Quiet February?.....You must be joking!

James preparing a new delivery

Clachaig is buzzing at the moment as we go into the second week of our winter beer festival. The cellar is rammed with a selection of Scotland's finest cask ales from Cairngorm, Williams Bros, An Teallach, Glenfinnan & Caledonian to name but a few.

Plenty of things to do in the evening too, whisky & ale tastings, mountain safety lectures, quizzes & of course plenty of live music & craic by the bucket load.

Winter safety lecture

Meanwhile through in the lounge bar over 60 hardy outdoor enthusiasts enjoyed last nights lecture on
Winter Mountain Safety presented by Roger Wild (UIAGM Mountain Guide and ex Safety Advisor with the MCofS) The main focus of Roger's lectures was winter navigation, vital training that apparently paid off as some of them managed to navigate through to the boots bar afterwards....job done.

Books 'R' us

Following the recent makeover to our residents lounge we've added a couple of bookshelves and filled them with...er...books. Guests & visitors alike can borrow, buy or swap. All we ask is a few pennies for Glencoe Mountain Rescue Team. We've even come up with some innovative bookends....old whisky boxes...empty of course, sorry folks.

Everybody's got to learn sometime!

And to add to the workload we're busy training our 'newest' recruits as we gear up for a busy season. Jessica originally helped us out in our housekeeping team at weekends & during school holidays, but she's all 'growed' up now and has returned from her studies for a stint on the front desk....
......Still no Hawkers or Campbells but smiles all round & a friendly welcome guaranteed.

Ready when you are!

You know the one about the early bird, well this lucky regular had his pick of 15 of the finest Scottish cask ales as our hard working bar staff prepare for the annual onslaught that is the Clachaig Hogmanay.

We've plenty more in the cellar too, including Williams brothers, Cairngorm, An Teallach & Isle of Skye to name but a few.

With both Nevis Range & Glencoe ski resorts open for business, our Hogmanay guests arriving by the coach load and the promise of great live music in our Boots bar it's shaping up to be another classic.......So come early, or all the worms will have gone!

Top marks from Cask Marque

Clachaig's beers were recently 'inspected' by the Cask Marque assessor. In an unannounced visit, the Cask Marque assessor will call in and sample a number of available beers and check them for temperature, appearance, aroma and taste, and award points accordingly. Through such independent inspections, the Cask Marque scheme aims to encourage quality of cask ales in the licensed trade.
So how do you think we did? Well, the beers sampled were Peter's Well from Houston Brewery, An Teallach Ale from the Dundonnell based brewery of the same name, and An Teallach's Brewhouse Special.

In each of the 4 categories (temperature, appearance, aroma, taste) each of the beers scored the full marks giving us a 60/60 100% score. Well would you expect anything less from Clachaig!

FebruaryFest in Full Swing

There's a dazed look on a few faces this morning as we recover from an absolute belter of a weekend here at Clachaig. We're still trying to work out why this weekend was so much busier this weekend than last, as the weather, although fairly settled, was a whole lot milder this week than last.


Its been great to see so many folk having a great time at the beer festival. As ever, the beers have been many and varied, but there are definitely a few favourites emerging from the selection so far.

One of these is Midnight Sun, brewed by the William's Brothers. Its a proper winter ale, being dark and spicy, and at 5.6% ABV its to be enjoyed in moderation! (I actually tried this thinking that it would be too sweet & strong to enjoy but was pleasantly surprised how drinkable it is - go easy is my advice, Ed)

An Teallach Brewery, run by former Clachaig entertainer (and purveyor of terrible jokes) Davie Orr in Dundonnel, have come up trumps with a couple of new ales. The Hector is a lovely smooth stout named after the famous boat that sailed from Ullapool to what became Nova Scotia in the late 18th Century.

And Suilven, named after that famous whale backed big lump of a mountain thingy in the image on the pump clip above, has won over a few fans, being a nice light hoppy number.

These are just 3 of the ales featured in our FebruaryFest Beer Festival, though sometimes its a case of blink and you'll miss it as a bar full of folk get a taste for the latest addition to the range. However, tell us your favourites, and we'll gladly bring them back again after the festival finishes.