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!

Food for thought – if you have the stomach for it!

Must be a slow news week when the origin of our ‘adopted’ or should that be ‘adapted’ national dish is questioned in the Times. We have never laid claim to ‘inventing’ it, however, check the DNA of anyone North of the border and you’ll discover that traces of minced lamb, spices & oatmeal go back generations.


According to The World Burns Club.

"Back in the days when hunting was a means of basic survival, all parts of the dead animal had to be used. The skins were used as clothing, the gut and tissue used as thread for sewing, with the main carcass and organs used as food. The bulk content meat was often dried or salted and proved suitable for a long "shelf life" The innards and organs of the beast were the most perishable parts and had to be consumed first.

Someone, somewhere, sometime, recognised that the stomach made an excellent cooking vessel, and that mixing the organs with spices and meal, placing them in this natural "pot" and cooking the contents provided a highly nutritional and tasty meal. This basic method of cooking has been traced back to Greek and Roman times.

The name "Haggis" however has its origins in more recent history and links are shown to Scandinavian "hag" meaning to "hew" or the French "hageur" - "to cut" or German "hackwurst" meaning "minced sausage" Who knows !

It is difficult to identify exactly when the great Scottish "haggis" as described by Burns, came to be. For sure, in his day, and during the 18th century, the now famous meal was regularly served in Scotland as a tasty, and very healthy meal. It is only from here in Scotland that you can savour a genuine Scottish haggis".


So there you have it!....Here at Clachaig we serve the best Haggis in the Country. Our customers can testify to that as our chef’s handle around 100kg every week. Freshly culled by Macsween - guardian of our national dish - and flown in by Letterfinlay game services.

Enough said, but take heed.....

But mark the Rustic, haggis fed,
The trembling earth resounds his tread.
Clap in his walie nieve a blade, He'll mak it whissle;
An' legs an' arms, an' heads will sned,
Like taps o' thrissle.

…..Or something like that!