Returning to brewing in the Scottish Highlands

[hailtotheale]

Hello to all!!

A quick introduction. Born in the county of Sutherland, met my wife whilst inter-railing around Europe at the age of 19, lived and worked in her home state of Iowa for 17 years before moving back to the Scottish Highlands 15 years ago.

I was about 15 years old when I brewed my first beer with mixed results, got more into it for while in Iowa mainly brewing Porters and Stouts from extract as well as some wines. I hadn't done any whilst back in Scotland until about a year ago when the local pub had a cask of an English mild ale (from the Thwaites brewery), a dark beer with no carbonation and being only very lightly hopped it was revelation of subtle malt flavours. It made a real change as there has been an explosion in highly hopped IPA's in the UK that are getting a bit boring.

Unfortunately, or maybe not, the pub wouldn't get another cask of mild (I think I was the only person to drink that one!) so I decided to brew my own and have had great fun doing so over the past year.

Slàinte mhath

 

[ncbrewer]

I'm a fan of malty beers, too. Welcome to HBT.

 

[Cavpilot2000]

I was in Scotland for 10 days about 4 years ago (mostly central and western highlands), and I was really impressed with the craft beer scene I saw there.
Loch Fyne was one of my favorite breweries I visited.

 

[beernutz]

I have never heard of a 15 year old trying to homebrew and I am interested in hearing about that.

I love a good mild and the current favorite beer in my keezer is a still young Scottish 80/- which although less than 5% ABV with little perceptible hop flavor is a very tasty brew.

 

[ncbrewer]

I had some Broughton Excisemans when I was in Scottland. I thought it was one of the best ever. Have you ever tried it?

 

[hailtotheale]

Thanks for the warm welcome!

Ncbrewer, you're a brewer with fine taste! I haven't tried Exciseman but Broughton Old Jock is available locally and very enjoyable.

Cavpilot2000, we visited the Loch Fyne Brewery last year, had a couple of pints in their tap then a late lunch at the Loch Fyne Oyster Bar, top quality food and drink.

Beernutz. My mother got me into brewing because she made Elderberry mead, Sloe Gin and a beer with Sea Buckthorn every year for drinking at Christmas. They were family recipes, the gin from the mid 19th century was written on the inside of a cupboard door, the mead and beer from a private journal dating back to the 1520's.

My first foray into brewing was with beer kits and I recall the main problem I had was being too impatient, who isn't at 15! Beers usually ended up being cloudy and over-carbonated, however I did have better results with wines. I tried the family mead and beer recipes last year and got the nod of approval from Mum so I guess 35+ years of growing up and a lot more experience helps!

I do like a good "heavy" and something lightly hopped and just under 5% sounds perfect to me.

 

[Cavpilot2000]

Cavpilot2000, we visited the Loch Fyne Brewery last year, had a couple of pints in their tap then a late lunch at the Loch Fyne Oyster Bar, top quality food and drink.

Ah, Loch Fyne Oyster Bar - I loved it so much when I went there early in my visit, a few days later, I drove several hours upon leaving Skye to eat there again!