The BeerCast

For Episode 2 of the BeerCast we opted to remain in Scotland and sample four more regional beers. When setting up the blog and podcast we always wanted to start with the adopted base, and quickly realised there are far too many great Scottish ales to shoehorn into a single edition. So for the second half of our debut two-parter, our panel expanded to four and we concentrated on some more local delights. Always trying to put out a good mix, we sample beers from north and south, light to dark, ancient to modern - and all in brown glass bottles with interesting labels; because for the totally dedicated beer drinker, what’s on the outside counts too…

1. Williams Gold (3.9%abv)
Williams Bros Ltd, Alloa.
500ml glass bottle

The Williams brothers - Bruce and Scott - started producing traditional recipe beers in the central Scottish town of Alloa in 1993. In 2004 they took over larger premises and formed a new line of distinctively labelled beers to run alongside the historic ales (more on those later). Traded under the brand ‘Williams Bros’, the four newer staples to their range are simply titled ‘Red’, ‘Black’, ‘Gold’, and ‘Joker’. Their 40 barrel brewery bottles these hoppy beers for retailers across central Scotland. Alloa itself is six miles east of Stirling, and due to it’s location on the Forth estuary was once a bustling centre for shipping and manufacture, which at one point supported nine breweries. Sadly, the majority of these have gone - but the Williams brothers still fly the flag.

What They Say - “A refreshing and full bodied sparkling golden ale, brewed using a blend of seven malts. Undertones of vanilla and fruit are offset by the citrus aroma of fresh hops, suggesting grapefruit and orange.” [Williams Bros]

What We Say…
MrB - Smells fantastic, and is damn tasty, I rate this very highly 9
Shovels - It tastes really good, and the bottles are well designed 8
Richard - This is very fruity, almost lemony 7
Alison - As a non-beer drinker, not for me but it goes down easily 6

2. Nimbus Strong Pale Ale (5.0%abv)
Atlas Brewery, Kinlochleven.
500ml glass bottle

Located in one of the most stunning parts of Scotland, the Atlas Brewery gives itself the tagline - ‘The small brewery with big ideas’. Founded in the small Highland town of Kinlochleven, Atlas took over the site of a 75 year old Aluminium smelter when production ceased. Another of the new Scottish breweries quickly establishing a reputation, Atlas have an enviable location at the eastern end of Loch Leven, a few miles from Fort William. The mountains of Glen Coe are also nearby, and give their name to another of Atlas’s popular beers, Three Sisters. Kinlochleven is a magnet for tourists, and is a well-used stopping point along the West Highland Way.

What They Say - “Nimbus Strong Pale Ale resembles the famous Kölsch beers of Cologne: pale in colour, soft in mouthfeel, but strong in alcoholic content. Our rendition has a rich, warming hop and a memorable malt character. A small addition of around 5% malted wheat to the grist gives this beer much of its body and softness. The aroma is of pronounced fresh-fruit hops, together with a sweet nuttiness. On the palate this beer has a verdant, almost vegetal, hop presence. Nimbus also exhibits lovely malt character of fresh bread and almonds.” [Atlas Brewery]

What We Say…
Alison - Bread and fruitiness, it could turn me into a beer drinker 9
MrB - It smells of sherry but is very nice 7
Shovels - Can taste the sherry too, it’s different to the first one 7
Richard - It’s malty and has a nice aroma to it, I really like it 7

3. Scottish Oatmeal Stout (4.2%abv)
Broughton Ales Ltd, Brougton, Tweeddale.
500ml glass bottle

A change of direction with our third beer - Broughton’s Oatmeal Stout. Situated between the Border towns of Peebles and Biggar, 25 miles south of Edinburgh, this rapidly growing brewery are also reasonably young. In 1980 the premises opened just outside Broughton, and now produce a healthy range of 11 bottled beers and 18 cask ales. Their ‘beers with character’ come in distinctive bottles with portraits on the labels, and are mostly named after historic characters. One of the few exceptions is the specific beer the panel are tasting today, which is so called because of the distinctive Scottish ingredient added during production. On the label is Robert Younger, master Edinburgh brewer and the great grandfather of the Broughton founder.

What They Say - “Oatmeal from the Scottish borders and the finest malt and roasted barley combine to make this a most refreshing and nourishing stout. Using Fuggles, First Gold and Challenger hops, oats are added to enhance the flavour of the black malt and roasted barley – giving a rich dark colour and strong complex flavours of coffee and dark chocolate.” [Broughton Brewery]

What We Say…
MrB - It tastes of coffee, and it grows on me the more I drink it 7
Richard - Can’t really taste the oats, but lots of things going on 6
Shovels - Lingers a long time, yet it’s quite light for a dark ale 6
Alison - Looks like Barr’s Cola with a coffee taste I’m not keen on 2

4. Ebulum Elderberry Black Ale (6.5%abv)
Heather Ales Ltd, Alloa
330ml glass bottle

Having come full circle, we’re back with the Williams brothers in Alloa. As explained before, they started out producing traditional beers to ancient Scottish recipes, like their award-winning Fraoch Heather Ale. Also in their stable of oldies is Grozet Gooseberry beer, Alba Pine Ale, Kelpie (with added seaweed), and Ebulum. Welsh druids arrived in Celtic Scotland in the 9th Century, and with them came elderberries, used as a natural remedy. The crafty beardies also added these berries to a strong ale, and it’s this Ebulum brew the panel finish on. The exact druidic recipe no longer survives, but the Williams brothers produce Ebulum from a domestic beer record of the 16th century, and give it a celtic-themed label to match.

What They Say - “Ebulum is made from roasted oats, barley and wheat boiled with herbs then fermented with ripe elderberries. A rich black ale with fruit aroma, silky soft texture, soft roasted flavour and gentle finish…” [Heather Ales]

What We Say…
MrB - Looks like red wine and tastes of beer 7
Richard - Deep red colour, not too bad tastewise 6
Shovels - Strong and soft in the mouth, a good after-dinner beer 6
Alison - Tastes of dark chocolate, it’s smooth and easy to drink 5

BeerCast panel verdict

Williams Gold - 30/40
Atlas Nimbus - 30/40
Ebulum Elderberry Strong Ale - 24/40
Broughton Oatmeal Stout - 21/40

Panellists - (from top left) MrB, Ali, Richard, Shovels

• Listen to the episode here: BeerCast #2 - Beer and Labels
• Subscribe to the podcasts in iTunes or our site feed

We’ll be back in a couple of weeks with Episode 3 - four beers from the North of England. Stay tuned for details…!

Old Engine Oil not pictured

As soon as we decided to divide our beery adventures into country-specific chunks, we could only really start in one place. With over eighty years of cumulative ale drinking between us, Scotland had to be the first stop. The four beers chosen for the debut edition are from some of the most respected brewers to be found here. But they have some standards to live up to - their predecessors have been producing beer for over 5,000 years. Before the hop era dawned, they were using heather and herbs as main ingredients. Afterwards, the industry prospered - in 1509 Aberdeen had over 150 brewers, all of them women (the original Alewives). When joined to England in the 1707 ‘Act of Union’, taxes on Scottish beer were reduced dramatically, and taxes on Malt removed completely. Brewing flourished, and Scottish beer drinkers still enjoy the results today.

1. Three Sisters Scottish Ale (4.2%abv)
The Atlas Brewery, Kinlochleven.
500ml glass bottle

The Atlas Brewery sits on the site of an old aluminium smelter in the town of Kinlochleven, a few miles south of the Highland town of Fort WIlliam. The brewery was founded on the site after it ended its 75 years of production, in 2002. Using local water with five varieties of imported hops, they have several seasonal beers and three favourites - Latitude, Nimbus, and Three Sisters Ale. The latter is named after a mountain range in nearby Glencoe. You can contract Atlas to brew a personal beer for you, which they will produce to your specifications and either bottle or put in kegs before delivering it to your door.

What They Say - “A lightly malted beer with a short, hoppy, bitter finish.” [The Good Beer Guide]; “A dark, fruity, refreshing ale with chocolate and crystal malts to give it a dark ruby colour, and a characteristic toasty and liquorice flavour.” [Atlas Brewery]

What We Say - “It’s bitter but flavoursome, smells malty, tastes malty. It gets better the warmer it gets.” [Shovels]; “First off it smells of whisky, but it tastes darker than it looks. It’s a grower, not a pub beer as it’s got a strong taste - but it’s nice.” [Mr B]; “It tastes of chocolate, but is very bitter - and it doesn’t keep it’s head. It’s an acquired taste, not immediately drinkable. Not really sure I like it.” [Richard]

2. Old Engine Oil Dark Beer (6%abv)
Harviestoun Brewery, Alva.
330ml glass bottle

Originially sited in a 200yr old stone barn, Harviestoun now produce their wares in a modern site on an Industrial Estate in central Scotland. They have been lavished with awards, the undoubted pundit’s favourite being Schiehallion, which has won seven CAMRA British champion medals in the nine years it has been produced. They won the Champion Beer of Britain in 2003 for Bitter and Twisted. Their brewery is sited in Alva, a small town of 5000 in the foot of the Ochil Mountains, near Stirling. It was founded by Ken Brooker, a former worker at Ford’s Dagenham motor plant - hence the name given to their darkest product.

What They Say - “A near black brew with a silky-smooth rummy aroma, a coffee-ish palate, and a suggestion of the darkest chocolate.” [Beer Hunter]; “The palate is full and malty, with dark burnt fruits and the promised liquorice and chocolate in abundance, with a slightly wine-gum-like quality offset by a bracing coffeeish hop bitterness.” [Oxford Bottled Beer Database]; “Strong and dark but wickedly, wickedly smooth. Chocolate dominates the flavour, which is nicely balanced by the bitterness of the hops. A delicious “after dinner” beer which leaves a bittersweet aftertaste to savour.” [Harviestoun Brewery]

What We Say - “Not fruity at all, there’s all kinds of things going on. Jet black - there’s no light coming through it. Big coffee/liquorice flavour.” [Richard]; “It really looks like oil, it’s blacker than Guinness. Very syrupy - it’s stronger than the last one.” [Shovels]; “It doesn’t smell of anything much, but there’s a bit hit on the back of the tongue. I get some rummyness and coffee - it’s nice.” [Mr B]

3. Arran Blonde Premium Beer (5%abv)
The Arran Brewery, Brodick.
500ml glass bottle

There are only 621 people in Brodick, but they are lucky to have a brewery right on their doorsteps. Arran (not to be confused with the sweater-loving Aran in Ireland) is Britain’s ninth largest island, an hour’s ferry ride from the mainland. Production started in early 2000, and now outputs 200 barrels a week, plus additional bottles for the busy supermarket trade. They have an amber ale, a malty dark, and a hoppy blonde in their range - the last one of these was sampled by the panel.

What They Say - “Arran Blonde has a floral hop and new mown grass aroma, the taste is well balanced with citric fruit and a good hop character. A clear tasting pale golden beer in a continental style.” [Arran Brewery]; “A hoppy beer with a substantial fruit balance, the finish is increasingly bitter. Aromatic, it drinks below it’s weight.” [The Good Beer Guide]

What We Say - “One of my favourite beers. Not as nice a smell as others, but easy to drink quite a lot of this in a night.” [Mr B]; “Hoppy, not malty. It looks like a lager and goes down much easier than the other two. It’s my favourite so far.” [Richard]; “This is quite tasty, despite the smell. It’s better than any lager out there.” [Shovels]

4. Black Isle Organic B.C. Wheat Beer (4.5%abv)
Black Isle Organic Brewery, Munlochy
500ml glass bottle

Whilst Arran is an island (and two islands if you count Irish Aran), the Black Isle isn’t. Surrounded on three sides by water (the Moray, Cromarty and Beauly Firths), the other side is a river. North of the highland capital Inverness, the Black Isle Organic Brewing Corporation started in 1998, and are based in an 18th Century building. They only use locally malted organic barley and wheat, and four of their six regular beers are bottle conditioned - live yeast ferments for a second time after production, resulting in a thicker brew with some sediment, but also more taste.

What They Say - “A semi-cloudy Belgian-style wheat beer brewed with orange and coriander. Delicious served with mussels and crusty bread.” [Black Isle Brewery]

What We Say - “It smells like a root vegetable, tingles the top of the mouth.” [Shovels]; “There’s a cooked garden pea/cabbagey smell to it - but it’s very refreshing. If you get the dregs it’s a bit chunky.” [Mr B]; “This smells quite bad, and it looks like bathwater. But it’s really good.” [Richard] *

* We found during tasting that we were actually drinking a bottle almost three months out of date. This possibly made it taste better, but smell worse…

So based on the three-member panel, it would seem Arran Blonde came out a clear favourite. Join us next time for the other five Scottish beers in the second half of Episode 1 - a similar range from lighter ales to darker stouts. Stay tuned for the debut BeerCast podcast, reaching the airwaves as soon as it’s been edited and compressed into something worth listening to (hopefully). Also, coming very shortly - our special post on the first BeerSnack tested. Tried along with the Black Isle Wheat Beer, as promised in the previous post it’s the most famous British beer snack ever. It is, of course, the humble pork scratching. Deserving of it’s own entry here, find out what they are, how they are made, and whether we liked them. (I’ll give you a hint - all the panellists totally agreed on that last aspect).

Until then, enjoy your beer.

Panellists - Mr B, Shovels, Richard