sample. Helping to judge the Great British Beer Hunt was completely different. All 21 beers were layed out to be perused, giving you the chance to go down the row, selecting eight to taste. They may as well have just gone the whole hog and given you a trolley to put them in. Selecting a beer based on the bottle is something we’ve all done, and even today there are some brewers who just don’t seem to appreciate that. Walk into your local wine shop and see how many bottles have non-white, non-plain labels these days.

With the eight choices poured for us at a small bar, it was time to take our trays away and start the tasting. The Scottish heat was held in a function room at Hibernian’s Easter Road, so we had a great view of the silent stadium as an accompaniment – Hibs were busy elsewhere, losing at St Mirren. I sat on a table with a quite lovely retired couple (people meandering past must have thought I’d brought my parents). Stalwarts of the Bow Bar, they filled me in on the best secret on how to avoid the boozing crowds – do your drinking at lunchtime. When I retire at 85, I might just try that!

We chatted about how we had decided on our eight samples. Looking at the row of bottles, I picked out the ones I hadn’t yet tried (must be the RateBeer in me). The couple at my table went for beers they liked, and a few they wanted to sample (with mixed results). I was surprised we weren’t given a questionnaire on how we made that choice – given the importance of branding and the vagaries of the consumer. Maybe as the eventual national finalists will be rolled out for the public, Sainsbury’s will get their feedback at that stage instead.

The beers that were up for judging are below, with my eight sample selections in bold. Eagle-eyed readers will wonder why Mordue and Tyne Bank seem to be in Scotland – chatting to Mark and Julia from TB afterwards over some beery shots, they revealed the deadline for entry (announced on the SIBA website) came too late for the Northern heat, so they packed up the transit for a spot of cross-border goodwill. That was a great thing about the competition – representatives of the brewers (or in Mark’s case, the man himself) were downstairs, available for questions afterwards.

Scottish Region shortlist, 2012
Arran – Clyde Puffer, Fireside
Broughton – Dark Dunter, Merlin
Cairngorm – Trade Winds, White Lady, Wildcat
Caledonian – Deuchars Imperial
Harviestoun – Wild Hop Gold
Mordue – IPA
Sinclair Orkney – Corncrake, Three Sisters
TSA – Double Espresso Stout
Tyne Bank – Castle Gold, Monument Bitter, Silver Dollar
Williams – Black, Gold, Impale, Pavlov’s Dog, Prodigal Sun, Red

The first of my four winning beers was Williams Impale – probably the best of my eight samples. Bright passion fruit and tropical aromas, a nice bit of citrus, very floral – it was lovely. The champion of the Heriot-Watt ICBD competition, it was created by homebrewer Ed Young – and I can see why it won. The second choice of the day for me was Broughton Dark Dunter, a reasonably new roasty blackurrant old ale. With a surprising finish similar to oaky sherry, it’s one to seek out on cask, I’d imagine.

The next of my picks was Tyne Bank’s Castle Gold. I’ve had it before, and it’s a great golden ale. Clear, lightly rising bitterness – you could drink this all day, which is the type of beer you need in supermarkets to give the slabs of Fosters the heave-ho. My final choice was trickier, but I went for Harviestoun’s Wild Hop Gold (wild as in ‘crazy amounts’, rather than hedgerow). A lot of ginger flavour in there too, battling with the Citra and Simcoe.

So, we’ll see if my scribbled crosses end up in the right boxes. Thanks to Richard Morrice for the invite, and to all of the brewery representatives I managed to speak to. Next time you’re in the Bow at lunchtime and see a nice retired couple, buy them a pint for me.

Last month we were pondering about the rise of tap takeovers in the Edinburgh beer calendar, as we rumbled over to Leith for the Black Isle event at Nobles. This week there are two more in the city, with the first of those taking place last night. Rob Hill’s Highland Brewing Company arrived at Cloisters Bar with nine beers in tow (two of them brand new releases), so we had to head down to see what was going on. Nothing pricks up the ears of the BeerCast like a beer launch, after all.

There’s something almost comforting about bagging a table at Cloisters and watching the people flow in for an event, and as the pub filled up I started off on Highland’s Staff Pint. With a pump clip featuring Cloisterians past and present, this example of the rare house beer had been dry hopped with Citra. Having been one of the few to catch the bespoke Highland Citra at the Bow Bar recently – an ultimate, single cask, blink and you miss it beer – I was looking forward to this one immensely.

Let’s get something on the table straight away – Highland’s beers have, to me, a very distinctive flavour profile. Later investigation by BeerCast wingman Ash from Appellation Wines may have hit on the reason – the house yeast. Rob crafts his beers with style (I hope he wouldn’t mind me referring to it as a careful, old-timey style). There are few other Scottish breweries who I know immediately what kind of beer I’m going to be drinking – even if, as in this case, it’s had Citra piled in.

Their beers are brilliantly drinkable, and all (the golden ones anyway – and I’ll be coming back to that later) have a green bitterness, a pithy edge to them. Described by Ash quite brilliantly as being ‘nettley’ their beers then often finish with a pear-like fruitiness to them. Whether this suits dry hopping, I’m not sure. The additional hop load seems to not sit well with the base flavour of the beer – such as the Island Hopping with Nelson Sauvin (which in itself is highly vinous, of course).

To me, Highland have always excelled in two areas. Firstly – their drinkable session beers. Orkney Best is an abv-battling cracker – smooth, faintly grassy, and with that green pithiness balanced beautifully by a Weetabix-esque sweetness. Secondly – their dark beers. Dark Munro is the best mild in Scotland, and Sneaky Wee Orkney Stout is simply brilliant. Far and away the best beer of the night (and I include Old Norway in that). Go dark more often, Rob!

The two new beers came out at about 8ish, with an eager queue forming soon afterwards following a short speech. A 4.7% Pale Ale was joined on debut by the 5.2% The Duke IPA – nicely badged with a battleship toting pumpclip. The Pale again delivered that signature mix of bitter orange flavour mingled with sweet, almost honey-edged biscuit. The Duke – introduced by Rob as having “too much hop in for me, as a brewer” (said with a beaming grin, of course) was up next.

Similar to the Pale Ale at first – the soft, dull hop rose as it went on, becoming pithy and vinous. I believe (and please correct me, if wrong) that Rob’s son Lewis had more than a hand in this beer – which would explain Hill Snr’s cheeky comment. It reminded me a bit of Orkney Blast – very smooth, hides the alcohol well, and again that sweet pear finish. There’s a decent amount of sharp citrus in there – whilst the balance might not be exactly nailed on, it’s a drinker’s beer and a great effort.

Artists impression…

Two weeks ago we brought you a preview of the exciting times ahead for beer fans in the Edinburgh area – with details of four new producers in the vicinity of the city. However, as is usually the way, another new brewery is set to take hold in Edinburgh – but the initial announcement was delayed, and arrived too late for our previous post. Tramworks Brewing Co are hoping to become the next big thing in the city, producing a range of beers for thirsty Edinburghers. If all goes well, they aim to do this in an unusual way – a brewpub that comes to you.

Running along the much-despisedelayed tram network, the new brewery will be operated from a mobile microbrewing facility, able to move across the city at will – depending on where there are the most customers. A 0.5bbl (100litre) system has been installed onto a 1920′s style streetcar, which will produce a variety of beers depending on the season. Powered by the pylons that are ‘soon’ to be in place for the trams (soon as in 2015), the new micro has its own, bespoke, electricity system.

Rumours are that customers will be able to flag down the Tramworks Brewpub at one of a network of handy ‘stops’ – literally waving down a beer. Indeed – we have it on good authority that the brewpub will have several seats onboard, allowing the loyal patrons to both become inebriated and get to the Gyle for some late-night shopping – all for the sum of £3.50 single (or £7.50 for a ‘pintsaver’).

The first beers that have been announced are believed to be Princes Street Porter (a dark, soulless number), The Shred Stout (brewed in collaboration with RBS), and their flagship beer – 22 Pale Ale, in honour of the much-loved, pink-fronted bus route the trams are set to destroy. Reports of a fourth beer – Leith Light – have been denied by Tramworks. “We don’t go that far,” said a spokesperson.