To Scotland - twice - seeking out the best of the beers and more

A good selection of beers, enthusiastically served, at the Commercial Inn, in Dunfermline.

I love Scotland and, rather obviously, I love beer. Unfortunately, away from the main centres of population, the two do not always go together.

That makes it all the more enjoyable seeking out something unusual and good when I am up there and, being retired now, I’ve made a couple of trips in the last few weeks. Here’s what happened beer-wise.

I usually go to the Northern Isles, Orkney and Shetland, with a stop-off on the way but for my first trip this summer I decided not merely to go past my stop-off but to stick around the mainland; mostly, to enjoy the Kingdom of Fife, east of Edinburgh.

First, though, was my regular staging post, Kinross, in Perthshire, 316 miles from Derby.

At the head of Loch Fyne is the track to Fyne Ales, a company which has come a long way in 20 years.

Here is Loch Leven Brewery and its modern brewery tap, a delightful, bright space with the sort of background music at just the right level that you don’t mind. My favourite of several beers they do is a robust dark at 5.2 called King Slayer and after visiting five or six times in the last few years, I almost feel like a regular.

Before settling to Fife, my next step was a dart over to the west and a return to another favourite spot, Inveraray. On the way around Loch Fyne to the town, at the head of the loch, is a track down to the farm-based Fyne Ales brewery. They have come a long way.

I first visited early in the century soon after they were founded and but for a few casks outside a barn you would not have known there was a brewery. Fast forward 20-odd years and there is a bigger brewery, a superb visitor centre and a venue which hosts a very popular annual music, beer and food festival.

The renowned beers, especially their best-known, a superb pale called Jarl, get far and wide, often finding their way to Derbyshire.

Up in the town I called in to a favourite pub, the imposing, historic George Hotel, which by chance was celebrating 250 years that very month.

The George used to serve Isle of Skye Brewery beers; it seemed much more appropriate that they now predominantly serve Fyne Ales and I enjoyed Highlander, at 4.8%, the first beer the brewery ever produced. However, £7 a pint was a jolt.

The food was better value and I do like the George but over the years they seem to have become more aware of the tourist element of their trade and prices for everything have risen notably.

From here I spent a day driving up to Mallaig and catching the ferry to Skye. The Isle of Skye Brewery, at the harbour in Uig, in the north of the island, was founded as long ago as 1995 and simplicity is king – the long-established staples are Skye Red, Skye Gold and Skye Black. They are good beers but you’re more likely to find them in bottles than on cask in a pub.  

The understated Albert Tavern is far from Albert Square - and it's a classic country village pub.

Back over to Fife for a few days and the highlight, beer-wise, of my trip was to discover the Albert Tavern at the village of Freuchie, north of Glenrothes. Here is the very embodiment of a village pub. Locals were gathered for a Sunday afternoon chat and I was welcomed into the fold.

There was a good chat about the difference between pubs in England compared to Scotland. The quote that stuck with me from a guy at the bar was this: “We are all from the village, we’re all friends. But we’re friends because we met in the pub, not because we met in the village.”

If that doesn’t sum up how important the role of the pub is to a community, anywhere, I don’t know what does.

I cheerfully got roped into the pub’s annual “Tattie Challenge” charity spud growing competition (if you’re reading this up there, folks, I’m not likely to be a contender but the money’s in the charity pot and that’s the main thing).

I could choose beers from Fyne Ales, Orkney Brewery and, oddly, Ruddles County, since Suffolk giants Greene King have a deal with the pub and, as it turns out, with a surprisingly high number of Scottish pubs. The Albert is also the Scottish Camra Cider Pub of the Year. It’s a very special place.

My next beer in Fife was in St Andrews, where I met up with Jack Stout, son of the landlord and landlady of the Devonshire Arms in Burton, who was coincidentally also holidaying in the area. I recommended the St Andrews Brewing Co. tap and it amused Jack that there was no cask beer to be had in the pub of my choice. Sadly, that happens too much in Scotland – a handpump on the bar and nothing being served through it.

With Jack Stout, from Burton's Devonshire Arms, for a catch-up in St Andrews. He doesn't smile for pictures!

No such problems for my last port of call on the trip, the Commercial Inn, in Dunfermline, long-renowned for its real ale and with a choice of four from different breweries which the barman was rightly proud of. If you find yourself in Dunfermline, this is the one.

Still with me? My second trip, back to Orkney and Shetland, involves even less beer but I don’t really go to the islands for that reason. Cruise ships dock in the harbours relentlessly during the summer months in the islands but it’s not difficult to escape the crowds.

Before the crossing from Gills Bay at the northern tip of mainland Scotland to Orkney, I dropped in and stocked up on bottles from John O’Groats Brewery, with its excellent shop and a cosy little taproom, where I agreed with a German couple that the corrupt World Cup really wasn’t worth a moment of our time.

Orkney Brewery is a longstanding enterprise on the west mainland, dating from 1988 but under the current ownership of Norman Sinclair since 2006.

It’s in a beautifully restored old Victorian schoolhouse with many artefacts from those days on the walls and has a fabulous visitor centre which, if you were travelling the island, you could stop here for a good quality lunch even if you hadn’t the slightest interest in beer. Unfortunately, not on Sundays, so I missed out this time around.

Several of their beers find their way down here regularly but the very best is the 8.5% Skullsplitter, usually only in bottles. It’s lovely winter’s evening drink.

Orkney Brewery is a great stop for food even if you don't like beer... but not open on Sundays.

The other main brewery on the island, not such a developed enterprise, is Swannay, on the other side of the island. I’ve previously, post-Covid, found opening hours rather sketchy but they are doing tours with the taproom open again now. Once again, I didn’t make it this time.

Next stop, via an overnight ferry, was Shetland and a must for me is always to call in at Lerwick Brewery, on the edge of town in the islands’ capital. The taproom is a pleasant and welcoming space and, because it’s out of the way, your fellow customers are usually beer enthusiasts who’ve made a point of seeking it out.

The brewery has the only handpump in Shetland! There’s always a beer on it, too – a delicious oatmeal stout called Tushkar for my visit.

However, that really was it for beer until a bottle of Orkney Brewery’s dark bitter, Puffin, with my meal on the overnight ferry from Lerwick to Aberdeen.  

Beer apart, I cannot recommend the Northern Isles enough – I keep going back – if you like rugged coastlines, spotting wildlife, birds especially, walking, history and peace and quiet.

But those three pints of Bass from the Malt in Aston on Trent when I got back were magical!

There followes a gallery of further pictures from my Scotland trips...

Isle of Skye Brewing Company is well established on the pier at Uig in the north of the island.

The comfortable, bright taproom at Loch Leven Brewery, Kinross, a regular favourite stop-off for me.

Shetland has one handpump! It's at Lerwick Brewery on the edge of the islands' capital.

I've been to John O'Groats a few times. This was the first time I visited the brewery, tap and shop there.

Comfortable bar at the John O'Groats Brewery.

No beer for a lot of miles... relaxing at the top end of Britain, Hermaness National Nature Reserve, Unst.

Good value small plate of haggis, neeps & tatties at the George, Inveraray. £7 a pint for what was admittedly an excellent pint of Fyne Ales Highlander was not such great VFM.

The historic George Hotel in Inveraray has just marked 250 years in business.

Gannet colony at Hermaness National Nature Reserve, Unst, Shetland.

Fyne Ales visitor centre, where there used to be merely a collection of old farm buildings 20 years ago.

The Commercial Inn, Dunfermline. Probably the best pub in the city for the beer enthusiast.

Odd to see a Greene King staple, Ruddles Best, on the bar at the brilliant Albert Tavern in Freuchie, Fife. But they also had Hurricane Jack from Fyne Ales and Red MacGregor from Orkney Brewery on the bar.