Sizzling start to Mayfest

From House-Martin to House-Band

Fantastic start to Mayfest 2012 as Paul Heaton opened the celebrations on Friday night and entertained a packed Boots bar with a fine selection of solo material along with some great tunes from his back catalogue. What a cracker! Amazed he had so much energy given he had cycled from Ullapool to get here.

Woodsie and Stirton

Boots Bar virgins Mad Ferret were in great form for their Saturday night debut, normally we 'trial' new acts on quieter nights first but it was straight to top billing for Woodsie and Stirton and they certainly lived up to their own blurb with an extremely tight, technical performances with a driving knowledge and passion for Scottish and Irish folk music. A great night with much foot-stomping and hand-clapping.

Sunny outside so I may have to stack some keg

We went through a fair selection of ales over the weekend and judging by the picture above we've got some tidying up to do, mind you with weather like this we shoudn't be short of volunteers. Now to the cellar to see whats coming to a hand pull near you!

Loch Lomond Ales

Should you decide to take the high road or indeed the low road to Clachaig this week you're sure to find a great selection of Scottish cask ales. New to our taps this week are 4 fine ales from Loch Lomond Brewery. We could tell you what they taste like but why don't you pop round and find out for yourself.

Plenty of fun on the way as Mayfest continues this week and into the long bank holiday weekend with live music tonight from Mak-A-Din, Bonnie & Jim on Friday night and some jigs guaranteed from Finn on Saturday night. Music starts at 9pm in the Boots Bar. check out our What's On page for details.

It wouldn't be a beer festival without our ever popular Ale Tasting Masterclass and you can sample some great ales from Cairngorm Brewery this Thursday from 8pm in the Snug and on Tuesday River Leven Ales will be here to pass on some more cask ale enlightenment! 

See you at the bar!