Recipe for success

Planning the Brewers & Suppliers evening following the success of last years event was always going to be a challenge however, like all successful recipes if you start off with the very best ingredients you can't go far wrong. 

Recipe for success

• Fill a cellar full of the best from Scotlands ale & cider brewers
• Add a generous helping of the freshest local seafood
• Blend together with the finest collection of local musicians
• Assemble a hand picked selection of brewers, distillers & food producers. 
• Serve with a smile & warm hospitality from the cream of Clachaig staff 

 

Shiny new casks

Ales & Ciders were arriving all week from all over Scotland with deliveries coming as far as Orkney & Shetland.

Cellar preparation

As well as our regular local brewers we invited some new faces from Fyne Ales,
Lerwick Brewery and Alechemy Brewing
 

Fresh from the sea

Fresh seafood & the best of Lochaber produce from Letterfinlay Specialist Foods
helped our chefs prepare some tasty offerings. Well done to Garry and our kitchen team for the excellent buffet.

Hungry Brewers

The gathering tucked in before their evenings 'work'. A blind tasting of all 10 ales. Great fun reading all the comments & scores -  some of the best however, are unfit to repeat here.

leave room for pudding

 

The Wurzels enjoying a cider...or two

Tony from Strathearn Distillery was busy doing the rounds sharing copious drams of his own whisky, rum & gin during the ale tasting, apparantly it all helped cleanse the palate.

Merlin from Cairngorm, he's a real wizard you know

 

Filling up before the ale tasting

Congratulations to Harry from River Leven Ales for being voted the best beer on the night by his fellow brewers with his River Leven Dark Ale.

Raffle swag

Huge thanks to all the brewers & suppliers for their generous raffle gifts which helped raise £257.00 for Glencoe Mountain Rescue Team.

This is a local pub for local musicians

Our local regular session musicians turned up in fine form and entertained the gathering for the evening. They certainly earned their prawns & scallops.

A Bevvy of Brewers.....or whatever the collective noun is!

So, there you have it folks. A great night in true Clachaig style. I have it on good authority that there were a few sore heads in the morning but lots of compliments too and already looking forward to next year.

Many thanks to Alechemy Brewing Cairngorm Brewery Cairn o Mohr Real Fruit Wines Lerwick Brewery Loch Lomond Brewery Letterfinlay Specialist Foods Orkney Brewery River Leven Ales Isle of Skye Brewing Company Strathearn Distillery Strathaven Ales TBS Coffee Thistly Cross Cider Fyne Ales and Williams Bros. Brewing Co. for making it a night to remember. 

And finally a huge shout to team Clachaig for the excellent service.

  

See you all next year!

And the winner is...

Amidst shouts of boo, fix, con, etc... we announced the winner of our Name the Ale competition at last night's Beer Tasting Session led by the Isle of Skye Brewery.

And the winning name for our special ale brewed just for Clachaig's FebruaryFest is... Buach Ale, as submitted by Bar Manager, Jack, the man who set the competiton. Boo, fix, etc... All we can say is you had to be in it to win it!

We can't put our hands on the tasting notes at the moment but we think that there's strong overtone's of cheese in it. In fact, I think the exact words were, "see that name BuachAle, that's really cheesey that is!"

We have to agree, but it ust had to be done!

Name the Beer

Okay folks, here’s something a bit different. Especially for our FebruaryFest Beer Festival, we have commissioned the Isle of Skye Brewery to brew a special ale, exclusive to Clachaig.

The beer is great, as you would of course expect. It’s a lovely sessionable deep amber coloured beer, 4.2% combining lovely smooth malty flavours with a light hopping to make a perfect pint for those cold February evenings at Clachaig.


The problem is, we need is a name for this new brew, and that’s where you folks come in.

We have a few ideas ourselves but if anybody can come up with a suitable name, preferably something funny (in good taste of course) and/or specific to the area then we will award them an amazing prize of a £10 Clachaig Inn Gift Voucher. Quite literally, beer vouchers! Get thinking!!

Beauty and the Beast

With FebruaryFest, our annual Winter Beer Festival which we've run for the last 20 years, getting ever closer, so our search for the best line up of Ales continues. Yes, I've said it before. S**tty job, but someone's got to do it. Here's one to try in moderation.


Yes, that's the beer we're talking about; the strongest brewed by the Isle Of Skye Brewery. "Cuillin Beast" is 7.0% ABV, which means that you'd probably be better having a half pint , rather than the full one. Responsible retailing and all that. Clachaig customers were able to try this one over this last week and despite the strength the feedback was very positive.

And if you like the beer, and you're a bit of a cycling fan (like myself), then here's the ideal gift for you!


And while we're on with it, along with the Cuillin Beast tasting, this last weekend saw Bonnie & Jim in top form in the Boots Bar.

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!

Pain is only weakness leaving the body...

You may recall that a few weeks ago I had a bit of a whinge about lashing rain and even a bit of snow on the Cycling Sportive event over the famous Bealach na Ba. Why can't the weather be a bit better for these events... In future I'll keep my big mouth shut!

Yesterday saw the 2nd in the HandsOnEvents series of Sportives. The location was the Isle of Skye. The forecast was HOT! The more sane riders out there would probably chose the Skye Beag. A mere 48 miles starting in Portree and heading north past the popular Skye landmarks of the Old Man of Storr and the Quirang.

However, being far from sane I opted for the Skye Mor, which adds in a quick tour of the west of Skye, out to Dunvegan and Sligachan, bringing the total to 96 miles and a cumulative ascent of 3000m. Nice! And I don't do 'hot'.

The first leg was fast and furious, thanks to a 'brisk' tail wind. Unfortunately, that brisk tail wind then turned into a brisk head wind for much of the rest of the circuit until Sligachan. Still, it kept the searing heat reflecting off the tarmac under control. Can't say that it was easy going. Good bits and bad bits. And some very bad bits. Especially the long, lonely haul over to Dunvegan. Much pain, much weakness leaving the body. Why, oh why do I do these things?

But before you know it the left turn at Sligachan appears and then a real treat. 30 mph plus in the big ring downwind, slightly downhill on smooth shiny tar back into Portee and the finish line.

Not sure of the official time. There were other things on my mind at the finish, like lying in the shade and trying to straighten my back out, and crying. But the bike computer has a riding time of 5hrs 48 mins (add on a few minutes for the time spent lying on the road in Dunvegan trying to straighten my back out) for 96 miles, making that an average speed of just under 17mph. Oh, and a max speed of 51mph! Must have been the downhill side of those 3000m of climbing.

The "Stolen Bridge" on the Puggy Line in Leacnachan
- part of the 10 Under the Ben Course.

Meanwhile, the other half of the Clachaig board of directors, the one not usually associated with a passion for wearing lycra and getting muddy, was competing in the real bike event of the weekend, 10 Under the Ben.

Reports from Leanachan are that it was another hot one - that's 3 years on the trot. And a busy one, with a thousand or so entries this year. Plenty of stories of tree roots, muddy holes, endless climbs and other deeds of daring biking.

So, if you're at Clachaig this week, just be kind to the 2 sorry looking chaps walking round with a gait like John Wayne. Its been a hard weekend!